Spa and Wellness Tourism Essay Example

Spa and Wellness Tourism Essay While we were looking for information for our report we used books and the internet to find information. There was a big amount of information to history, activities, trends and jobs. General statistics and stakeholders were not easy to find. In the following report we will talk about history, activities, jobs, stakeholders, trends and the future. Furthermore, the report contains information about the importance of wellness and spa in the whole tourism sector. Before starting our researches we hoped to learn a lot about getting in contact with the wellness and spa companies. The report will be presented at the Tourism Fair 2009 at Stenden University. There will be several groups introducing different types of tourism. Therefore, we have to prepare a performance which demonstrates our type of tourism: wellness and spa. However we hope that our report will introduce the wellness and spa tourism to you. 1 History of wellness 2. 1 Development of wellness and spa Wellness is a very old and ancient but nevertheless very popular and modern form of health tourism. Nonetheless, wellness and spa tourism cannot be compared with health tourism. We will write a custom essay sample on Spa and Wellness Tourism specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Spa and Wellness Tourism specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Spa and Wellness Tourism specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Health tourism refers only to the body which is free from diseases on a physical level, but â€Å"wellness is an overall balance of your physical, social, spiritual, emotional, intellectual, environmental, and occupational well-being† (Wiki answers, 2009). People with back pains come to wellness and spa resorts and get special massages. If someone is stressed, he/she can ask for aromatherapies. In the following chapters there will be more details about these different activities. Even though the modern practices of wellness nowadays are more adapted to a person, the main idea was born to heal and clear the body and soul. Already a long time ago, people tried to find out which practices are good for the human body (Scott and Harrison, 2006). 5000 BC China: India:| Acupressure Ayurvedic medicine| 3000 BCEgypt:| Water therapy| 500 BCGreece:| Cold water therapies| 380 BCGreece:| Hippocrates believes in hot and cold bathing and uses massages to heal diseases of fighters | 50 ADEngland:| A typical roman style spa was built up in Bath| 211 ADGermany:| Discovery of thermal springs in Baden-Baden| 2. 2 Development in the last 50 years After the Second World War, the wellness sector recreated very slowly but nevertheless, wellness becomes more and more important. The concept of â€Å"wellness† and their philosophy was developed by the American Dr. Halbert L. Dunn in 1959. He called this condition of great personal contentment â€Å"high-level wellness† (cf. Prof. Dr. H. Mueller and Dr. E. Kaufmann, 2001). Since then, wellness has become an important and popular type of tourism. This is seen in the boosting economy. Nonetheless, the difference between wellness and spa tourism nowadays and the one 50 years ago is that today the possibilities and the supply is nearly gigantic. 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† (Tourism-futures, 2009). Tourists really want to have the feeling of being on a holiday and fa r away of daily stress. Of course, this is not the only way of spending time in a spa. Short stays are as well a trend and combine work with relaxing. In metropolises like New York or Paris it is very common to stay in a wellness or spa resort for just a few hours or days. However, similar choices in Asia are booked for nearly a week because of the reason that a shorter stay would not be profitable. Wellness becomes a very current topic, mainly for women. Of course, men are also interested in it but the philosophy to stay healthy and beautiful until a high age, has a bigger effect on women. Conclusion When looking at the history of wellness and spa tourism, it started already in the antiquity. It developed in the last 7000 years constantly and the climax of this progress is today. Nowadays, the wellness and spa sector is a huge part in the whole tourism sector and increases more and more. It is for women but also for men a nice possibility to forget the everyday stress and just relax. 