Beyond Wellness By BERNARD BURT

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Medical Spas

MEDICAL SPAS ARE OPENING A CATEGORY

OF TRAVEL THAT GOES BEYOND WELLNESS

Beyond Wellness, Medical Spas are the Future

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Bernard Burt is senior editor and columnist for Spa Management Journal.

By BERNARD BURT

He authored “100 Best Spas of the World” and “Fodor's Healthy Escapes.” Updates and industry news are on his website SpaGoer.com As founding director of the International Spa Association (ISPA), Burt tracked international trends and brought together European, American, and Asian health resorts. In 2011 he became co-chair of the Washington Spa Alliance, creating a forum for health tourism and the spa community of the national capital region.

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In the not too distant past, physicians, nurses, aestheticians, and health professionals could be trusted to act ethically and nobly for the good of their patients. But the role of spas has been largely overlooked.

Data from The Global Wellness Tourism Congress (GWTC) documents this growing market. Susie Ellis, Chairman and CEO of the GWTC presented new findings at ITB Berlin last March. Yet among acres of exhibitors and buyers at the world’s largest travel trade fair, spas were not represented as Providing keys to a healthy lifestyle, spas are destinations.

opening a category of travel that goes beyond The newly released “Global Wellness Tourism wellness. Economy” report, based on research undertaken by SRI International for the GWTC, reveals that Europe WELCOME TO THE NEW WORLD OF is a wellness travel powerhouse: ranking No.1 WELLNESS TOURISM AND MEDICAL SPAS. globally for annual trips taken (203 million) and While the U.S. and Canada lag behind Europe in No.2 for expenditures ($158.4 billion USD or 115.3 development of wellness resorts, the American spa billion €). experience adds new dimensions, enhancing THE FULL REPORT COVERS 5 GLOBAL healthy lifestyles. REGIONS (WITH NATION BREAKOUTS): Overlooked is the fact that European wellness North America - and US breakout tourism has become a global market, accounting Asia Latin America for 40% of wellness-focused trips worldwide. Europe * Europe ranks #1 for wellness-focused trips taken Middle East - Africa. * Six of the top ten nations in the world for Wellness tourism is defined as “all travel associated wellness travel spend are in Europe * Germany dominates - driving one in 10 of all with enhancing one’s personal well-being,” Europeans drive nearly 2 in 5 of all trips taken - and dollars/euros spent in this travel category * Russia, Turkey and Poland ("The New Europe") euros spent - in this category every year. Six of the top ten nations for wellness tourism expenditures will grow fastest through 2017 May 2014 •

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are in Europe, ranking in order as: Germany, France, Austria, UK, Italy and Switzerland. And this wellestablished European travel market will see a 7.3% annual growth rate through 2017, with Russia, Turkey and Poland clocking the fastest growth. Speaking at the ITB Berlin Experts Forum on Wellness, Ellis noted: “Europeans are the most sophisticated, experienced wellnessand prevention-focused focused travelers on the planet. They not only take frequent trips within their own countries and across Europe, they’re also pegged as the largest source market for international wellness travel. And with so many European tourism boards – from Austria to Slovenia – now smartly promoting their unique offerings, the region will only continue to attract more health-minded travelers from all over the world.” KEY FINDINGS No. 1 in Trips: Europe leads the world in the number of wellness tourism trips taken annually (domestic and international combined). If 524 million such trips are taken worldwide each year, Europe represents 39% of the total, or 202.7 million. No. 2 for Expenditures: The global wellness tourism market is worth $439 billion, and Europe drives 36% of all expenditures ($158.4 billion USD or 115.3€ billion), ranking right behind North America, which grabs 41% of the market. SIX OF THE TOP 10 - AND 11 OF THE TOP 20 - NATIONS FOR WELLNESS TOURISM EXPENDITURES ARE IN EUROPE: Expenditures (in billions) & Global Rank for Expenditures: Germany - $42.2/30.8€ - No.2 France - $24.1/17.6€ - No.4 Austria - $14/10.2€ - No.5 UK - $12.3/8.9€ - No.7 Italy - $11.7/8.5€ - No.8 Switzerland - $11.4/8.3€ - No.9 Spain - $7.6/5.5€ - No.12 Russia - $3.8/2.8€ - No.17 Portugal - $3.4/2.5€ - No.18 Greece - $3.3/2.4€ - No.19 Turkey - $3.2/2.3€ - No. 20 www.medicalspasreview.com

Medical Spas

ANNUAL TRIPS (DOMESTIC + INTERNATIONAL, IN MILLIONS) Germany - 49.2 France - 27.3 UK - 17.8 Austria - 11.3 Switzerland - 10.1 Spain - 9.9 Russia - 9.9 Italy - 8 Turkey - 6.6 Greece - 4.5 Portugal - 3.4 GERMANY = REGIONAL LEADER The “Big Three,” Germany, France and Austria, currently account for over $80 billion USD/58 billion€ in wellness tourism spend yearly - or nearly 1 in 5 dollars spent in this global travel segment. And Germany ranks No. 1 by strong margins for both trips and expenditures in Europe: with 49.3 million trips and $42.2 billion USD (30.72€ billion) in receipts annually – trailing only the U.S. for both trips and spend. In fact, Germany drives nearly one in 10 wellness tourism dollars spent globally. German travelers also rank No. 1 among all nations for outbound/international wellness travel. Germans took 19.4 million trips abroad - more than twice as many as the far more populous No. 2 country, the United States, with its notoriously “passport-averse” population. DOMESTIC TRIPS DOMINATE – BUT LESS SO THAN GLOBALLY Worldwide, domestic wellness tourism is much larger than its international equivalent, accounting for 84% of trips. In Europe, domestic trips are slightly less dominant, at 77%, due to the ease of border-hopping across the continent. That may be why, after the U.S., four of the top five nations worldwide for international wellness tourism arrivals are in Europe: No. 2 France drives 6.9 million inbound trips; No. 3 Austria, 5.7 million; No. 4 Germany, 5.6 million; and No. 5 Switzerland, 5.1 million. And five European • May 2014

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