The market of wellness centres and Spas in Italy
The Spa market in Italy is surely growing in terms of new structures and number of customers. Despite this growth is slowing down due to the economic downturn, new and new centres have always been planned so far.
Italy is one of the countries with the highest rate of Hotels compared to the overall population. Its tourism market connected to hotel accommodation is made of small-medium structures, with an average of less than 40 rooms. In the global market - East excluded - this figure is more than double.
When analysing the Spa sector, we cannot disregard considerations about the hospitality industry. In Italy there are about 5,000 structures of 4 and 5-star hotels and inside these structures there are about 2,000 Spas. Thus there is still considerable room for expansion. There are also some good opportunities in the field of 3-star hotels, which can be equipped with Spa; in this case, though, the growth is a bit slower and it depends on particular areas and on the number of rooms available.
Over the last years the number of Spas inside urban hotels has increased, especially in cities like Milan, Rome, Venice and Florence.
As for DAY-SPAs (i.e. sttuctures that provide wellness services with no hospitality service), the growth is far lower. Day-Spas ideed are the most risky investment for this sector because they require special design and feasibility studies both for Project and Management.
In oder to better understand the Day Spa case, let's focus on the figures recorded by more mature markets. For example, the USA. In the US there are about 84,000 Day Spas (according to ISPA); if we compare the number of these strucutres to the population and we make the same exercise in the Italian market, such comparison shows that in Italy Day Spas should be about 18,000 but actually they are a bit more than 1,000.
The conclusion
Investing in the diffusion of the SPA culture and technical and managerial professionalism is crucial to qualify the sector. The first goal is to build Spas that meet not only the requirements of customers, but also the ones of entrepreneurs investing in the sector who are supposed to obtain profits. A good working Spa helps the sector to grow and supports the construction of new Spas.
