Health, Wellness and Tourism: healthy tourists, healthy business ...

THE EVOLUTION OF ATTITUDES TOWARDS SPA HOLIDAYS IN CANADA
Marion Joppe, PhD,
School of Hospitality and Tourism Management
University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario
CANADA
mjoppe@uoguelph.ca
and
Hwan-Suk Chris Choi, PhD, Associate Professor
School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Macdonald Stewart Hall, University of
Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, CANADA, N1G 2W1
Introduction
Canada is a fairly recent newcomer to the world of spa tourism. According to a
PricewaterhouseCoopers study on the spa industry, undertaken on behalf of the International
Spa Association, between 1990 and 2001, the number of spa establishments in North America
went from 1400 to 10,900, of which 1300 were in Canada, and occupancy went from 40% to
an average between 70 and 80%. Instead of slowing things down, the events of September 11,
2001 actually spurred growth in this sector. By 2003, the International Spa Association
(ISPA) estimated the number of establishments to have reached 12,100 spas throughout the
U.S and 2,100 in Canada, a 26% growth in the States but 65% growth in Canada!
In North America, health has become a major societal preoccupation, since all media bombard
citizens with warnings about too sedentary a life, the health dangers of too much weight,
cholesterol and stress, too little sleep, and high tension. Foods are considered too fatty, too
sugar and salt-laden; both the air and the water is making people sick. If all that were not
enough, North Americans have been made anxious, if not downright paranoid, about
everything from possible terrorist attacks to catching SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome), the avian flu or H1N1. At the same time, the strong baby boom cohort is
becoming obsessed with aging, refusing to give in to wrinkles and sagging bodies. So it is not
surprising that North Americans are desperate to find an oasis, a place where it is possible to
be at peace, breathe deeply, regain one’s internal balance, re-establish the harmony between
body, mind and soul so that they can confront this fast-paced, complex and increasingly scary
world another day. Yet that older cohort is no longer prepared to make big efforts and huge
sacrifices to look and feel better, as they did just a decade previously. The time has come to
be kind to ourselves: to strive for balance, harmony but also pleasure. Spas are seen as a
means of escaping the pressures and getting re-energized” (Association Resource Centre Inc.
2006: 5).
Health is no longer considered just an absence of illness, but rather an optimum state of
physical, mental and social well-being that requires a more holistic approach and proactive
participation by the individual (Nahrstedt 2004). The World Health Organization 8 defines
8 World Health Organization (1946). Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted
by the International Health Conference, New York, 19 June - 22 July 1946; signed on 22 July 1946 by the
representa-tives of 61 States (Official Records of the World Health Organization, no. 2, p. 100) and entered into
force on 7 April 1948.