This month we talked to Asheville Wellness Tours. Asheville Wellness Tours offers dozens of wellness experiences and retreat packages to choose from, and each option comes with unique enhancements. While our mission is to help you reconnect with yourself, with others, and with nature, we’re also here to have fun! We love to intertwine interesting, insightful, and rejuvenating experiences so you can enjoy a truly meaningful time here in beautiful Asheville.
1. Tell us about Asheville Wellness Tours. What’s your mission and why did you choose to set up shop in North Carolina?
At Asheville Wellness Tours, our goal is to help our guests add a bit of relaxation and rejuvenation to their Asheville adventures. We accomplish this with a rather eclectic “menu” of offerings reflective of this area’s long history as a destination for health and well-being. With options like Goat Yoga, Forest Bathing, Guided Yoga & Mindfulness Hikes, Tarot Readings, Massage, and so much more, folks can craft their own mini-retreat or book a-la-carte and leave plenty of time to enjoy the craft brew scene too – we’re all about balance here. At the end of the day, if we can support our guests in connecting more deeply with themselves, each other, Asheville, and nature, we’re thrilled.
Why Asheville? This area has been a popular destination for health and well-being for well over a century and that pull certainly isn’t slowing down! Along with those seeking personal wellness, the area has enticed an incredible community of wellness professionals to serve these seekers – professionals who offer a wide array of ways to approach the multifaceted concept of well-being. Beyond the people, with a temperate climate and year-round natural beauty, easy access to wild places and nature, and an outdoor lifestyle baked into the culture, Western North Carolina is the perfect place for a company like ours.
2. What made y’all decide to join The Outdoor Business Alliance of WNC?
It’s easy to look around and notice the outdoor lifestyle, temperate climate, and easy access to nature, but, if you peel back another layer, what I think makes WNC particularly special is the creative, collaborative community here. This culture is absolutely present in the outdoor industry in our area and The Outdoor Business Alliance does such a wonderful job of supporting community building around these values. Who wouldn’t want to be part of that exciting energy?!
3. How are you working with other members of the Outdoor Business Alliance?
We’ve used locally manufactured gear to enhance our experiences (imagine relaxing into an ENO hammock with sound meditation streaming over Bluetooth headphones as a mini-break from a busy conference day) and regularly refer out to companies like The Flying Bike, French Broad Adventures, and Blue Ridge Hiking Company.
We also frequently lean on the incredible list of Supporting Members who are particularly skilled at working with outdoor industry businesses like ours. We’ve worked with Status Forward, Explore Asheville, Just Economics (Living Wage Certification), Insurance Services of Asheville, First Bank, Asheville Chamber of Commerce, Mountain BizWorks, NCSBTDC, Devil’s Foot Beverage Co., and ASK Law. There are so many other wonderful teams on that list that we look forward to working with as we grow.
The synergetic nature of this group means there undoubtedly are more creative collaborations to come. I can’t wait!
4. What’s next for Asheville Wellness Tours?
Our biggest area of growth in the past year has been in our work with corporate groups and I’m looking forward to continuing to work with forward-thinking meeting planners, HR representatives, and leadership teams who are excited about incorporating elements of wellness into the culture and flow of their events, retreats, and daily work environments. It’s a given that there will be spaces to recharge electronic devices – why not ensure you’re giving your attendees, team, and employees an opportunity to recharge themselves too!
Moving forward, we’ll also continue to explore new, fun, meaningful ways to approach the multifaceted nature of well being and are excited to share what we discover along the way. In development now are potential offerings involving foraging, multi-day retreats, sound meditation, and more (can’t give all the secrets away at once!).
Hope to see you all on the mountain, trail, forest path, local farm, conference room, or local tea house soon!
