ATLAS Special Interest Group
Spa and Wellness Research Group
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Melanie Smith
University of Greenwich, United Kingdom
M.K.Smith@gre.ac.uk
The SIG Spa and Wellness Tourism will focus on the development and management of health and wellness tourism, an important contemporary growth sector. Not only are many people increasingly concerned about their physical, social and psychological wellbeing in their everyday lives, but they are also prepared to travel long distances to experience different forms of wellness tourism. This ranges from the immersion of the body in the healing waters of a spa to the quest for spiritual enlightenment in an ashram, or even cosmetic enhancement through surgical treatments or beauty therapies.
In many ways, wellness tourism is one of the most ancient forms of tourism if one considers the scrupulous attention paid to wellbeing by Romans and Greeks, the quests for spiritual enlightenment of Mediaeval Pilgrims, or the medical seaside and spa tourism of the 18th and 19th Century European élite. Arguably however, there has been an intensification in the pursuit of wellness in the history of tourism in recent years. The proliferation of wellness centres, holistic retreats, spas, spiritual pilgrimages, complementary and alternative therapies is unprecedented (House of Lords Report on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2000). Theories abound as to the reasons for this exponential growth, many of which cite the anomie of Western, Capitalist societies, the breakdown of traditional religions, and the fragmentation of communities. Concomitant progress in science and medicine has led to better preservation of the body and increasing absence of disease, yet mental, psychological and emotional problems are often left untreated. However, help appears to be at hand in the form of new psychotherapies, complementary treatments and now, an ever increasing wellness leisure and tourism sector.
The focus of the Spa and Wellness group will therefore be to examine the range of motivations that drive this diverse sector of tourists, the products that are being developed to meet their needs, and the management implications of these developments. These are some of the areas that will be focused on:
- Medical / cosmetic (e.g. hospitals and clinics)
- Corporeal / physical (e.g. sports, spas, massage, yoga, fitness)
- Occupational wellness (e.g. for business people, such as life-coaching, stress management, Neuro-Linguistic Programming)
- Therapeutic recreation (e.g. rehabilitation, stress and pain management through sport, yoga, creative activities, spas, etc)
- Escapism and relaxation (e.g. beaches, spas, mountains - Alpine Wellness, Thalassotherapy)
- Contemplative / calming (e.g. meditation, Tai Chi, Qi Gong)
- Hedonistic / experiential (e.g. festival spaces, creative tourism)
- Mystical / psychic (e.g. alternative therapies, such as astrology, aura readings, Tarot, crystal healing, angels)
- Existential and psychological (e.g. holistic centres focused on self-development and philosophical contemplation)
- Spiritual (e.g. pilgrimage, New Age events, yoga retreats)
- Community-orientated (e.g. voluntary work, charity treks, holistic centres)
To communicate with members of this SIG, please send e-mails to the "spa and wellness" discussion list: spa@atlas-euro.org. Only SIG members will receive a copy of the message and will be able to send a message.
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Melanie Smith
University of Greenwich, United Kingdom
M.K.Smith@gre.ac.uk
Historic concept, future prospects
25 - 28 June 2007, Budapest, Hungary
Summary of the Event
The first Spa and Wellness Tourism Special Interest Group meeting was attended by 21 participants from 14 different countries. As well as engaging in some lively debates about the history and development of spa and wellness tourism, delegates visited a typical historic Hungarian spa and enjoyed a group dinner courtesy of the Hungarian National Tourism Office. Informal social activities also gave participants the chance to get to know one another and share interests.
The academic Programme was diverse and interesting with presentations of an excellent standard. The general themes covered included:
- Definitions, typologies and motivations of wellness tourists
- Managing wellness tourism
- History and development of spas
- New product development in wellness tourism
Case studies focused on a broad range of destinations and sites such as historic and heritage spas, day spas, wellness hotels, medical wellness centres, holistic centres, and mountain, lake and seaside wellness resorts.
The main issues discussed could be summarised as follows:
- Definitions:
There is a definite need for a comprehensive definition of wellness tourism. The question is, should there be one all-encompassing definition or many - i.e. for each typology of wellness (e.g. medical, spa, holistic, etc). There will clearly be national variations, especially as the word `wellness` does not exist in some languages.
- Demand:
It is difficult to know who is primarily motivated by wellness tourism and who is an `incidental` wellness tourist (e.g. predominantly in a hotel or resort for leisure, business or other purposes). It seems that in many regions of the world healing as a motivation is in decline and is being taken over by leisure. There are problems of mixing groups with different interests and motivations within one facility (e.g. young leisure tourists and older medical tourists). There is also a question about how to target new markets to wellness destinations (e.g. men).
- Diversification:
Many presenters talked about the problems of using resources in a creative way at the same time as preserving heritage. The globalisation or standardisation of products was seen as a problem for destinations trying to find unique selling points. There are also some interesting questions about the relationship between authenticity and fantasy within a wellness setting.
- Service:
There was some discussion of labelling and measurement of quality in wellness tourism. Staff attitudes and training were seen as key issues, as were qualifications and regulations. It was agreed by the group that a customer-orientated rather than a product-orientated approach was optimal.
- Experience:
The importance of experience was acknowledged as being a priority, for example, the atmosphere, emotion or `soul` of a wellness destination or resort. There is sometimes a need to move away from the `hospital feeling` of many traditional health resorts (e.g. in Central and Eastern Europe). On the other hand, we need to question whether the creation of an Asian atmosphere (e.g. through Ayurveda, Thai massage, etc) is the most appropriate for a heritage spa in Europe.
- Wellness and lifestyle:
The issue of individual responsibility for wellness was mentioned frequently by presenters. Prevention rather than cure is seen as the way forward. Wellness is sometimes seen as a basic human right with fundamental links to quality of life, however many people are not well-informed about available activities. There is a need for better public education, marketing and familiarisation trips. There was a question about whether wellness tourism can influence peoples` lives in the long-term.
- Marketing:
The group discussed different marketing approaches and tools (e.g. Alpine Wellness). The creation of unique selling propositions which are indigenous to a region or destination were deemed important. The use of (in)appropriate images was discussed (e.g. the use of bikini-clad women to sell heritage spas). Sometimes it was thought that the core products did not match the excellent marketing (e.g. run-down facilities and poor service in CEE). The attraction of new target markets is seen as a challenge (e.g. more men, younger people) as well as the problems of mixed markets.
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