SPA TOURISM: QUEBEC
The Association Québécoise des spas launched in May and already has 39 operator members. Its aim is to develop cohesion between industry players and to represent and promote them
the St Lawrence Lowlands – attracting 4.6 million, or 18 per cent of, international vis- itors a year who typically come from the US, France, the UK, Germany, Mexico and Japan. And while 70 per cent of tourism businesses are located outside of Québec City and Montréal, Québec City is a hub for spa and wellness tourism. Te city, and its surrounding area, has seen
a number of new spa developments open in both traditional resorts and more contem- porary city sites and in our case studies, we highlight a variety of those on offer. Most notably, in order to really push the
growth of the spa industry, a new association – Association Québécoise des spas (AQS) – was launched this May and it already has 39 spa operator members. AQS’s strategy is to develop a cohesion between the players in the industry, to represent and promote spas in the region and to create tools and strat- egies to assist in challenges they may face. See our interview with AQS’s president and CEO Lucie Brosseau on p52. In a nod to the investment the province
dedicates to R&D, Québec City prides itself on being a place where creative ideas can thrive. For years it’s been a meeting ground of different cultures, languages and people. Tis is notable in the trend of Nordic-themed spa facilities focused on thermal and water circuits. Traditionally situated in natural set- tings such as at Station Blü (see case study 1), Nordic spas are now finding their way into the urban sprawl and include SkySpa, which opened in Québec City in January 2012 fol- lowing its first site in Montréal (see sb11/1 p42); Spa Tyst Tradgard and Zone Spa. Elsewhere, Daniel Gauthier, the former
president and co-founder of Cirque du Soleil – which was first established on the east shores of the St Lawrence River – is now venturing into wellness. Te 2,500sq ſt (232sq m) Spa du Verger which is also
CA$7m has been spent on hotel improvements over the last eight years including a full-service spa supplied by Pevonia
CASE STUDY 2 Boutique & Spa signé Pevonia, Hôtel Manoir Victoria T
his traditional four-star hotel in the centre of Québec City dates back to the 1830s, when it was known as Hôtel
Victoria and was originally connected to the a Turkish bath and pool complex by an overpass. By the 1920s, it had become the fashionable place to be seen, but was forced to close in 1978 as it unable to compete with more modern facilities. It was reborn as Hôtel Manoir Victo-
ria in 1988 following a ca$12m (us$12.2m, €9.4m, £7.6m) for initial refurbishments. In the past eight years, a further ca$7m
focused on the Nordic bath cycle is due to open in December in Hôtel La Ferme, a contemporary 145-bed hotel that’s part of a wider ca$300m (us$306m, €235m, £190m) integrated tourism scheme called La Mas- sif de Charlevoix. Te scheme, includes a corridor of development in Québec’s Char- levoix region across three environments – the mountains, a train line and a regen- erated farm (ferme). Te spa features six treatment rooms, including one double suite; a thermal therapy circuit comprising
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(us$7.1m. €5.5m, £4.4m) has been spent on improvements including the creation of a full-service spa catering to a local day market, accounting for 40 per cent of cli- ents, as well as guests of the 156-bedroom hotel who make up the remaining 60 per cent of customers. Incorporated in the lower levels of the
hotel, Boutique & Spa signé Pevonia has eight treatment rooms, an indoor pool, fitness facility and a sauna. It offers a wide range of treatments by Pevonia, with a 60-minute Swedish massage priced at ca$120 (us$122, €94, £76)
an aromatic steamroom, Finnish sauna, two outdoor whirlpools (one for 25 people), cold plunge pool and snow dispenser; a relaxa- tion area; a healthy drink and food bar; and a gym and mind body studio. So, Québec… a region where tradition
meets modernity and creativity abounds. Increasingly, the environment (natural, cul- tural, rural and urban) is shaping investment priorities with the spa sector contributing significantly to the overall appeal of this as a place to live, work and visit. l
SPA BUSINESS 4 2012 ©Cybertrek 2012
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