Digital detox: Hospitality industry calls on guests to disconnect

World Today

If one of your New Year’s resolutions for 2017 is to spend less time on your smart phone or tablet, and more time with your friends and family, the hospitality industry has something that might help you reach that goal.

CGTN’s Roza Kazan reports. Follow Roza Kazan on Twitter @rozakazancctv

The Mount Snow resort in the U.S. state of Vermont is a skiing getaway that the company calls the perfect way to unplug and disconnect.

Across the United States, hotels like Mandarin Oriental are actually offering what they call “digital detox” programs, where guests are encouraged to surrender their phones and tablets upon arrival.

Psychotherapist Meredith Cohn Srivastava said being constantly connected can actually harm us.

Putting away your electronic devices, therapists said, can help improve posture, memory and relationships. And it’s something the hospitality and leisure sector is picking up on.

What’s more, some companies have shifted to offering family tours chock-full of planned activities, exactly what Mount Snow offers in the summer – a week-long “family camp” complete with boating trips and bonfires, where no phones are allowed.

Their key marketing motto? “Unplug to Reconnect”