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

2009 research study major findings:
• Tourism investment multiplier value of 1,49 based on indirect and induced
investments. Spa and aqua park investment multiplier of 2,4, wellness hotel multiplier
of 0,33, other attraction multiplier of 2,66.
• Out of the studied projects, the highest investment multiplier value belonged to St.
Gotthard Spa, located on the Hungarian-Austrian border. The high multiplier value
may be explained by the fact that the city did not have active tourism until recently.
This spa project was the first step in building of the city tourism infrastructure, which
was soon followed by multiple city projects.
• Indirect investments related to cultural and natural attraction developments (e.g.
accommodation) were found to be minimal, however the induced impacts (e.g. aqua
park) still generate a high multiplier value.
2009 research study - investment multiplier
(data in 1000 HUF)
12 238 000;
39%
6 428 350;
21%
Actual investment value (2001-2008)
Indirect investment value (2002-2008)
Induced investment value (2003-2012)
(Source: Research study, 2009)|
12 536 001;
40%
Major conclusions:
• Spa and aqua park investments have high investment multiplier values (between 2,4
and 2,7). These facilities have also fulfilled tourism attraction functions.
• Wellness hotel developments have a low investment multiplier value. This may be
attributed to the fact that these hotels provide services in-house and do not generate
other tourism investments outside the unit.
• Due to the increased business risks, the economic crisis decreased the multiplier
values of the tourism investments.
Operational impacts of health tourism projects
Operational impacts were identified based on the last full operational year of each unit (base
year) and the first year of full operation after the project completed.
In case of the 2004 research, 2001 was the common base year for all projects and 2004 was
the first full operational year.
In case of the 2009 study, the base year and first full operational year were different project
by project. The wellness hotel projects with EU financial support (4 units) have had only 1-2
years of operation at the time of the study. It is well known that the first years of new hotel
operations are introductory years with lower prices, lower occupancy rates as compared to
later years. This is further impacted by the economic crisis started in 2008 Q4.
Next we will look at the employment impacts, the operational revenue impacts, the
quantitative demand indicators, taxation and local economy impacts of the tourism projects.