How the Intentional Leisure Trend Is Creating New Business Opportunities Across Hobbies, Experiences, and Travel

Small business takeaway:

• Intentional leisure is a consumer trend reshaping how people spend on hobbies, activities, and travel, with well-being, connection, and personal meaning increasingly driving those choices. Leisure-related companies tapping the trend underscore actionable business insights: crafting highlights the upside of turning products into community-building experiences; gardening shows how brands can unlock intimidated or first-time consumers through guidance, customization, and support; and travel is creating room for specialized, life-stage-aware experiences that feel restorative, purposeful, and worth paying for.

Wellness is more than a buzzy trend. It’s a $2.1 trillion industry as more people prioritize products and habits that contribute to their overall physical, mental, and emotional health. And as the concept of holistic health continues to gain steam, it’s impacting not only diet and exercise but extending to how consumers approach leisure time. Activities like crafting, gardening, and even travel are no longer only pleasant pastimes; they are intentional pursuits of well-being that businesses from a garden-delivery disruptor to a metabolic-health–focused retreat are indulging to unlock newfound growth.

Calm-inducing old-school crafts like knitting and quilting gain cool cred—and younger consumers

Stressed-out consumers seeking creative expressions as a form of escapism are turning to crafts. Knitting, crocheting, quilting, scrapbooking, needlepoint, and the like are growing steadily. In its US Arts and Crafts Consumer Report, market research firm Mintel found that 71% of consumers identify as crafters. And nearly half of U.S. adults have reported experiencing stress in the past year and seeking leisure activities like arts and crafts to unwind, according to Mintel.

Materials for craft activities drive big sales. North America holds the largest market share, 40.1%, of the global arts and crafts sector (sewing and fabric, arts and crafts tools, painting and drawing, and more), valued at $17.8 billion, market.us reported. 

Creative projects are often associated with reduced stress, increased relaxation, and improved social connections. Research from the University of Arizona Health Sciences found that engaging in creative pursuits alleviates cognitive strain and restores mental focus.

“There is a huge connection with [crafting and alleviating] stress,” said Abby Glassenberg, President and Co-founder of the Craft Industry Alliance, a trade association and community for the craft industry. “You get a sense of calm and satisfaction; you’re absorbed and don’t realize how much time has passed. That zone is an escape from stress and is good for the brain.” 

“There’s an old joke that quilting is cheaper than therapy. Everyone has to have a release,” added Heidi Kaisand, Publisher of Creative Retailer and Owner of Hen & Chicks Studio, which carries quilting, sewing, and craft supplies and has a retreat center where people can create. 

Younger adults, a consumer segment often engrossed in work and screens all day, are finding satisfaction in creativity. While the average quilter, for example, is age 60+, a younger cohort between ages 25 and 44, is increasingly drawn to crafting. “They have less discretionary income [than older crafters] but are spending on materials and projects,” said Glassenberg.

Kaisand agreed: “Young people don’t have the resources or time, so they are dabbling in smaller projects. But the quilting audience has stayed steady over years, so you have older people going out while younger people are coming in.”

Among subcategories that are drawing a younger consumer, knitting and crocheting are less expensive material-wise, providing a cheaper entry point. "You can buy yarn but don’t need a sewing machine like you do for quilting, where even an inexpensive model could be $500,” Kaisand said.

Scrapbooking is another segment that brings consumers in their 30s and 40s. “They have families and want to capture memories,” she continued. 

The sense of connection crafting fosters is an opportunity for retailers. Many are leaning into their stores as communal spaces, offering events like Stitch Night.

Coffee shops, cafes, bars, even movie theaters, are following suit. “Craft retailers are partnering with local food and drink establishments to create community-wide events like Knitting Nights or Knit and a Movie,” said Glassenberg.

The closure of national craft chains like Joann has industry watchers eyeing an opening for independents who highlight personalized service and high-quality materials, but shop owners should take care to have some expertise in and enthusiasm about new lines. “Whatever you bring in, you need to be authentic and credible as the seller of that product. You’re not a chain store,” Glassenberg cautioned.

[Read more: Stress-Reducing Wellness Trends Fuel Growth in the Crafts Market]

Positioning gardening as a wellness activity to attract untapped audiences

Beyond nutrition and sustainability benefits, gardening is linked to reduced stress levels, mood enhancement, and social connections. But if first timers don’t know what they’re doing, watching their results literally wither could be more discouraging than soothing.

That’s where Gardenuity saw a chance to reinvent the category with self-care interests at the center. Gardenuity sells its indoor and outdoor garden kits online and via the B2B channel with gardening workshops that are an employee benefit, and it’s expanding in retail stores with a Scott’s Miracle Gro partnership.

While the U.S. gardening category is growing—expected to hit $27.4 billion by 2030—90% of beginners fail in their first attempts, said Donna Letier, Gardenuity’s CEO and Co-founder. "[We are] a gateway for people who may be intimidated to start or who have failed to grow things before. We can turn that into confidence,” she told CO—.

Together with business partner and Co-founder Julie Eggars, Letier launched Gardenuity in 2019. To date, the company has achieved more than 3 million harvests across the United States, a core metric of customer activity, in addition to thousands more desktop gardens.