2 Main activities undertaken in the spa/wellness sector The main undertaken activities in the wellness and spa sector are the same as 100 years ago, they are just more modern. Hence, the undertaken activities are still to refresh your mind, body and your soul, with focusing on the ritual of body care to receive health, beauty, hygiene and of course to relax. There are a lot of different activities and exercises that can be undertaken in the spa and wellness sector. Physical as well as mental exercises and some of them are a little bit of both. The most famous are: * Massages (with oil, stones, mud, etc. ) * Hydrotherapy (e. g. bath with different temperatures; therapies in spas; etc. ) * Mudbath and mudwraps * Body-rubbing (with soap, oils, perfumes, etc. ) * Different kind of therapies e. g. aromatherapy, lighttherapy. * Mind-body exercises: Yoga Pilates The key elements of massages are movement and touch. There are a lot of different massage types, some focus just on parts of the body and some on the whole body. Some are practised with aid and some without. But all of them are aiming for relaxation, the improving of circulation, balance of energy and diminishing of pain. The hydrotherapy works with the use of water to advance your well-being. Therefore, there can be exercises like relaxing in a hot spa, in a pool or in an ice bath. Water is used externally in all forms: liquid (hot-cold) and steam (ice) with using different pressures (in pools, showers, from hoses). The temperature of the water is an important factor as well, because warm till hot water raises your body temperature and cool till could water let your body temperature drop. Internal methods are, for example, to drink a lot of water or herbal tea to stay hydrated and healthy. Yoga is a spiritual discipline and aims to feel your body and control your movements. As there are many types of massages there are also many types of Yoga. The most common and modern in western countries is Hatha Yoga. There are several areas of practice such as meditation, breathing- exercises, relaxation, forgetting about your daily stress and so on. 3 Influence of seasonality After knowing the main activities of spa and wellness tourism it is clear that this sector mainly takes part indoors. So this chapter deals with the question whether seasonality has any influence on the spa and wellness sector or not. Apart from some exceptions, all facilities are found inside of spa resorts whereby season and weather have no influence at all. Thus, there is the same amount of visitors during the whole year. Winter or summer, it does not make any difference. Only some special destinations form an exception like, for instance, Iceland. Because of the thermal springs which are outdoors, Iceland has its rush of visitors in summer (Euromonitor, 2008). Some other circumstances should nonetheless be considered like e. g. depressive symptoms which occur in winter among a lot of people. The weather is constantly cold and it gets dark very early. They do not feel comfortable with these circumstances which may lead to depressions. Moreover, the lack of sunlight due to the cold and rainy weather may cause skin problems, as well (Edlin and Golanty, 2007). Therefore, spa and wellness tourism helps and tries to comfort affected people with special treatments. This might lead to seasonal variation of visitors in winter. But on the whole, it shapes only a small difference of all visitor amounts during the year. Therefore, the wellness and spa sector has a â€Å"year-round pursuit† (Verschuren, 2004, p. ). 4 Most famous and popular areas for wellness tourism As seasonality doesn’t really have an influence, also the place is not that important anymore. Because wellness and spa holidays are so popular in our time, you can make them almost all over the world. As already mentioned there are a lot of hotels which have a spa area in their facilities. Still some of th e most famous areas in this sector are: * Italy: because of the large roman history * Turkey and Spain: because they are sunny, owner of beautiful beaches and close to Europe * Israel and Jordan: because they have the Dead Sea Sri Lanka, Maldives and Thailand: because of Asian Flair and traditions * India: because of traditional treatments Sales of health and wellness products by region (Euromonitor, 2008): As you can see in the statistic above, people who spend the most money on wellness come from North America, almost level-pegging with the Western Europeans. That is because the wealth in these regions is big and therefore people are able to spend a lot of money on their well-being. Compared to this, people from Eastern Europe, Australasia, Middle East and Africa do not spend a lot of money on wellness products. In general, it is to see that the sale is increasing and because the customer is very important for the chosen destination, it is also important to define target groups. 5 Main target groups and their characteristics As described in the previous chapter, spa/wellness tourism is popular all over the world, but what are the main target groups of this specific tourism sector? 6. 3 Target groups in the Netherlands In Holland almost 30% of the Dutch people are active in the spa/wellness industry. 35% of the women and 25% of the men do spa/wellness. Wellness is very popular under the target group 20 till 30 years (Wellness in Nederland, 2008). The number of men in Holland going to spas: The number of women in Holland going to spas: 6. 