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

Health-oriented leisure and travel mobility in Japan is a relatively under-researched area,
especially in the international literature, so an assessment of the factors affecting Japanese
health-oriented leisure and tourism demand – such as the various cultural and economic
aspects of demand as well as the constraints and the push factors that motivate the Japanese to
choose health-oriented forms of leisure and tourism services – can be a valuable contribution
to the existing tourism research literature.
The development of spa and health tourism in Japan
Bathing in hot springs has been a quintessentially Japanese form of leisure for centuries: the
country’s arguably oldest hot spring, Dogo Onsen has a history stretching back over 1500
years (JNTO 2010). However, the attraction of onsen is about much more than hot water: the
essential components of the modern onsen experience are nutrition, sightseeing, exercise and
relaxation in natural surroundings (Seki and Heilman Brooke 2005). Throughout the
centuries, the interpretation and utilisation of hot springs in Japan has undergone significant
changes. While during the Edo period (1603-1868) travelling to hot springs also represented a
spiritual journey, partly a pilgrimage and partly a way to relax one’s mind, in the Meiji era
(1868-1912) onsen visits became institutionalized events for school and company groups,
with an emphasis on learning (Raveri 2002). In the second part of the 20 th century, as the
popularity of recreation-oriented tourism increased, many traditional onsen were transformed
into large-scale holiday resorts that are today among the most visited destinations in the
country, offering outdoor and indoor communal bathing facilities, hotel spas, as well as
private baths (Chartrungruang and Mitsutake 2007), in addition to supplementary services
such as aromatherapy, foot and hand baths, and a wide range of restaurants and shopping
facilities (Mansfield 2001, Kobayashi 2004). According to the Japan Spa Association, the
country’s 16,000 onsen get over 140 million visits every year, which is an indication of how
many people, especially the elderly, return repeatedly (Ellis 2004).
In recent years, Japanese hot springs have also become a part of the modern medical system,
although the number of facilities offering long-term therapy is still rather small, since medical
insurance rarely covers onsen stays which tend to be relatively short breaks and are typically
regarded as fun trips (Ito 2003). However, the imminent ageing of the country’s population
(Aspalter 2007) is likely to increase the need for enjoyable alternative healthcare solutions
offered by hot springs resorts. Onsen therapy is a type of alternative or complementary
medicine, not directly curing the cause of the disease, but treating the body as a whole, and
assisting in recuperation, rehabilitation and prevention. In addition to the hot springs, the key
elements in Japanese balneotherapy are gases as well as climatic and geographical factors (Ito
2003). An onsen's chemical makeup is one of the key elements of balneotherapy. According
to the 1979 revision of the 1948 Onsen Law, Japan’s hot springs are classified into nine
categories based on water properties (Ueda 2006): simple carbon-dioxide springs, hydrogencarbonate
springs, chloride springs, vitriolic springs, ferrous springs, sulphur springs, acidic
springs, radioactive springs, and simple thermal springs with water temperature over 25ºC.
The development of spa and health tourism in Hungary
Spa tourism based on thermal baths also have a long history in Hungary: the country’s current
supply is built on Roman, Turkish and Austro-Hungarian spa heritage, in addition to modern
developments inspired by Western and Oriental trends (Puczkó and Rátz 2006).
In the territory of Hungary, the first thermal baths were built by the Romans in the 1 st century,
although these ancient spas are only preserved in ruins today as heritage attractions. The
tradition of bathing continued during the 15 th -17 th centuries throughout the country’s 150-