I have travelled so much because travel has enabled me to arrive at unknown places within my clouded self.
(Sir Laurens Van der Post, b. 1906)
New Trends in Health
and Wellness Tourism
Melanie Smith
Chair of ATLAS
Corvinus University, Institute for
Environmental Sciences, Faculty of
Business, Fővám Ter 8
1093 Budapest, Hungary
Email: melanie.smith@uni-corvinus.hu
Tel: 0036204624443

Health and Wellness Tourism
by Melanie Smith & László Puczkó
(Butterworth Heinemann, 2008 forthcoming)
Part One: History, Definitions Part Two: Managing and Marketing
and Scope Health and Wellness Tourism
1. Introduction 7. Demand, motivations and profiles of
health and wellness tourists
2. A history of health and wellness
tourism 8. Planning and development: health and
wellness services and destinations
3. Definitions of health and
wellness 9. Managing health and wellness tourism
businesses
4. The relationship between
leisure, lifestyle and wellness 10. Marketing health and wellness
tourism tourism
5. Typologies of health and 11. Product development in health and
wellness tourism wellness tourism
6. An international and regional 12. The future of health and wellness
analysis of health and wellness tourism
tourism development

Part Three: Operational Issues in Health and
Wellness Tourism: Case Studies
1. Healing hills and wellness in 7. The use of spas by meetings
luxury (Castermans-Godfried, I.) participants: The case of the U.S.
2. Spa and rehabilitation centre in (Davidson, R.)
Eastern Finland 8. Vidago and Pedras Salgadas spas
(Tuohino, A. & Kangas, H.) (Portugal) (Joukes, V.)
3. Peninsula hot springs – a new 9. The Big Chill Festival, England, UK
spa tourism experience ’down (Laws, C.)
under’ ( Laing, J.) 10. The health spa resort Rogaska
4. Chi spa at the Shangri-la, Sabah, Slatine (Slovenia) returned to its
Malaysia (Chan, J.) past glory (Lebe, S.)
5. Medical tourism in India 11. Sao Pedro do Sul Thermal Centre
(George, B.) (Gomes, N.)
6. The Luigiane thermal baths, 12. Ayurvedic health tourism in Kerala,
Calabria, Italy (Ferrari, S.) India (Hannam, K.)

Wordsworth had urged us to travel through landscapes to feel emotions that would benefit our souls.
(De Botton, 2002: 159)
A New Conceptualisation of Health
and Wellness?
How far can we move towards
an international, standardised
definition of health and
wellness?
World Health Organisation’s
definition of ‘health’ moving
closer to ‘wellness’
Different linguistic and cultural
understandings of terminology
Changing expectations of
destinations and facilities (i.e.
what is expected from a spa)

In order to walk the path of wellness, one must first have a clear understanding of what it means to be a
human being, of how to conceive of one’s own self in relation to the rest of the world.
(Wolsko et al., 2006)
Growing Connections between
Wellness, Lifestyle and Leisure
Preventative rather than
curative approaches to health
Body
Many consumers seeking non-
traditional medical practices
(e.g. CAM)
1 in 10 spa-goers treat spa-
going as part of a larger health
and wellness lifestyle (ISPA,
2008)
Mind Spirit
Influence of media & popular
psychology
Development of more active
lifestyles
Desire for healthier nutrition

What we anticipate in our destinations is not holiness or divine visions, but something even more miraculous –
the opportunity to feel different from the way we feel at home. It is as if the act of travelling to a certain place in
(Chaline, 2002:67)
the world entitles us to feel happier and more alive.
Typologies of Health and
Wellness Tourism
Spa tourism (e.g. medical,
hotel, resort, day spa)
Holistic tourism (e.g. retreat,
yoga centre)
Medical tourism (e.g. spa
visit, surgery)
Spiritual tourism (e.g.
pilgrimage, meditation
retreat)
Occupational wellness
tourism (e.g. life-coaching,
stress management)

A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.
(Moore, 1852 – 1933)
Push and Pull Factors in
Health and Wellness Tourism
Escape from everyday life, work Travel to beautiful, peaceful
& stress landscapes to rest
Breakdown of community & Search for like-minded people
social support networks Spiritual quest
Loss of traditional religion Workshops or treatments with
Need to develop or improve self specific aims
The desire to downsize, simplify Rest, recuperation, stress relief
or slow down life Active programmes of weight
Influence of media & celebrities loss, detox, cosmetic surgery,
etc.

