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

elderly wanted to look like, to act like and to be accepted like the youth. Although feeling
and looking young is still tempting – and, most probably, always will be – it is loosing its
absolute guidance in consumer trends. In late or post-modernity it is more and more
accepted that every age has its specific joys and pains and that it is an oversimplification
to push the youth-solution forward in all cases. On the contrary, lifestyle magazines
themselves tend to specialize, with some having a distinctively middle-aged character
(e.g. Éva and Nők Lapja) whereas others keep promoting the youth (e.g. Cosmopolitan
and Joy). Although not in CEE yet, in Western Europe and North America some lifestyle
magazines specialized into the 60+ age group (e.g. Zoomers). Also, the problems and
opportunities of each age group are discussed in a new way: first there are no taboos,
second all groups became self-referent. There are as many subsequent trends as age
groups, we only highlight three changes that exemplifies the meta-trend.
o Children spa: Most spas accept children as being important customers. First, because
the notion of children friendly service is got accepted, it is now obvious for everyone
that children have special needs, they’re just different form the adults. Second,
because parents – who make decisions about vacations and pay – consider services for
children the most important decision factor. A special example for babies-childrenfamily
oriented parks is Sonnenthereme in Lutzmannsburg-Frankenau, Austria.
Babyworld and Funny Waters indicators the main target groups of the spa – all
services are centralized on the difference in the needs of babies and kids, e.g. Babypools,
Nursing Cocoon, Children’s Nap Room, Baby Kitchen for the youngest; or
Children’s Sauna, Children’s Playroom, Adventure Pools and Activity Pool for
younger.
o Children health: For some years still health tourism was something for the elderly, the
weak and the ill. Growing health consciousness and development in research brought
widespread knowledge about childhood reasons of adult health problems. Paying
attention to issues like overweight children – a mass problem in advanced societies –
is a good example of this new approach to health. Also, HWT provides solutions for
overweight children – a typical example of addressing new segments with old
products. Czech Podebrady spa offers a special package for overweight children
o Third age: Also called 60+, this has been the number one target group of health
tourism. Whereas age still matters, there are a series of products and services
specifically addressing third age consumers. They do not have to provide performance
as their grandchildren anymore – a range of solutions offers positive experiences for
them.
Conscious or trendy?
In the second part of the research we aimed to demonstrate the effects of the above displayed
trends and metatrends on consumers’ consciousness.
Two-thirds of the interviewed spa-visitors were women, 35.8% were men. The average age of
respondents was 40 years old with a big variance: the oldest respondent was born in 1935,
while the youngest in 1990.