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Top trends
Ernst & Young's Mohammed Dahmash and Nikita Sarkar weigh in on what's fuelling consumers' insatiable appetite for spas and explain why spa operators need to upgrade their business standards to strengthen their brand.
The concept of a spa experience conjures different images for different people. For some, "spa-ing" may symbolise a strict detox regime with alternating hot and cold water pool immersions at a pretty countryside guest house in Austria; and for others, an indulgent four-hour ritual in a luxury high-rise hotel overlooking the rooftops of designer Manhattan skyscrapers.
Either way, spas are increasingly being viewed as an essential element in hotels today, and nowhere more so than in the Middle East.
No longer does having a fitness club with a few exercise machines and freeweights suffice, and neither can spa operations be bundled with room operations. Spa sizes are getting bigger, spa menus more diverse, and spa operations more complex.
The popularity of "spa-ing" and the institution of better business and management procedures have repositioned spas as profit drivers. Spa operations are becoming both integral to and independent of the other departments within the hotel.
Research indicates that spas contribute to higher Average Daily Rate (ADR) and increased guest length of stay, as well as average guest spend at hotels, thereby positively impacting the overall bottom line.
Within mixed-use developments, which are much the real estate trend of development in Dubai, the importance of spas cannot be overstated, with spas being added in retail malls, airports, residential complexes and even office buildings too.
Spas close to home
Even though beautification rituals have long been a part of the Middle Eastern tradition, it's only recently that the extra dimensions of health, wellness and healing have been bundled with beautification and packaged under the term spa.
With continuous exposure to world trends through the media, increased frequency of international travel, higher disposable incomes and assimilation of diverse expatriate communities, the region's spa trend is expected to grow exponentially over the next five years.
According to industry experts, the spa industry at the end of 2007 was estimated at US $45 billion globally with an annual growth of 10% over the previous year. Growth in certain regions such as the Middle East and Asia is expected to be much higher.
Historically, Tunisia, Morocco and Jordan have had a strong spa culture rooted in natural therapies and beautification rituals. However, in terms of spa development Dubai is by far the most active market in the Middle East.
Kuwait, Qatar, Jeddah and Bahrain are seen to be following in Dubai's footsteps with strong spa growth. Lebanon and Egypt are very active with respect to the beauty industry but are only just beginning to develop the spa market.
Dubai is strongly promoting itself as a centre for the wellness industry with the number of hotels in Dubai offering such facilities showing a double digit growth.
By 2015, it is highly likely that there will be up to 300 establishments in Dubai containing world-class spa facilities, making the city one of the top spa destination in the world.
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