4 International target groups in the wellness sector At the beginning, only young women went to spas but nowadays, young men and senior citizens also go there. It becomes popular among young men, because of the spas in fitness centres. The senior citizen goes a lot, because of the saunas, wellness centres and wellness hotels (Weiermair and Mathies, 2004). Also a lot of families go to the spa for just one day to show their children how nice and, most importantly, how relaxing it can be. Spa visitors mostly are women, they visit spas together with friends for a whole weekend just to relax and get out of their everyday lives. They do not take their children with them to the spa so they can really relax and not think about anything else for the whole weekend. Also, people with an illness are a main target group in the spa and wellness sector. They go to spas to heal their body and mind. These people get a special treatment there. Conclusion The conclusion of the research question is that there are a lot of young people and older people who go to spas for relaxing. More women are going than men, and the demographics are changing because mothers bring their children. For men it is popular to go to the spas because there are more and more spas in the fitness centres and people with an illness goes to spas to feel better. 6 Spa/wellness in the tourism industry Now, it was demonstrated what the target group is and how many people go to spas and wellness centres. With this information, the size of this sector can be examined now. The research question is: how big is the spa and wellness sector in the whole tourism industry? . 5 Tourism industry * Revenue from international passenger transport is estimated at US$ 165 billion. * There were 922 million tourist arrivals in 2008, which is a growth of 1. 9% on 2007. * The total of international tourism revenue including the transport is US$ 1. 1 trillion (UNWTO, 2009). International tourism receipts in US$ billion, 2008 (UNWTO, 2009). In the diagram, one can see that most of the money made in tourism is m ade in Europe. This is because it is easy to travel and tourists do not have to travel very far to be in another country. Africa profits the least because most of the countries are developing ones. countries. People who live there often do not go on holiday themselves. People from developed countries regularly visit other developed countries. 7. 6 Spa/wellness industry The revenues from the global spa and wellness industry were in 2007 US$ 225 billion (Asia Spa Institute, 2008). Spa and wellness tourism is the new big thing in the hospitality industry. Spas are connected to a lot of leisure destinations and can be found in most hotels which are located in business destinations. Nowadays, a lot of hotels have a spa or offer wellness treatments in order to attract tourists. Spa and wellness is an essential part for hotels and is now so common that it is not really an added value anymore (Jullaprom, 2009). Hence, this industry has become very important to the whole tourism industry. Conclusion In the whole tourism industry, there is a lot of money going around. A big part of this money is made in the spa and wellness sector and this part will continue to grow as a result of the standardisation of wellness facilities in accommodations. Jobs in the spa/wellness industry The spa/wellness industry is very popular nowadays. That is why this industry’s growth and expansion has created countless job opportunities for spa managers, aestheticians, hairdressers and masseurs (Hcareers, 2009). The International Spa Association based in Lexington, Kentucky, said that the spa and wellness industry will continue to grow. The research question here is: what kind of job s are there in the spa and wellness industry? The jobs Aestheticians An aesthetician needs a training course which will take six to eighteen months in period. They can also take a course to upgrade their skills. Spa visitors can have a body care, manicure or pedicure treatment. The spa hair stylist Before becoming a hair stylist, it is necessary to take a highly recommended training course and to practice hours as a student. If one has become a spa hair stylist, there is the opportunity to get specialized in haircuts, dyes and other hair treatments. Spa hair stylists are very popular in the spa and wellness industry. Massage therapists Massage therapists are specialized in therapeutic and relaxation massages. There are a lot of types and styles of massages. Every massage therapist usually focuses on two different types of massages. To make their massage skills perfect they train and practice. Spa support staff Receptionists have a very important role in the wellness and spa industry. They take calls and make appointments with costumers. If the wellness and spa industry offers more services to their customers, they can hire: * Dieticians * Aroma therapists * Acupuncturists * Fitness instructors * Swimming instructors Coordinators can also be employed to organize healthy and relaxing activities for the spa and wellness costumers (Hcareers, 2009). Wellness and spa manager Wellness and spa managers take care of the day-to-day business most of the time. They decide which spa treatment and massages the spa will give to their customers, they also hire the staff of the spa. A manager always tries