A
traditional view of the health and well- being tourism market by most people are ,
weeks away in locations such as remote
countryside retreats, desert hideaways or tropical islands reached by seaplane.
Whilst the allure of detoxing for two weeks in the Maldives isn't going
anywhere, the growing trend for 2014/2015 is the urbanisation of the health and
well- being industry according to the Spafinder 2014 Global Spa and Wellness Trends Report.
This
growing trend within the industry has emerged due to the unprecedented
urbanization of the world's population, as more and more people gravitate to
cities, for the purpose of employment, education and entertainment as well as
these people being increasingly vacation-time-deprived and are therefore opting
for shorter vacations closer to home. This wider trend has been dubbed
"Near-Away" travel in the Hotel Business' (UK) 2014 travel trends
report, as the industry see both major brand spas and smaller wellness day spas
appear in the world’s major cities such as London, Paris, New York and
Shanghai. Top health and well- being brands such as COMO Shambhala, Six Senses
and Mandarin Oriental have now established a number of spa hotels in these
metropolises. COMO Shambhala has extended their brand range with the introduction
of the Urban Escape, which focuses on the best possible therapies for body and
face within peaceful sanctuary for those looking to escape the pressures of
city life. A prime example of this Urban Escape
is COMO Shambhala Urban Escape at
Metropolitan London,
located in Park Lane. According to Spafinder, 215 health & well- being
locations have opened in the Greater London area. Meanwhile, Six Senses Spa has
opened an award winning day spa at Rue de Castiglione in Paris and Mandarin
Oriental has also opened urban spa hotels in a number of cities around the
world, including London, Prague, New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
The
health and well- being industry have concluded that their main challenge was to
devise ways to keep guests "closer" after their one-two week stays in
integrated spa resorts, to prevent them from falling from "detox back to
re-tox.", by returning to previous bad habits upon their return. Arguing
that their guests need not have to fly abroad for a holistic spa experience and
these urbanised "Near-Away" wellness treats helps people maintain
their healthy lifestyle.
For
further details on the growing trend of urban health and well- being retreats or
hotels mentioned in this article, visit http://www.spafinder.co.uk/ .
