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

questionnaire that determines which one of the Chinese Five Elements (metal, water, wood,
fire and earth) they are and allowing the spa services to be tailored accordingly. The
treatments in CHI spas focus on removing blockages of ‘chi’ with movement, stretching and
massages as well as ‘movement of the mind’ through relaxation and meditation. Although
CHI spas strive to incorporate local elements in their interior design, Chinese and Himalayan
artefacts, warm colours and woods, as well as specifically designed, mystical ambient lighting
support the Asian healing concept and make reference to the Himalayan Shangri-La legend, a
place of personal peace, well-being and enchantment.
In the third approach, some Beauty Spa Hotels/Resorts deliberately seek to create a uniquely
Australian theme, thereby often drawing on Indigenous cultural elements and healing
philosophies. The Reef House Day Spa at the Sebel Reef House & Spa in Palm Cove,
Queensland illustrates this approach. In their five treatment rooms, the Reef House Day Spa
offers therapies with Aboriginal names such as ‘Yanko’ (meaning ‘sound of running water’
and is a Vichy shower treatment), ‘Kodo’ massage (meaning ‘melody’ which is based on
Torres Strait Islander massage techniques) or ‘Gapu Yuru’ (meaning ‘water cloud’ which
includes a ritual using hot and chilled stones, a facial, body wrap and exfoliation). They use
the Australian skin care brand Li’Tya (meaning ‘of the earth’) which distributes products that
have been created based on Indigenous knowledge of the therapeutic value of Australian
plants such as lemon myrtle and wild rosella flowers. The interior design incorporates the
surrounding rainforest with an open-air reception and glimpses on the tropical garden and the
use of native timbers, for instance for the handcrafted, leaf-shaped signature massage table
from Melaleuca wood. It should be noted that while some Australian wellness tourism
suppliers and providers build on the advantage of using Indigenous healing traditions in order
to make their services and products more attractive to tourists, those businesses are generally
not owned by Indigenous Australians and employment of Indigenous staff is also rare.
Lifestyle resorts typically entail the participation in a comprehensive program which focuses
on health-promoting behaviour changes in areas such as nutrition, exercise and fitness,
personal goals and counselling and stress management. Lifestyle resorts are what Americans
often call a ‘destination spa’ and as McNeil and Ragin (2004, p. 32) observe: “The sole
purpose of this type of spa is to set guests on a healthier path for life”. Spivack (1998, p. 68),
however, notes that the term ‘spa’ is often avoided by lifestyle resort owners because it is seen
as too closely associated with beauty treatments. Therefore, terms such as ‘health resort’,
‘wellness centre’, ‘fitness retreat’ or ‘health farm’ are more common in this category.
Examples of an Australian lifestyle resort are the two Golden Door lifestyle resort properties.
The original Golden Door resort is located in Willowvale, Queensland’s Gold Coast
hinterland, and opened in 1993. The other resort, the Golden Door Elysia, opened 10 years
later in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales. The two Golden Door properties were
developed in different ways, required different levels of capital investment and therefore offer
different experiences. Whereas the Golden Door in Queensland has a more rustic, closer to
nature feel, Elysia is more elegantly designed and luxurious. The Golden Door became
famous with its 5-14 day health programs that promise long-lasting lifestyle changes. Based
on an extensive health and fitness assessment, Golden Door staff establish personalised
programs to meet the individual needs of each guest. Both Golden Door properties possess
extensive indoor gym facilities, tennis courts, and swimming-pools, and are surrounded by
nature that is the setting for bushwalking activities. An extensive assortment of activities and
seminars is offered, ranging from T’ai Chi, yoga, aquaerobics, water polo, Kung Fu, boxing,
women’s and men’s health, and cooking classes, to detoxification, and alternative healing