The Global Spa and Wellness Summit (GSWS) has revealed further information about the talks from two wellness experts – Don Ardell PhD and John Travis MD – that are set to take place at the 2014 conference on 10-12 September in Marrakech, Morocco.

The theme of this year’s GSWS conference is ‘Fast Forward’ but its organisers, including CEO Susie Ellis, believe that in order to discuss the future of spa and wellness, delegates must understand the industry’s origins and evolution. Ardell and Travis are equipped to explain these developments, according to Ellis.

Ardell’s career has involved public health facility planning in the US and effecting changes to public health and public policy by promoting wellness education via a number of publications, including his 1977 book High Level Wellness: An Alternative to Doctors, Drugs and Disease.

“I’m excited to discuss the history of wellness with industry leaders in Marrakech and help them identify key opportunities for advancing real wellness in the world,” said Ardell in a statement. "My own thinking has changed in some significant ways and for me, R.E.A.L. wellness – which stands for reason, exuberance, athleticism and liberty – is what’s most vitally needed in our world today. These dimensions are too often ignored in most wellness models.”

“But core ideas I argued for in High Level Wellness remain. Modern medicine is a wonderful thing, but there are two problems: people expect too much of it and too little of themselves,” Ardell added.

Travis, meanwhile, opened what GSWS has coined the world’s first wellness centre in California in 1975 – The Wellness Resource Center. The US news programme “60 minutes” profiled Travis’ centre in 1979, educating mainstream America about the concept of wellness.

“Spas are uniquely perfect places to connect your body, emotions, mind and spirit – away from the debilitating stress and busyness of modern life,” said Travis. “After decades of thinking about wellness, I would summarise my work in six words: the currency of wellness is connection. I look forward to explaining this deceptively simple concept at the Summit and how it can guide delegates’ future business.”