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So, while wellness tourism can sound niche or overly exotic, it needs to be rec- ognised as a powerful, rapidly growing, mainstream consumer force that will just continue to grow the spa market – and shake up where people choose to go, and what they choose to do, on their increas- ingly precious time off. In this sense, every country would ben-


efi t by promoting their wellness resources – whether natural hot springs, ancient heal- ing traditions or a wealth of practitioners – like they would any other natural resource. And while wellness tourism is the concep- tual category you should organise around, every region needs to clearly tell its unique, tangible wellness resource story. India, for example, heavily promotes its rich history of ayurveda, yoga and meditation, while Thailand spotlights its rich tradition of spa and Thai massage and Italy its fango mud. Signifi cantly, more government tourism departments are now ‘getting’ the wellness tourism opportunity. Spain has made wellness a core focus for its current tourism initiatives. Switzerland has a spa tourism brochure (see SB09/4 p28), while encouraging wellness/spa tourism on its website. Meanwhile in Sweden, the government is spreading the word about Swedish massage, and listing numerous spas on its website where authentic versions of the modality can be experienced. At the 2013 GSWS, which is to be held in New Delhi in October, a Global Wellness Tourism Congress will take place on the fi rst day, where major public and private sector stakeholders will gather to share their wellness tourism strategies. During this special congress, SRI International will share fi ndings from its new research, The Global Wellness Tourism Impact Study, the fi rst authoritative report benchmark- ing this category and that will quantify the value of a wellness tourist to a country’s


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Thailand is a leading example of how countries can benefi t from promoting wellness resources


economy both in terms of increasing rev- enue as well as job creation.


TAKE ACTION NOW So what steps can spas and spa associations take now to help spread the wellness tour-


ism message loud and clear? ■ Always communicate these clear


and consistent defi nitions ■ Educate national/regional tourism organisations about promoting medical


tourism and wellness tourism separately ■ Encourage them to start promoting their wellness resources in their


mainstream campaigns ■ Encourage a cooperative, collaborative spirit between medical and wellness


tourism and recommend one to the other ■ Market to domestic, intraregional and international medical


tourists and wellness tourists ■ Tell your story: promote your authentic,


indigenous, signature offerings ■ Package/promote total experiences: wrap up spa offerings with other wellness experiences like fi tness,


nature and healthy cuisine ■ Expand data collection efforts on wellness tourism in general, and for its individual sub categories (the specifi c reasons for travel)


■ People seek results: promote the medical evidence that exists for your spa and region’s unique wellness modalities. Use www.spaevidence.com as a resource. Wellness tourism and medical tourism


are very different and that's a good thing. The bottom line is that we have to catch up with – and inspire – the new wellness- focused traveller. We need to support a global wellness tourism movement, and innovate about how to establish it as an accepted category of travel… like eco-tour- ism or adventure travel. It is (and will be) a far larger, more mainstream market than either of those. But fi rst, let’s work together to put category confusion to rest, and start taking concrete action. ●


ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Susie Ellis is the president of SpaFinder® Wellness, a leading spa and wellness media, marketing and gifting company. She’s also chairman and CEO of the Global Spa & Wellness Summit, which brings together leaders to shape the future of the global wellness industry. Tel: +1 212 716 1212 Email: susie@spafi nder.com Twitter: @susieellis


spa business handbook 2013 141


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