The Health and Wellness Industry Is Being Proclaimed as a Revolution in Consumer Demand - Coursework Example

Hype or reality? The health and wellness industry is being proclaimed as a revolution in consumer demand and potentially worth trillions of dollars.' Name Class Unit Introduction Wellness and medical tourism have ancient roots in the traditional mineral waters and hot springs that were claimed to have healing powers. Traditionally, travellers came from far to take the water which could help in restoring their health. Traditionally, Greece had a lot of social baths especially in 500BC. Different spa traditions came as a result of different cultures worldwide. For example, there has been combination of the Japanese culture, England cultures among others. Saunas were started in Baltic in Finland in the 1000AD (Global Spa Summit, 2010). The industry grew in Europe and was mostly for the wealthy in the 19th century. In the contemporary western societies, there have been rise of the wellness and medical tourism. This has been fuelled by the social economic drivers which includes high health costs and the increasing interest in alternative therapies. At the moment, attending spas have been seen as a new cultural trend. People have been looking to wellness and medical tourism as a means to reduce aging, improve wellness and relaxation. People have become more health conscious and are more concerned in having healthy lifestyles. People want to maintain youthful appearance and also escape from the daily stress of the work life. There is a desire to live simple life which is meaningful and happy. This has acted to drive the wellness tourism. Wellness and health tourism is a fast growing sector. Some of the tourism destinations have been able to position themselves as the market leaders in the health and wellness industry (Smith & Puczkó, 2008). This includes spas, saunas, social tourism, sports and leisure and occupational wellness trips which can help address stress management. It’s evident that health and wellness industry is potentially worth trillions of dollars being revolutionized by consumer demand. The industry has high potential and worth a lot due to the current demand. This argumentative essay proves it’s a reality that health and wellness industry is worth trillions of dollars and is being driven by consumer demands. This will be done by looking at the size of wellness and health tourism, the scope of the consumer demand in the industry, and relate to the challenges in resort and spa management. The wellness and health market size globally is estimated at $1.9 trillion. This is the whole cluster, which includes the convectional medically oriented approaches and the integrated wellness oriented approaches. It is estimated that globally, the number of the wellness and health tourism consumers are at 289 million in the world’s 30 most wealthy countries (Global Spa Summit, 2010). The growing demand for the wellness industry have been driven by three main factors which are; failing medical systems, increasing older unhealthy people and globalisation (Smith & Puczkó, 2008). The aging of the current population is unprecedented. In the developed nations, the numbers of the old people who are above the age of 60 years are more than children under the age of 15 years. By the year 2047, the number of the old people is expected to outnumber children worldwide and by 2050, the aged population will comprise 22% of the population. As people age, there is reduction in physical health and an increase in the medical costs. As the number of the aged people increase, there are fewer able bodied people to look after them. As people live longer, the probability of living with chronic health condition rises. The diets have become less healthy leading to obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels. There is also increase in life pressures such as hectic schedules (Smith & Puczkó, 2008). Pressures increases stress and lead to unhealthy behaviours. This has led to people evaluating their lives and taking measures that will help them to have inner fulfilment and meaning in their live. This is one factor that has fuelled the rising demand in the health and wellness industry (Global Spa Summit, 2010). The health systems are failing in taking care for the increasing number of the aged and ill patients. As the population ages worldwide, the health systems in place seems ill prepared to cater for them. This has led to the consumers, governments and the health care providers to look into better ways (Smith & Puczkó, 2008). The medical system is seen by many as to cost a lot and deliver too little. The widespread problems in the health sector have led to the individuals to take responsibility of their health. They feel that the current health system is failing and cannot help them adequately. People have thus engaged themselves in healthy behaviours and also other forms of health care. This involves use of health and wellness centres. The employers have also been encouraging the employees to engage in workplace wellness programs. This has been proved to wield return on investment at rate of 3:1(Global Spa Summit, 2010). Globalization has both positive and negative impacts on the consumer demand for the health and wellness products and services. People have been introduced to unhealthy food which has negative side effects (Global Spa Summit, 2010). In the developed world, consumers have become more concerned about their diet and are returning to healthier ways of eating. Globalisation has led to the introduction of new ways of maintain health