Billabong Retreat listed for sale as 'wellness tourism' attracts big bucks

Australia’s largest wellness resort, Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat, is now in the due diligence stage after an expressions-of-interest campaign wrapped up earlier this month. The deal came hot on the heels of the sale of Gaia Retreat & Spa to Andrew “Twiggy” Forest’s company for about $30 million.

Paul and Tori von Bergen have owned and operated the Billabong Retreat for 11 years, with a growth in revenue of 45 per cent over the past five years reflecting the wellness industry’s monumental surge in popularity.

“I think the pandemic has made people realise that we’re all connected, we’re all vulnerable, that you can’t rely on someone else to look after your health,” Mr von Bergen said.

“People are cottoning on to the fact that they do want to feel better and they do want to be healthy.”

After his corporate career overseas ended in a failed business venture in the early 2000s, Mr von Bergen moved to Thailand and began studying yoga and practicing meditation.

In 2009, he and wife Tory von Bergen bought 4.4 hectares of bushland in Maraylya in Sydney’s north-west and opened Billabong Retreat in 2011.

“It started off very small,” Mr von Bergen said. “Me teaching all the yoga and my wife doing all the cooking and juggling twin boys. It’s grown steadily over the years.”

Now the business employs nearly 50 staff and has welcomed 27,000 guests through its doors in the past 11 years.

The property has 26 rooms, cabins and deluxe villas as well as a restaurant, main yoga workshop, floating yoga pavilion, spa centre and magnesium pool.

Catering to Sydney’s executive clientele, Billabong’s retreat packages are fully inclusive of organic vegetarian meals, accommodation, yoga and meditation classes and some spa treatments.

The award-winning property is listed with Colliers’ Karen Wales, Gus Moors and George Hudson with a sale price expected to exceed $25 million.

“Over the past few years, there has been a shift in consumer demand not only at the property but also across the wellness industry, resulting in strong growth in retreat rates,” Mr Moors said.

He said total revenue per available room had increased from $443 in the 2019-2020 financial year to $551 in 2020-2021. This was projected to reach $655 in the next two years.

Ms Wales said the pandemic had driven a shift in lifestyle tourism and “spiritual tourism” as people increasingly placed greater value on their mental health and physical wellbeing.

“Prevention is better than cure,” she said. “These sorts of retreats offer that opportunity to check out and reset your health and wellness.

“They are highly profitable and have a high level of guests returning.”

Colliers also handled the recent sales campaigns for Gaia Retreat, formerly part-owned by Olivia Newton-John, and Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat, part-owned by Hugh Jackman.

“We are seeing a mix of different buyers, a mix of domestic and international,” Ms Wales said. “Some funds are looking to put together wellness funds, both here and in Asia.”

Owner-operator groups were also in the market, she said, as were high-net-worth individuals looking to invest in lifestyle businesses.

The wellness travel sector represents an attractive investment. By 2022, the global wellness tourism market is predicted to be valued at $919 billion – up from $639 billion in 2017.

Ms Wales said international wellness tourism was expected to grow 12 per cent annually over the next seven years, with Australia well placed to benefit from the influx.