The global spa industry is blessed with beautiful facilities, with new openings announced daily – the more significant of which we showcase in our Development Pipeline on p28. But to really up the ante, the next step for these facilities is optimisation and for them to become truly flourishing, successful businesses.

To do this, we predict a sea change in the sector. Instead of continuing to fight over the same limited number of customers – namely wealthy baby boomers – spas of the future will carve out a niche for themselves by targeting new growing markets. And some these markets are only just starting to emerge.

Scientists are increasingly convinced that the majority of disease – up to 95 per cent – can be prevented by making healthy lifestyle choices including reducing stress levels and increasing sleep, exercising more and eating better. This field, known as epigenetics, could see a raft of health-conscious consumers heading for spas (if well positioned). We explore this idea further in our 2016 Spa Foresight™ starting on p14, as well as ‘social good’ – the idea that spas could find new business by linking with organisations associated with less-obvious groups such as older adults and obese people. There’s much talk about the potential of millennials too, as referenced on p80.

Corporate wellness and wellness tourism are another two markets ripe for spa specialisation. They’ve caught the attention of many industry professionals of late and represent global industries worth US$40.7bn (€36bn, £28bn) and US$494bn (€436bn, £340bn) respectively, according to the 2014 Global Spa and Wellness Economy Monitor. What’s more, both are tipped for rapid growth in the years ahead.

All of these groups present a new frontier of customers for spas across the world and represent a catalyst for change. It’s exciting to think some of them are only just coming to light now and it will be interesting to see which operators make the move first, and in what direction. If they don’t, you can be sure that other entrepreneurs will.

Katie Barnes, editor, Spa Business Handbook

[email protected]

@SpaBusinessKB