MIDDLE EAST CAPITALIZES ON THE SPABOOM

Justin N. Froyd - Mar 11, 2008
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The popularity of spas grows world wide. It is perhaps caused by the new generation of customers. They like healthy lifestyle therefore luxury is no longer enough for them. Nowadays, spa going is no more regarded as an unaffordable bit of a luxury. The tourism industry reflects this development, and these days, many hoteliers include spas within their facilities. Among those destinations that capitalize most on this boom is the Middle East. This destination offers a wide range of tourism attractions and spas are among them. Numerous tourists as well as business travelers that come here may enjoy the wide offer of spaboom. There are medical spas, boot camp spas, detox spas, child friendly spas or e.g. smoking cessation programs.

Medical spas, health and wellness, these are the things that should bring even more people to the Middle East. Experts anticipate that there will be huge investments in medical facilities. There is for example the Dubai Healthcare City, under construction. The services in the Middle East’s tourism are, despite the high level of luxury, often more affordable than services in other regions. The MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions & Exhibitions) sector is also influenced by the spaboom in spa industry. The spa manager Tracy Lord from InterContinental Dubai Festival City claims that business meetings more often include a spa element. The delegates for example enjoy express massage treatments during meeting breaks or they enjoy other spa services in their leisure time.

The spa industry as well as other sectors of the tourism industry needs to adopt a more green approach. It is because of the public opinion on the “green” issues. The problem with spas is that they consume huge amounts of water, which is a limited resource in some parts of the world. They also use a lot of energy as well as various chemicals.

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