Yahoo Finance Unusual new tourism trend offers Aussies freebies to solve common $66 billion problem: 'Exciting'
Sleep deprivation costs the Australian economy tens of billions of dollars a year and this new trend hopes to fix that.
You could stay at an Aussie hotel for free if you manage to sleep for more than nine hours. This isn't a challenge or a game, it's one hotel jumping on a new global travel trend that is set to grow to $400 billion by 2028.
MACq01 in Hobart will shave $100 off your bill for every 60 minutes over six hours that you're off in dreamyland for, and if you hit nine hours then your bill for one night is reduced to nothing. The hotel's Danika Porter told Yahoo Finance this is definitely for people who want to relax, unwind and catch up on some much-needed zzz's.
"We have a lot of guests that don't want to leave," she said.
"So we're just trying to say, instead of having those really busy, adventurous-style holidays, come on down and have a holiday where you literally go back home feeling better and more relaxed than when you left."
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The hotel has made some alterations to the rooms dedicated to the offer, with a specialised sleep tracker embedded into the mattress to track the time and quality of a guest's sleep.
There's red room lighting, salt lamps, weighted blankets, and a curated food and drink menu that aims to give you "the best night's sleep".
There's even a comprehensive pillow menu that comes with a guide on which pillow to choose for the type of sleeper you are.
The full terms and conditions for the offer can be found here.
Aussies are in desperate need of more sleep: $66 billion problem
According to a government report, four in 10 Aussies aren't getting enough sleep, which can have detrimental flow-on effects for the population and the economy.
The Australasian Sleep Association stated that insufficient sleep affects the functioning of every cell in the human body.
Insufficient sleep can impair judgement and mental functioning, which cost the Australian economy $17.9 billion in lost productivity in 2016-17. The government report said the overall cost of inadequate sleep, when you add in health and well-being, is estimated to be $66.3 billion.
Another study found nearly half (48 per cent) of all Aussie adults reported at least two sleep-related problems, which can increase the risk of chronic health conditions and risk factors.
That's why sleep tourism is becoming such a big trend.
It's all about the three R's
People around the world are specifically seeking out locations, hotels and activities that will allow them to enhance and increase their sleep.
Instead of packing up and moving to a different place every two days, sleep tourists prefer to stay in one location and keep high-adrenaline activities to a minimum. It's all about resting, relaxing, and recuperating.
"When you get so little [annual] leave, I try to jam-pack my leave with so much that you come back really exhausted," Porter told Yahoo Finance.
It's part of a wider trend known as "slow travel", where you're not going from place to place, bar to bar, bike ride to boat ride. While that can be fun, some weary travellers joke about needing a holiday from their holiday.
A recent study found 94 per cent of respondents wanted to experience slow travel and hotels like MACq01 have definitely listened.
“Gone are the days of travelling and coming home exhausted,” Rebecca Robbins, a sleep scientist at Harvard’s Division of Sleep Medicine, said.
“The idea that travel could restore you—to cognitively learn things and experience new things and also physically and mentally get the rest you need to power your trip and to allow you to return home rested—is a really exciting proposition.”
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