to upgrade the provided service and to keep the business on time. Nevertheless, a manager can also be an aesthetician, hair stylist or a massage therapist. Conclusion The conclusion of this research question is that there are a lot of different jobs in spas like Aestheticians, hair stylists, massage therapists, spa support staff and spa managers. The more services are offered to costumers, the more staff can be hired like aroma therapists, fitness or swimming instructors. There are a lot of jobs in the spa and wellness industry. As long as the industry keeps growing, so will the amount of jobs. 8 Stakeholders in spa/wellness tourism As described in the previous chapter, there are different jobs in the spa and wellness sector. All these people have a stake in the development of this specific tourism sector but they are not the only ones. The question for this chapter is: what are the different stakeholders and how do they influence the sector? . 1 Stakeholders Stakeholders are â€Å"the groups of businesses, residents, governments and tourists who have a stake in the development of tourism’’ (Cooper, 2008, p. 687). Stakeholders in the spa/wellness sector are: 8. 2 Influence How the stakeholders influence the sector: * Government * Land use planning: the government can decide where you can build a spa or wellness centre, how big and how high it can be. * Hygiene: every government has rules and regulations about hygiene. * Working conditions: there are rules and regulations about how long you can work and about the physical work load. Health regulations: e. g. in the Netherlands the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment controls the water in swimming pools and saunas for the Legionella bacteria and see if the facility does enough to prevent the bacteria from arising (VROM, 2009). * Cosmetic companies * They can decide which products the spa or wellness centre uses. For example SEAH Hairspray is used in the wellness resort ‘De Zwaluwhoeve’. SEAH can influence which products are being used and how they are promoted. For ‘De Zwaluwhoeve’ it is profitable because with this collaboration they can get the products cheaper and for SEAH it’s profitable because it is good promotion (De Zwaluwhoeve, 2009). * Residents * Can try to stop the build of a spa and wellness centre if they do not want it in their area. * Residents can start working in the spa/wellness centre. * They might use the facility themselves. For instance, the wellness resort ‘De Zwaluwhoeve’ provides an annual subscription for a fixed price. This is mostly purchased by people who live in this area and use the facility on a regular basis (De Zwaluwhoeve, 2009). Tour operators and travel agencies * Can recommend the spa and wellness centre to tourists. * If a tourist books a holiday, the tour operator or travel agent can give information about the spa or wellness centre. Even if a tourist is not booking a wellness holiday, he/she might go there for a day if it is close to his destination. Conclusion There are different stakeholders who can all have an influence on the sector, some more than others. They can influence the sector either negative by rules and regulations, or positive by recommendation and deals. 9 Latest trends in the sector and the future Like already seen, stakeholders invest a lot into the spa and wellness tourism sector. That is due to the fact that this industry is growing and becoming increasingly popular among people. Hence, this chapter states the latest trends in spa and wellness tourism and what people have to expect in the future. There are numerous trends concerning the spa and wellness tourism industry which can be divided into several categories: environmental, social, health, technical and market trends. Wellness tourism concentrates strongly on sustainability to have a lasting effect in society. Services and products are based on the Triple Bottom Line, which â€Å"refers to our use, production, and conservation of people, profit and the planet† (Redman and Johnson, 2008, p. 160). Hence, wellness and spa resorts are trying to save as much energy as possible, to reduce wastes, to decrease disposal costs and to only use recyclable products. So all in all, this sector pays a lot attention to act in an environmental friendly way. Secondly, there are a lot of trends concerning social aspects. Due to statistics more and more men are using spa and wellness services. Likewise, this sector gets increasingly attracted to the youth and scientists are speaking about the development of teen-spa. Another point is, that our society becomes more demanding nowadays. They know how to evaluate the offers of wellness industries and therefore, this sector is forced to provide consumers with high quality and authenticity to give them what they expect. Thus, the competition among different companies in this sector grows and â€Å"the watchwords are no longer â€Å"location, location, location† but â€Å"service, service, service† (Redman and Johnson, 2008, p. 122). Wellness programs evermore become part of people’s vacations. Moreover, visitors