Gardenuity (a morphing of “garden” and “ingenuity”) taps horticulture and technology to make gardening, and by extension its associated health benefits, accessible through customized kits. 

Customers start by taking a quiz on Gardenuity’s Match platform about their location, motivations, availability of outdoor space, and level of experience. Horticulturists, meteorologists, soil engineers, and other experts inform its AI-powered platform to provide a plant collection best suited for the customer’s location and needs as well as season and predictive weather forecast. The company ships plants that are grown by farm partners around the United States, and a kit including a customized blend of plant nutrients, along with an instructional guide and access to a Grow Pro support team. 

While Gardenuity markets across demographics, its fastest-growing cohort is Gen Z, a segment increasingly prioritizing well-being. “My 30-year-old daughter will leave work to go to her 5:30 yoga class and then return to work,” said Letier. “They make self-care a part of their daily schedule.”

Gardenuity began by selling to individuals, but the pandemic and its subsequent at-home and hybrid work schedules drove its corporate segment, which now accounts for 50% of sales. 

“An insurance company came to us who had been reading about loneliness in the workplace,” explained Letier. They wanted to roll out gardening workshops as an employee benefit. COVID hit, and four weeks later they asked if they could move the workshops online, she said.

That was the beginning of virtual gardening workshops, which the company now holds nationally. “About 20% of the workshops we do are in person; all others are virtual, and we have 53 in total scheduled next week alone,” Letier said. 

Eighty-three percent of corporate customers rebook. “As hybrid and remote work increased, corporations realized that they were not feeling a culture of connectivity. Many companies might offer wellness-related perks like subscriptions to Calm or Peloton but that is not bringing connection,” explained Letier. “With gardening, you’re building a community and that gives you something to talk about.”

[Read more: Startup Gardenuity Melds Tech and Community to Forge Wellness Niche—Attracting Untapped Audiences]

Longevity tourism, silent activities, and nature programs are driving wellness travel

Wellness also has impacted travel plans and it involves much more than a spa visit, explained Nicole Mahoney, CEO of Travel Alliance Partnership. Female travelers especially are gravitating toward the promise of long-term health benefits that’s helped fuel the growth of longevity tourism, a holistic blend of wellness and medicine that includes personal health diagnostics.

Destinations are transforming from pampering resorts to women’s longevity programs with structured medical wellness routines. Several resorts are incorporating women’s programs focused on health shifts related to hormones, immunity, bones, and the cardiovascular system. 

Canyon Ranch’s resort in the Berkshires offers M/Power: Menopause and Perimenopause Retreats that combine traditional and alternative medicine with mental health programs and a personalized menopause plan. Its new location in Austin, Texas includes a dedicated women’s wellness practice. 

Six Senses resorts have a dedicated Female Wellness program that includes a focus on metabolic health screenings with experts, biometric testing, sleep analysis, continuous glucose monitoring, and strength training.  

Similarly, Sha Wellness Clinic launched a Women’s Unit, where a team of medical doctors, psychologists, and regenerative-health experts “tackle the specific hormonal and health shifts women experience from adolescence to post menopause,” according to the Global Wellness Summit’s annual trend report.

Beyond women-specific programs, as consumers’ idea of wellness evolves, so does related tourism. 

Trips to run marathons or 5Ks can now fall under the wellness heading, said Travel Alliance Partnership’s Mahoney, as can the growing nonalcohol/sober-curious consumer. Driven by Gen Z, the nonalcoholic beverage trend means travel destinations will need to rethink their draw. Wineries, for example, “have been known for girls’ getaways,” she said. “They’ll need to think about what the new girls’ getaway looks like. Gen Z may still visit wine regions, but they’re interested in the production, meeting the farmers, and photography to a greater extent than sipping the wine.”

A top motivation for leisure travel is to rest and recharge, cited by 56% of survey respondents in Hilton’s 2026 Trends report. What today’s consumers feel they need to decompress has given rise to what the hotel chain dubs “Hushpitality.” Their craving for low-stimulation, peaceful activities can take many forms, including solo travel, silent activities, or contemplative experiences that nourish the mind, body, and spirit. Silent or calming experiences trending among American travelers include a heightened interest in nature immersion retreats (67%), spiritual retreats (60%), and meditation/silent retreats (56%), says the Hilton report.

The Global Wellness Institute reports a growing interest in nature-based programs as part of a larger physical and mental repair trend. For example, star bathing—quiet, unstructured presence under the stars—is being adopted by wellness resorts worldwide. At Cal-a-Vie Health Spa in California, “galaxy wellness” pairs stargazing with solar hikes. Six Senses offers moonlight meditations and astronomer-guided star-watching at properties including Kanuhura in the Maldives. And Cayo Levantado’s Yubarta Wellness Centre in the Dominican Republic holds full- and new-moon ceremonies that anchor monthly programming, complete with song, journaling, and intention setting. 

“Slow travel is definitely a trend,” said Mahoney. “Things are moving so fast people want to unplug, slow down, and have a more meaningful experience.” 

[Read more: From 'Skillcations' to 'Hushpitality': Brands Court Consumers Seeking Enrichment-Driven Travel]

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