and wellness. It has become easier to have medical tourism through technology. The media have played a great part in spreading news on wellness and health (Burkett, 2007). The wellness industry can be described as proactive. This is due to fact that it has been involved in providing products and services to those who are healthy with an aim of making them look better, healthier and reducing the effects of aging. The consumers of the wellness and health industry are engaged voluntarily (Global Spa Summit, 2010). The wellness industry began in the United States and has been experiencing a rapid expansion globally. The main drivers of the industry are individuals, entrepreneurs and small scale business. As the baby boomers population starts aging, they have played a major role in the industry in driving its growth (Smith & Puczkó, 2008). In some countries, the percentage of the consumers in spas and resorts is very high driven by the wellness and health needs (Inside Story, 2007). There are about 76 million wellness and health consumers in the USA which accounts for 25% of the population (Tabacchi, 2010). This leads to estimation that almost 289 million consumers worldwide use the health and wellness services (Global Spa Summit, 2010). It is also estimated that there are 117.5 million health club users worldwide as at 2008 and the number have been growing (Smith & Puczkó, 2008). Taking a case study of the United States, the health and wellness industry was estimated to be at $200 billion in 2002. The figure rose to $500 billion to 2007 and by 2012, it had grown to $1 trillion. This is a growth rate of 15%, which is a clear indicator of the profitability of the industry (Global Spa Summit, 2010). Globally, the health and wellness industry is estimated to have grown to more than $2 trillion dollars. The industry at the moment covers the sectors such as, Spa, alternative medicine, healthy eating/weight loss, personalised/ preventive health, medical tourism, wellness tourism, workplace wellness, anti-aging and beauty (Burkett, 2007). There are two consumer segments that make up the health and wellness market. The segments are moderate to active spa goers and non active spa goers (Müller & Lanz Kaufmann, 2001). Moderate to active spa goers includes people who are highly interested in living a healthy lifestyle (Tabacchi, 2010). This is a group that attends fitness centres and wellness centres to enhance their personal fitness. The segment involves customers who are affluent and educated and with disposable income (Connell, 2006a). Non active spa goers are composed of people who suffer from a condition or disease and interested in seeking alternative care. The group may involve those who have been receiving convectional treatment without success in fixing their problem (Smith & Puczkó, 2008). At the moment, the spa industry is the fastest growing segment in the tourism industry. The revenues from spa industry exceed those collected in the parks, and other vacation sites. By understanding the spa industry management, one is able to see the potential in it (Tabacchi, 2010). To understand the industry, one has to look at its development form the past to the current status to its future needs. The industry holds a high potential to care for future wellness needs (Global Spa Summit, 2010). For most consumers, spa is regarded as a place where they can relax and enhance their health. Spa is regarded as a part of the tourist’s holiday experience. In many large wellness centres such as Switzerland, the domestic market plays a major part. There are majority of local travellers as opposed to international tourists (Connell, 2006a). In Australia, it is estimated that the number of domestic tourists engaging in the health resort/ spa are growing at a fast rate. For example, in 2008 497,000 of the domestic visitors engaged in health resort/ spa holiday. The number was a growth of 1.5% since 2000 showing that the niche is growing. Traditionally, wellness industry was located near natural springs and other geothermal sources. This has changed as the industry has expanded making the industry to be located in aesthetically pleasing settings. This is due to rise of the consumers who needs more room (Global Spa Summit, 2010). Treatment room utilization is a very important aspect in spas. An increase by 1% of the room utilisation implies an increase or decrease in revenue by $50,000 to $75,000 annually on an average sized spa (Tabacchi, 2010). This is a clear indicator that the wellness services are at a very high demand. It has been proved that at the moment, most of the spas operate at 35% to 40% of treatment room utilization. In 2010, the spas composition indicated that the majority of the establishments were day spas which took 79%. The second largest segment is the resorts and spas which accounts for 8.8% with medical spas taking the third position with 8.7% (Global Spa Summit, 2010). The current core market for the spas is the female clientele who are aged over 50 years. However, there have been rising interest in men. The young men clients in the spas have also been rising (Global Spa Summit, 2010). The technology rise has transformed spas with major investments being made. There are online services where the clients can enquire of the services, make contacts and also know about pricing. This has been a major step in spas management as it has made it possible to reach a wider audience and manage data with ease (Connell, 2006a). The rise of male spa consumers has led to several adjustments in the spa industry. Men are more interested in a product that