SpaFinder has released the finding from its Fifth Annual State of Spa Travel survey. The survey, which was conducted in August with global travel agents, was designed to provide annual information in the spa travel sector, including health of the market, current pricing, consumer trends, travel demographics, and popular location and amenities. The survey found that the number-one trend is people traveling to spas specifically for health and wellness offerings and programs. “Spas’ ongoing, greatly expanded focus on health, wellness, and prevention, rather than mere pampering--combined with their ongoing attractive pricing--have been the two keys to this travel category’s resiliency over these last tough years,” says Susie Ellis, president of SpaFinder.
Here are some other interesting findings:
- 95 percent of travel agents report that spa travel bookings will either grow or hold firm for 2011.
- In addition to health and wellness offerings, other hot trends include “social spa-ing,” or group travel to spas, solo travel, spa travel for the under-40 set, and increased interest in international destinations.
- 55 percent of travel agents reported that hotel, resort, and destination spas are offering more aggressive deals, attractive pricing and packages in 2011 over 2010.
- Price-per night seems to have a firmer hold on the higher end of the market with the most commonly booked rooms ranging from $250-$299 per night, with 38 percent of the bookings falling into the $300 plus range (up from 29% in 2010).
- Baby Boomers (age 46 to 65) are still the age demographic still most likely to book spa travel, accounting for 68 percent of bookings, while 31 percent come from those age 36 to 45.
- According to the travel agents, spa facilities retained the number-one position as the most important offerings/amenities at a destination spa.