Many spas and medical spas that belong to the International Medical Spa Association and the Day Spa Association report that today, there is a growing interest and focus on the trend of combining golf breaks with spa, beauty-care, medical & wellness services at health spas, wellness retreats and spa resorts. It is time for golfers, sports enthusiasts and convention attendees to rejuvenate, relax and rewind. We must all take advantage of celebrating our mind, body and soul at the new breed of medical spas now associated with spas and golf resorts.
Golf, Health & Medical Tourism
The medical spa market is fresh, new, exciting and always changing. Today, it is estimated that 38% of all spa visitors are men, so this is not just for women any more. There is also a growing interest in naturopathic and homeopathic medical treatments, which may be available at many of these medical spas by licensed naturopathic doctors – N.D.’s. Some of the newest medical spas even offer laser hair removal, laser hair restoration, cellulite treatments, lymphatic drainage, cosmetic surgery, nutritionists, chiropractors and dental services.
Healthy Travels
As travel trade professionals, we must also be sure to market the benefits of these medical spas to the golf sports enthusiasts as well as their companions, co-workers and families. Many medical spas offer special corporate retreat and spa packages, whereby you can have couples massage, a spa staff meeting in a tranquil retreat room or even a lecture-demonstration to educate your group. They may even offer a series of specialized services for teens like acne facial treatments.
Innovative New Spa Directions
There are many advantages, challenges and popularity factors that we must take into account to help take advantage of this exciting and positive new trend. As tourism specialists, this is a terrific new advantage that must be promoted! Whereas, medical grade Facial Treatments, Prescription-Grade Skincare, Microdermabrasion, Body Wraps, Body Contouring, Hydrotherapies, Aromatherapies, Botox, Collagen, Restylane, Oxygen Treatments, Anti-Aging Therapies and Therapeutic Massage Treatments are some of the services that are now available, we must educate the tourists and the entire traveling community on these special services as well as the benefits that are now available. The fact is that many spa therapies are now being successfully integrated into medical treatments at this new breed of medical aesthetiques!
As you promote tourism for your individual travelers and golf group retreats to medical spas, we suggest you look for top quality spas that are affiliated with the International Medical Spa Association.Here, you and your guests will receive totally customized and personalized services. Be sure to have your travelers set up times for complimentary tours when they first arrive before then taking part in private consultations to share their needs, desires and challenges. This will ensure everyone is happy with their services, whether they get a single treatment or an entire series of integrated spa therapies.
Gifts of Beauty!
You can promote golf travel incentives to these medical spas while also promoting gift certificate packages. What gift could be more appreciated than an invitation for travel with total relaxation and wellness!
Travel First on the Internet Before Booking Your Golf Trips
Hannelore Leavy, Founder and Executive Director of the International Medical Spa Association and the Day Spa Association notes: “One of the major missions of the IMSA and DSA is to always help educate the general public on the health benefits of spa services. With the coming of age of the day spa and medical spas, one is never far away from a qualified facility; whether you are close to home, away on vacation or on the road for your career. Tourism professionals and their clients can easily access listings of qualified facilities at directories on the worldwide web, especially those of our organizations, whose members show integrity and concern for the industry and their clients.
Leavy adds: “There are now close to 2500 medical spas in the USA and probably the same amount in Europe and the Middle East with another 2500 throughout Asia. It is now estimated that the gross volume of the US medical spas is over 1 billion dollars, so we can only imagine how much it would be worldwide. These figures do not include any of the services performed in traditional doctors’ offices! The day spa volume is approximately 14 billion dollars. These figures do include professional take-home retail product sales, which is an average of 10% no more!”
Your golf travel guests will always be pampered with medically supervised spa treatments, whereby their skincare applications and products will prove to provide visible results not generally attainable at traditional salons or resort spas. These medical spas are operated by and supervised by doctors, nurses and certified medical professionals. Now is a great time to celebrate the future with some of the most day spas, medical spas and wellness retreats on the planet!
By Larry H. Oskin (President of Marketing Solutions, Inc. USA).