Beijing (below) and Sanya are the top cities for spa development in China; Fairmont already has Willow Stream Spas in the country (right)
local Chinese customers both male and female who are interested in luxury spas. Our positioning as an energetic, social spa fi ts in well with the traditional bath house culture in China and has big appeal.” McCarthy adds: “T ere will be 100 million
outbound Chinese travellers by 2015 – more than the number of people who visit France each year. Having established brands in the Chinese marketplace gives these cus- tomers a chance to get to know our spas even before they begin travelling abroad – and once abroad they will naturally look to stay at our properties and take advantage of our world-class spas.” Gibson agrees: “China is an impor-
tant market for us just is by very nature of what’s happening there. Having hotels in key locations helps our brand from an inter- nal perspective and externally by exposing MOHG to the Chinese so that when they travel they recognise our brand. Spas are important in all of our new developments and many of the projects in China are new
SPA BUSINESS 2 2011 ©Cybertrek 2011
builds with more space, in theory, to include all of the facilities you need [such as spas]. Also there aren’t as many building restric- tions or preservations orders that you might get in Europe, for example.” Next to China, India is the second most
popular destination in the Asia-Pacifi c region for spa development in our sample (see sb10/4 p26). The key cities for openings include Mumbai and Bangalore. McCall Wilson says: “India has the biggest untapped poten- tial market. T ere’s a huge growing middle class there and what’s interesting is that the country already has a wellness culture. But it is even more challenging [than China] to import products there and learning laws in any new country is complicated too.”
CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA According to our investigation, there are 24 new spas planned in Central & South America, accounting for 10 per cent of future growth. T is makes the region the fourth most popu- lar for spa development worldwide. T e Turks
& Caicos and Costa Rica are two of the top destinations earmarked for future spas. Gibson from MOHG says: “T e market
has defi nitely slowed in Central America because of the American [economic crisis] aff ect. But the appeal is that there are already established tourism and hospitality sectors in most parts of the Caribbean. Plus there are 300 million Americans on the doorstep and it is a very attractive holiday destination from key parts of Europe. From a spa per- spective, it is best to have a resort location, as you can develop wellness programmes and entice people for a seven day stay rather than a short, city break.” Most of Accor’s spa work for Sofi tel in this
region of late has focused on rebranding – the brand is repositioning itself as a luxury off er- ing and spas are key to this – as opposed to new properties. Yet, says Duatre Ramos, “T e local distribution of products is a real chal- lenge”. For Four Seasons “it is only a question of fi nding the right location for us to develop a product of high quality,” says Norton.
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