Spa Tourism

Dr Melanie Smith, BKF University of Applied Sciences,Budapest, Hungary

Email: msmith@bkf.hu

Fancy a S

pa Holiday?

Relaxation?

Fun?

Spiritual Development?

Stress Management?

Beauty?

Healing?

Everyday Wellbeing?

Living in?

Where in the World is this.....?

Global and Placeless or Local and Specific?

Global

• Facilities such as spas and wellness hotels

• Rituals such as saunas and massage• Beauty treatments• Surgical medical tourism• Outdoor recreation, sports and

fitness• (Most) spa cuisine

Local

• Unique resources (e.g. Dead Sea, Blue Lagoon)

• Regional initiatives (e.g. Alpine wellness, Nordic Wellbeing, Baltic Health Tourism)

• Signature treatments using local indigenous traditions and ingredients (e.g. local herbs, rituals)

• Authentic ‘home’ of globalising practices (e.g. Thai massage, Ayurveda, yoga)

In Serbia....?

Brief Overview of Spas in Serbia• 250 natural springs and 100

wells with thermal water are situated in the territory of Serbia, along with natural mineral gases and medicinal mud.

• There are over fifty thermal resorts in Serbia.

• Spa therapies include consuming medical water or taking medical, therapeutic baths.(Source of map: Milivojevic, Krunic &. Martinovic, 2005)

Spa Trends in Hungary

• 2010 was the first year when the number of wellness guests was significantly higher than the number of traditional spa hotel guests

• 6-8 more new indoor spas were finished in 2010

• In January 2011 the Szechenyi Development Plan, was launched. The first priority of this plan is developing the spa and wellness industry focusing on effectiveness, modernization, innovation and complexity.

• Vinotherapy (or wine therapy) starts to develop in spas

• Cultural nights in spas are becoming more popular

• Parties in spas for young people

Spa Trends in Slovenia (Lebe, 2013)

• Slovenia has 20 thermal sources that are commercially used by thermal spas. Until 1990, 80% of guests were coming automatically as direct referrals (insurance company contact). After that, thermal spas had to find the major part of their business on the free market.

• Between 1995 and 2010 all Slovenian spas added wellness programmes to their classical health spa (and thus medicine based) offer. Consequently new segments of guests joined the traditional convalescent ones. BUT they did not mix well!

• Today all Slovenian thermal spas have a segmented offer. The vast majority of guests (60 up to 100 %) are wellness guests.

• Example: Olimia Thermal Spa has established a spatially separated offer for youth, young families and sport teams: a popular aqua-park, placed far enough from the core spa facilities not to interfere acoustically with guests who wish to relax in peace and quiet.

Characteristics of Gen Y• Age range is somewhere between 1979

and 1994.• Unique in their approach to using digital

media. • Prefer to spend rather than save money.• Emotional and novelty value important

combined with brand value. • Highly socially-oriented, word-of-mouth

marketing is valued over that of advertisers.

• The night-time economy and ‘open all hours’ culture are important

• Hedonistic and live for the moment, always looking for the ‘next big thing’ in terms of experiences.

The Experience Economy

• Customers are becoming increasingly sophisticated and discerning. They look for products and services which involve their senses and grant holistic, unique and memorable experiences (Schmitt, 1999; Ferrari, 2006).

• Spas ideally need to be unique, authentic, multi-sensory, theatrical, even spectacular in order to truly engage the increasingly sophisticated spa consumer.

• The physical environment determines the construction of ‘atmospherics’ (Kotler, 1973) that immerse the consumer in experiences (Shostack, 1977; Firat et al., 1995).

• In spas, this can include design, use of light, colour, smells and music (Marguiles, 2013).

• Unique architecture, amazing views, unusual experiences, rituals, stories, special events.

• Spas can be places of fantasy, fun, healing, relaxation and recuperation.

Beauty (fish

manicure)

Medicine (derma-tology)

Snake massage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK3sVw3dsL4&feature=related

Northern Israel

Relaxing massage

Cure various diseases

Stifness, fatigue, cramp

Non-venomous snakes

Balkan Wellbeing Project• Funded by the Hungarian government for two years• Outcomes include primary data collection, several Workshops

and 16 publications• 11 countries from the Balkan region:

– Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey

• Research so far includes:– Secondary data collection including academic sources and

QoL, Life Satisfaction, Happiness and Wellbeing Reports– Primary data in the form of a Delphi Study– Primary data in the form of a questionnaire (11,000

respondents)

Statement Agree Disagree Un-decided

The Balkans provide mainly sun, sea and sand tourism.

There is not much potential for health and wellbeing

tourism development.

 

2 20  

The Balkans mainly offer good opportunities for spa and

wellness tourism for leisure tourists.

 

15 2 3

The Balkans mainly specialise in thermal medical spas

and rehabilitation for social tourists (e.g. government-

funded).

 

12 4 5

The Balkans has good potential for health, wellness and

spa tourism but the infrastructure and services need

some development and improvements.

 

27   2

Top 5 Unique Selling Propositions

Landscapes/nature

Good climate and sun

Natural and herbal remedies

Thermal baths/balneology

Mountains and forests

Healthy food and wine

Possible New Products

• Medical

• Rehabilitation

Spas

• Forest therapy / 'hammam'

• Mountain resorts

• Eco-villages

• Outdoor recreation

Nature-based

• Mountain retreats

• Monasteries

Spiritual

• Healthy food

• Detox programmes

Nutrition

• 4 Elements and 5 Senses

• Medical mud

• Local fruits

Treatments

Suggested Main Focus of Future Product Development

Local fruit-based treatments

4 elements & 5 senses

Medical spas

Forest therapy/hammams

Healthy food

Outdoor recreation

Eco-villages

Bulga

ria

Greec

e

Roman

ia

Turke

y

Alban

ia

Mac

edon

ia

Croat

ia

Slove

nia

Mon

tene

gro

Serbi

a

Bosni

a an

d Her

zego

vina

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

Using natural healing resources/learnedUsing natural healing resources/doneUsing spas/steam/hammam /learnedUsing spas/steam/hammam /done

Using

natu

ral h

ealin

g re

sour

ces

Using

spas

/ste

am/h

amm

am

Spend

ing ti

me

in m

ount

ains

Spend

ing ti

me

by la

kes

and

river

s

Spend

ing ti

me

in woo

ds a

nd fo

rest

s

Spend

ing ti

me

by th

e se

a

Taking

trad

itiona

l (he

rbal)

rem

edies

Partic

ipatin

g in

relig

ious

activ

ities

Partic

ipatin

g in

non-

relig

ious

spirit

ual a

ctivi

ties

Cookin

g an

d ea

ting

tradit

ional

food

Dancin

g (tr

aditio

nal/f

olk)

Singing

, play

ing o

r list

ening

to tr

aditio

nal m

usic

Keepin

g clo

se re

lation

ship

with fa

mily

and

frien

ds

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

100.00%

15-29

30-39

40-49

50-59

60-99

Total

How to Project a ‘Young’ Image of Spas?

Some Final Thoughts....• Spas of the future may be

more and more about wellness (prevention not cure)

• Spas should be segmented to cater for different user groups (and ideally separated)

• Creating new and unusual spa experiences is essential

• Spas for young people are more about leisure and fun than health

• Maybe young people are not that interested in spas now (but what about later...??)

Copyright Global Spa Summit 2011