Dreaming of a good night's sleep? Just book your trip and you do the rest

You're in a new destination, full of sights to see. There are great restaurants, trendy bars, vibrant neighbourhoods. You want to make the most of your time and do as much as possible, right? Wrong. In 2026, apparently all we want to do is sleep.

With so many people leading stressed-out lives in the modern world, the concept of "sleep tourism" has emerged in recent years. And while you would expect accommodation providers to be promoting this idea (after all, they're in the business of selling sleep), now even destinations are jumping into bed.

"Come to our destination and spend your time unconscious in a dark room!" On face value, it doesn't really sound like great tourism marketing, but that's the message I was sent recently by the tourism board of Lithuania's capital city, Vilnius. Or at least, that's how I interpreted the message... until I actually read the email.

What Vilnius's tourism authorities are actually saying is that their city improves the quality of your sleep - and they're bringing the science to prove it. Spending time in its green spaces reduces the stress hormone cortisol, walking its friendly urban design increases the sleep-promoting adenosine in your brain, and the calmer streets at night help shift you to a parasympathetic state. Basically, we've created the right environment, now you do the rest.

Obviously there are lots of cities that have similar attributes, but it shows how important this trend has become that destinations are now using it in their tourism marketing. The world's citizens - tired, stressed and unhealthy - are looking for some peace, and the whole industry wants a piece. By some estimates, sleep tourism is expected to increase by about 12 per cent a year to more than $200 billion by 2030. (Can you call that an overnight success?)

Many large hotel chains are now making small changes across their whole networks, like Westin Hotels providing a lavender and chamomile balm beside the bed to rub onto your temples, or Novotel properties offering relaxation techniques and lighting modes to support your natural circadian rhythms. At the InterContinental Fiji Golf Resort, they've even got an option for snorers (and their partners) - with a pre-arrival sleep consultation and a special kit with eye masks, nasal strips, mouth tape and magnesium oil!

The huge popularity of sleep tourism has been a wake-up call for the industry. There are now special packages dedicated to sleep, creating a new branch of wellness that may be the whole reason for a trip. A good example is the two-night Deep Sleep Retreat at the Amanbagh in India's Rajasthan, where the days are spent rebalancing your sleep patterns using Ayurvedic techniques. A typical itinerary might start at 7am with a breathwork session, then yoga followed by a curated breakfast, therapeutic treatments, lunch, a sound-healing session and a light dinner before bed.

The Six Senses in Fiji also has sleep retreats and, although they're not quite as intense, the longest option is 10 days and includes daily spa treatments and meditation or yoga, along with sleep tracking to see if it's working (for $4000, on top of accommodation, you'd hope it works!). While closer to home, Crystalbrook Byron is about to launch a new Rainforest Reset that features a guided wind-down ritual each evening to go along with the healthy relaxation drink... just in case you need any more help dozing off after a day in the subtropical forest and beaches of northern NSW.

It seems a beautiful location can be an important factor. Just like Vilnius and their peaceful city or Crystalbrook Byron and their rainforest, many of the sleep retreats have relaxing backdrops. There's Maruia River Retreat, a private forest sanctuary on New Zealand's South Island that's been designed specifically for deep rest, where the owner leads sleep workshops and sessions like gong baths and restorative yoga. Or the Outrigger Maldives Maafushivaru, located on a glimmering white beach, that offers pillow mist and sleep-enhancing balm in the room, as well as crystal sound healing sessions where resonant vibrations through your body trigger deep meditation.

But sometimes, it's not about where you are... it's about where you're not. Australian slow-living brand Life Unhurried has partnered with tiny-home provider Into the Wild Escapes to create an experience called the Deep Sleep Reset. In 60 off-grid locations across the country, the whole idea is that you're away from noise, from light, from wifi. Yes, you can get their pack with eye masks and sleep-inducing drinks, but it's the freedom from distractions that's the ultimate wellness experience.

So it's also interesting that, increasingly, technology is making its way into wellness travel. If you think there aren't more innovations to come in sleep tourism, let me put that notion to bed. There are already biohacking retreats that try to increase your life with techniques like cryotherapy, hyperbaric oxygen, photobiomodulation, and pulsed electromagnetic fields. And now vibroacoustic therapy beds seem to be one of the emerging trends, where specialised loungers use immersive audio to replicate the benefits of deep meditation without you having to think about it.

In the end, everyone wants a good night's sleep, but it's a shame so many people feel the need to travel to find it. In a perfect world, our focus on sleep when we're away will be limited to the evening, we'll wake up well-rested and have a full day to explore our destination. But until people work out how to make modern life more manageable, a sleep retreat still seems like the dream scenario.