Taking a look at the wellness and spa world with some telling figures

tour du monde wellness.jpg

The wellness sector is in very good health: all the indicators show that this market is in full growth. The proof, with 16 telling figures!

 3,400 billion dollars. According to the Stanford Research Institute, this is the annual turnover of the wellness sector (wellness tourism, spa, fitness, beauty, anti-aging and nutrition industry) around the world. This is three times bigger than that of the global pharmaceutical industry!

  • The spa industry on its own generated 94 billion dollars in 2013…
  • … which represents a 58% increase in 6 years.
  • In France, at the end of 2014, the spa sector represented approximately 20% of the total pool market…
  • … i.e. 6,000 units sold every year.
  • Turnover generated by wellness tourism has been evaluated at 494 billion dollars…
  • … i.e. close to 15% of the volume of expenditure for the entire tourism industry.
  • It is developing 50% faster than the tourism sector in general.
  • With more than 32,000 spas, Europe is the main business area for professionals in the wellness sector, ahead of the Asia-Pacific area and North America.
  • Hydrotherapeutic cures are still popular: in 2013, they generated 50 billion dollars in revenue, but their market share has been dropping regularly to the profit of spas.
  • In terms of turnover, France is in 4th position worldwide, just behind the USA, Germany and Japan.
  • The wellness sector is going strong in France: according to the latest report issued by Atout France, spas, beauty salons, body care centres, thalassotherapy and balneology centres generate a yearly turnover of 2.5 billion euros.
  • According to auditor KPMG, nearly six out of ten 5-star hotels are equipped with a spa or a wellness centre. This trend represents 1.5 million visits yearly, and a turnover of 150 million euros.
  • The Global Wellness Day (11 June) is a prime example of the success of spas and wellness centres. In France, more than 650 establishments in 380 towns took part in the event. They proposed free activities open to as many people as possible.

And the trend for tomorrow? The wellness and spa industry should continue its growth. What are the latest trends? Personalisation of care offerings and wellness programmes thanks to comprehensive diagnosis tools in particular, in order to obtain care programmes that consider the overall health of clients. These additional reasons should encourage certain indecisive clients to take the plunge…

We should like to thank Carine Sarriquet (Palindrome Editions) for having sent us her invaluable data.

in partnership with