seek for something exotic which is far more different than their home environment. So to say, they are looking for unknown traditional treatments and local indigenous products to which they are not used to and which are therefore experiences they can talk about. â€Å"So all these things: green and indigenous and authenticity is all combined in one big trend† (Bemis, 2008, p. 153). Furthermore, there is also a trend which leads to the increasing awareness of health. More and more people are visiting wellness and spa resorts with the aim to improve their way of life. â€Å"Spa is becoming a lifestyle† (Redman and Johnson, 2008, p. 139). Similarly, the physical appearance becomes progressively important among our community. Thus, the sector of wellness and spa tourism is developing more in the direction of health tourism because people tend to use such resorts as a source of healing. Likewise, it is to say that the health factor becomes more important than the fun factor. Other trends have developed owing to technology. There is a â€Å"Do-it-yourself trend† (Redman and Johnson, 2008) developing. That means that resorts are offering some facilities which can be used by visitors individually like. But here it is necessary to balance technology and social contacts because communication is very important in this sector. Moreover, spas are likely to be used as a balance and as a temporary escape from all the technology which is surrounding us in everyday’s life. Further, the wellness sector becomes progressively available on the internet which is more suitable for younger generations. Due to regular newsletters people get information about special offers and due to forums visitors can talk about experiences and get incitation by other consumers who have been to certain resorts. Finally there are some market trends, too. Wellness and spa tourism is developing rapidly. More and more other locations like hair salons or hotels are offering spa services like massages or facials. Likewise, fitness centres and the medical industry are likely to cooperate with spas which results into improved services and the level of awareness is rising. In addition, a lot of investors are interested in spa resorts because it has become an increased popularity. Taking all these trends into consideration, future holidays cannot be thought of without a stay at a wellness resort for at least one day. People are confronted with stress and duties at home all day. Thus, spa and wellness tourism will be increasingly purchased as an alternative to relax and enjoy the different activities offered by this sector. 10 Conclusion Our problem statement of this report was: What is wellness and spa tourism all about concerning past, present and future? While looking at the history of wellness and spa tourism, it started already in the antiquity. It developed in the last 7000 years constantly and the climax of this progress is today. Also some of the activities are still the same, but some of them have developed in the last decades. The most multifaceted activities undertaken in this sector are: relaxing, caring about the health of the body, therapies like light-, aroma- and hydrotherapie, massages, mudbaths and bodyrubbing are the very famous. All these activities can be done all year around while seasonality is not influencing the wellness and spa sector. This is mainly because it is indoors and therefore the season doesn’t really have an influence on the tourists. There are no special areas which are particularly used for wellness tourism – it is found all over the world. But there are traditional areas such as Italy, Spain, Turkey, Israel, Sri Lanka and India. The people, who go to these spas, are mostly young people and older people for relaxing. Women go to the spa more often than men, and the demographics are changing because young mothers bring their children with them. For men it is popular to go to the spas because most fitness centres have a spa nowadays. And because spa and wellness is now so popular, there are a lot of jobs for example, aestheticians, spa hairstylist, massage therapists, spa support staff, wellness and spa manager. More staff can be hired if the wellness centre offers more services. In the whole tourism industry there is a lot of money going around. A big part of this money is made in the wellness and spa sector and this part will continue to grow as a result of the standardisation of wellness facilities in accommodations. Furthermore there are stakeholders who can either have a negative or positive influence negative by rules and regulations or positive by giving recommendations and deals made with the spa or wellness centre. Possible stakeholders are e. g. overnment, tour operators, cosmetic companies etc. The stakeholders also look at the trends and use this information in their decision making process. The latest trends in the sector include categories like environmental, social, technical and health trends. Future holidays will last at least one day and it will be growing because more people will suffer from everyday life stress.