Tuesday 30 September 2014

Health and Well-being goes Urban



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/ .