Why wellness is booming at festivals in the UK

Smelly outside toilets, muddy fields, day drinking and not sleeping might sound like a familiar festival experience to many.

But, as people spend more money on activities that improve their wellbeing – it is a multi-trillion pound industry – music events are dedicating spaces to things like yoga classes and wood-fired saunas, to appeal to festival-goers.

Worth more than £160bn, the UK’s wellness industry is continuing to grow in 2026 and the average consumer spent about a third more in 2024 than five years before that, according to the Global Wellness Institute.

Organisers of the Boardmasters festival, in Newquay, Cornwall, said they have seen a massive shift in demand for wellness, as attendees seek to “maintain their at-home rituals” like morning yoga, runs or treatments while at the event.

“Five or 10 years ago, wellness was very much a niche add-on. Now it’s a core part of why people come,” organisers said.