Domain of Health Typical Destination, Site, or Facility
and Wellness
Medical spas Surgery trips Rehabilitation
Physical Healing
retreats
Cosmetic Hotel/Day
Beauty Treaments
surgery trips spas
Pampering Wellness Thalassotherapy
Relaxation / Rest
spas hotels centres
Spa Resorts Sport/ Fitness
Leisure /
with ‘fun waters’ holidays
Entertainment
Holistic centres Occupational Life-coaching
Life / Work
wellness workshops holidays
Balance
Holistic centres Workshops (e.g.
Psychological
Hoffmann, Psycho-
Drama)
Meditation Yoga centres Pilgrimages
Spiritual
retreats

Type of Typical Activities Wellness Typical Visitors
Wellness Domain(s)
Product/
Location
Older people with
Traditional spas Sitting in mineral Physical, medical,
specific diseases or
and spa towns waters, curative
complaints
(e.g. Central & massage, sauna,
Eastern Europe) steam room
Hotels and day Beauty treatments, Cosmetic, High income
spas (e.g. UK, US, relaxing massage, pampering, relaxing visitors, business
Caribbean, South aromatherapy, jacuzzi tourists, more often
East Asia) women
Purpose built Swimming pools, Physical, relaxation, Skiiers, hikers,
recreational spas thermal waters, fun couples, sometimes
(e.g. Austria, themed saunas and families with
Germany) steam rooms, children
jacuzzis, fitness
activities
Seaside resorts & Hydrotherapy, salt Physical, curative, High income hotel
thalassotherapy inhalations, salt cosmetic guests, older visitors
centres (e.g scrubs, seaweed
France, Israel) wraps, tanning

Type of Typical Activities Wellness Typical Visitors
Wellness Domain(s)
Product/
Location
Holistic retreat Yoga, massage, Physical, mental, Mainly ’baby-
centres (e.g. creative, spiritual & psychological, social, boomers’ aged 35 –
Greece, Spain) psychological creative, spiritual 55, more likely to be
workshops women
Yoga & meditation Yoga, meditation, Physical, mental, ‘Baby boomers’,
centres (e.g. India, chanting, fasting spiritual backpackers,
US, Canada, ‘hippies’,
Europe) professional women
aged 40+
Pilgrimage centres Visiting spiritual Physical, spiritual All ages but
(e.g. Spain, landscapes, increasingly under
France) religious buildings, 30, not necessarily
walking pilgrimage religious
routes
Medical centres Operations, Physical, cosmetic Western Europeans
(e.g. Hungary, cosmetic surgery, and Americans for
South Africa, India) dentistry, special whom treatment is
treatments cheaper abroad,
mainly 30+

Your town is only a perfect town when there is a bath in it.
(Abu Sir in Lee, 2004)
Changing Nature of Demand for Spa
Tourism
Average age around 44 Non-visitation usually because
spas perceived as too
Often ‘time poor’, ‘cash rich’
expensive, people not sure of
Young spa users increasing in
what to expect, no knowledge
numbers (e.g. teenagers)
of treatments, seen as ‘just for
Number of men using spas women’ or ‘self-indulgent’
increasing
Need for family/ children/mother
& baby/ pregnancy facilities
Mother & daughter packages
Girlfriend / Hen weekend
packages
Problems of mixing markets –
need for separate facilities, time
slots, etc.

The journey’s end is only the beginning of another journey: the rediscovery of both home and ourselves, our
perceptions of which have been subtly or dramatically transformed by our absence.
(Chaline, 2002:285)
Recent Trends in Health and
Wellness Tourism
Visitors expect customised products &
services
Customers becoming more ‘spa savvy’
& demand high quality of experience
Sustainable management & ‘greening’
of spas
Use of more natural & indigenous
products & ingredients
Spas becoming places to socialise as
they were historically
Increase in corporate wellness
Saturation of some markets
Need for unique & ‘signature’
treatments

From John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress to the ancient Chinese Dao, the Way, the physical act of travel has been
used as a metaphor for humanity’s spiritual quest for enlightenment.
(Chaline, 2002:12)
New Products and Services
Signature treatments using Spas offering educational &
local products & ingredients lifestyle programmes (e.g.
preventative healthcare, fitness
Growth of ‘gastro travel’ (e.g.
regimes, healthy eating)
healthy eating, weight loss,
detox programmes)
Germanic concepts of ‘selfness’
and ‘mindness’
Balance, holism, integration
(e.g. Body, mind spirit or
work/life)
Spa and wellness cruises
Wellness treatments for or
using animals
Creative and art therapy

Spas are entities devoted to enhancing overall well-being through a variety of professional services
(ISPA, 2006)
that encourage the renewal of body, mind and spirit.
Health and Wellness Tourism in
Historic Spa Towns
Advantage of beautiful and
BUT....
unique, historic landscape
Problems of adaptation to
Long history of spa tourism and
modern usage (conservation vs
often world famous
development)
Established reputation and
High running costs
brand identity
Often old-fashioned facilities
Good infrastructure and ample
and services
accommodation
Typical focus on medical and
Attracts many different
health tourism
segments and ‘incidental’
tourists Old and new markets often
incompatible
Should they regenerate or
develop completely new
facilities?