The European Spa Market presented by Reinhard Petry

Reinhard Petry from European Spas Association speaking at Glow 2010 in Kuala Lumpur.

At last week’s Glow 2010, mr. Reinhard Petry, Project Manager at the European Spas Association (ESPA) presented his view on the European spa and wellness market, and where it is heading. The global spa market is huge, and in Europe alone there are 180 million overnights per year at a spa or wellness center. Believe it or not, but the health tourism market is extimated to be the most growing market the next 10 years.

First of all, Petry pointed out that there is currently a differentiation between how the spas in Europe and the spas in the U.S. view their role as wellness expanders and advocates. The European spas are very concerned with prevention and rehabilitation, together with the use of local national remedies and products, while American spas are more devoted to enhance overall wellbeing through a variety of professional services. In Europe, overnight stays are most common, while the U.S. has more day spas, with a total of 100 million visits to American spas last year.

With the boom in this industry, more and more players want to get in. But what should you as a spa ower do to really succeed among the fierce competition in the global wellness industry? Here are some of the main critical issues that should be met by all spas and wellness centers, noted by mr. Petry:

• Good language skills
• Good formation and continuous formation of the personel
• Use the cuisine as a unique selling point
• Include offers for the children
• Make sure the opening hours are set after the customers’ needs, not the personel
• Do quality control by recognized enterprises (such as Europspa Med och Eurospa Wellness)

Are you a spa owner? In that case, what do you see as the most important issue to raise the level of service to attract more international patients? Comment below or on our Facebook Page.

Glow 2010 – a Success

Andrew Jacka

Last week, Novasans participated in Glow 2010 – one of the major medical tourism and

Naresh Jadeja

wellness congresses in South East Asia this year. The congress was held at Berjaya Times Square in Kuala Lumpur, due to the city’s central position among the four main target countries; Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

The congress adressed many valuable issues for those working in the global healthcare market, and the discussions were sometimes intense and engaging. Some of the head speakers at the event were Andrew Jacka, who is a chariman of Asia Pacific SPA & Wellness Coalition, Naresh Jadeja, President of International Wellness and Healthcare Travel Association, Upasna Kameneni at the Apollo Group of Hospitals in India and Reinhard Petry, Project Manager at the European Spas Association (ESPA).

Some of the major issues addressed were the new era of wellness in the South East Asia Region, understanding the spa/wellness and medical tourism inustry to globally expand a business, the importance of accreditations for hospitals, and how to attract international patient from all regions.

With the congress, the VMAC Business Group arranging the event, managed to raise topics regarding the latest trends and techniques that empasise on health and wellness, feasible approaches for the wellness and medical tourism industry to remain competitive during the recession, and other means to promote and market their services. Novasans would like to thank Joshini John with colleagues for their excellent arrangement of Glow 2010. We already look forward to Glow 2011!