The Spa industry enjoyed a healthy 25% annual growth from 2002 until 2008 alone, when expansion fell to just 6% on domestic political turmoil and the world travel downturn. The Thai Spas Association president Andrew Jacka said spa operators around the world needed to focus far more on Thai customers as relying on foreign tourists is a weakness in the current situation.
Spa vouchers have recently become far more popular in western society and have really helped revolutionise the industry. In Thailand foreign tourists might go to a spa five to ten times during the two to three week period they stay in Thailand however that could only ever happen once or maybe twice a year and that is it. Thailand’s spa industry currently employs about 50,000 people, the world’s seventh highest national workforce in the sector. It ranks 18th globally in terms of revenue which is a staggering figure to comprehend.
In Europe the Spa industry has never been so healthy, people are more than happy to treat themselves in these depressing economic times, people need that escape factor and a spa can offer that. Unfortunately, things are not really as cheap as they are in Bangkok, Thailand. Because of the recent airport scares in Thailand many tourists have been put off to come into the country which has led the spa industry to rely on heavy discounts and offering BOGOF deals. Once tourists start flocking back into the country these deals will eventually wear off however for now, the economy is being hit hard by one of its most flourishing industry’s suffering badly.
The spa industry needs to establish itself more as an online presence in order to maximise profit and simply advertising from your shop window is not enough anymore. People want to be able to see the products you have to offer at your spa on the web where it is way more convenient.