is specifically made for them. This has led to the establishment of spas that offer specialised treatments and products that are made for men (Global Spa Summit, 2010). Men are more interested in feeling fit, young by using treatment that will help them feel relaxed and rejuvenated. The spa industry has been able to raise the importance of the male customer in the industry. Men have been observed to be more loyal to the services if they are able to gain the results (Tabacchi, 2010). The hotels have been able to discover the importance of spa in their operation. Most of major hotels have spa as one of their services. This is due to observation that it offers competitive advantage, generates revenue, caters for tourists and increases the number of leisure guests. Most of the tourists have become interested in spas facilities in a hotel. There have also been rise in online use by the guests. Most of the spa users uses internet to compare the offers in a hotel spa (Cohen & Gerard, 2008). A research done in 2011 proved that most of the tourists booking decisions were affected by the availability of a spa. 69% of the respondents responded that they were likely to use a spa during their stay. For Chinese travellers, a spa plays a major part in making the booking decisions (Madanoglu & Brezina, 2011). The spa industry has faced several trends of late. One of the trends is the energy medicine. This involves use of energy medicines such as Reiki, Qigong and acupuncture among others. Though the therapeutic value of these is still questionable, they have gained a lot of popularity. Another trend is casinos and spas. The combination of a spa and casino has been one of the most profitable worldwide. This is due to fact that casinos clients are high spenders. This trend has been very common in the Asian countries (Ellis, 2008b). The line between the medical spas and hospitals are becoming blurred. There has also been an increase in demand for the spa industry to be sustainable. This has led to establishment of eco embedded spas. Major airports have incorporated spas as their service. This has also been carried out by the cruise ship firms. At the moment, the young clientele in spas have been increasing (Global Spa Summit, 2010). Despite the high growth of the wellness and health industry, there are several areas to be looked at. Tourism bodies can help a lot in promotion of wellness tourism. This involves promotion of the wellness tourism in the tourism bodies’ websites. There is also need to be consistency of the message. There is no standardised definition of wellness industry which leads to confusion among consumers. In most of the information distributed about wellness and health, they mostly focuses on spa hotels/ resorts while ignoring spiritual retreats which are also wellness centres. There is also need to promote the wellness industry to the locals as they can play a major part (Ellis, 2008b). In conclusion, wellness and health industry is a modern concept whose roots can be traced to ancient times. The industry can be traced to its roots in the ancient civilizations of Greece and Roman empires. The industry has gained a lot of popularity of late with a large consumer base. At the moment, attending a spa is seen trendy. People have become more concerned with their health and want to lead healthy and meaningful lives. Wellness and health industry have been growing at a very fast rate. At the moment, the industry is estimated to be worth $1.9 trillion and still growing. Globally, the number of the wellness and health tourism consumers is at 289 million in the world’s 30 most wealthiest countries. This shows that the industry is worth a lot. Tourists regard spas as part of their holiday experience. The growing demand for the wellness industry have been driven by three main factors which are; failing medical systems, increasing older unhealthy people and globalisation. The baby boomer generation have played a major part in the growth of the wellness and health industry. Major hotels and airlines have been able to note the potential held by the sector and have highly invested in it. Current trends include energy medicine, casino spas and eco friendly spas among others. Based on the research, it is a reality that the health and wellness industry is potentially worth trillions of dollars being driven by a high consumers demand. References Burkett, L 2007, Medical Tourism, Journal of Legal Medicine, Vol.28, no.2, p.223-245. Cohen, M & Gerard B 2008, Understanding the Global Spa Industry. Oxford: Elsevier. Connell, J 2006a, “Medical Tourism: Sea, Sun, Sand and ... Surgery”, Tourism Management, Vol.27, no.6, p.1093-1100. Ellis, S 2008b, “Spa Industry Trends 2008”, Spa Australaisa, Vol.32, no.3, p. 52–56. Global Spa Summit 2010, Spas and the Global Wellness Market: Synergies and Opportunities: prepared by SRI International. Inside Story 2007, Understanding Wellbeing Tourism: Market Research Findings, Sydney, Tourism Australia. Madanoglu, M & Brezina, S 2011, Resort Spas: How are they Massaging Hotel Revenues? In O’Fallon, M.J. and Rutherford, D.G. (Eds.) Hotel Management and Operations, John Wiley and Sons. Müller, H & Lanz Kaufmann, E 2001, “Wellness Tourism: Market Analysis of a Special Health Tourist Segment and Implications for the Hotel Industry”, Journal of Vacation Marketing, Vol.7, no.1, p.5-17. Smith, M & Puczkó, L 2008, Health and Wellness Tourism, Oxford, Butterworth-Heinemann. Tabacchi, M.H 2010, “Current Research and Events in the Spa Industry”, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, Vol.51, no.1, p.102-117. Read More