Nov 6, 2011

Philippines - 2nd ASEAN Spa Standard Project Group Meeting held in Boracay



MANILA, Philippines -- One of the reasons why Asia is well-positioned to be a global leader in wellness tourism is that in an increasingly artificial world, Asian spas are able to offer traditional treatments and remedies which provide some measure of distinctiveness and authenticity for its mostly Western visitors.

Also, Asian destinations have a natural advantage for developing a holistic and ‘zen’ spa tourism experience, given its varied exotic landscapes. And of course, Asians, specifically Filipinos, are innately very gentle, caring and warm, which make them perfect proprietors for this kind of business.

To meet the burgeoning prospects of the global health and wellness industry, the Department of Tourism (DoT) recently organized and hosted the second Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Spa Standard Project Group Meeting held at the Boracay Regency Beach Resort and Convention Center in Boracay.

The approved Spa Standard was based on inputs of the delegates from the National Tourism Organizations (NTOs) and ASEAN Secretariat as well as executives from private spa associations in the 10 ASEAN member-states of Brunei Darassalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

“The outputs from the Boracay meeting aim to enhance the spa business in the region to a professional level and committed to a certification process towards enhancement of the ASEAN image as a world spa destination,” said Director Maria Rica Bueno of DOT’s Office of Tourism Standards and Regulation.

Bueno added that in this way, ASEAN can partake more of the $254.66 billion total spa economy and $199.7 billion total global spa lifestyle from the current two billion dollar share of Southeast Asia which employs some 50,000 people.

Charatsri Suwannatap, Chair of the ASEAN Spa Standard Working Group Project and member of the Oriental Medicine Faculty of Thailand’s Rangsit University likewise said that the meeting will guarantee a high quality standard for member-states with one spa project and image for the whole world.

“Through these substantive meetings, we see a dynamic association of spa centers with increasing quality of human resources and betterment of amenities for more than 3,500 accredited spas currently operating in the region. A duly-approved certification process for spa centers will seek to uplift (the) spa standard by considering the differences as well as similarities of the culture of each ASEAN member-state,” Suwannatap explained.

During the meeting, all participants were shown the draft standard document which was the result of the First Spa Standard Group Project Group Meeting held last March in Phuket, Thailand. Among the important parts of the new document are the scope of the project, terms and definitions, the location, products and services, equipment, management and staff and environmental practices, among others.

Some interesting aspects of the document, however, were the traditional treatments of each member-states, where the participants were made to do their respective demonstrations to verify and expand the descriptions and values of each traditional healing treatment such as the Philippine hilot and dagdagay, Balinese boreh, Malaysian bertungku and Thai nuad rachasamnak.

In addition to inspections of the Kai Spa at Boracay Regency and the Terra Wellness Spa at Discovery Shores, the participants were shown Filipino treatments at the Tirta Spa and Mandala Spa and Villas. Tirta received the Asia Spa Award 2010 for Day Spa of the Year while Mandala has won national, regional and international awards as best spa destination and best treatments in 2005.

According to Alex Macatuno, permanent secretariat on ASEAN Cooperation and chief of DoT’s Policy Formulation, the spa standard is part of the adoption of ASEAN Tourism Strategies for 2011-2015. The draft of this second group meeting was presented for ultimate discussion during the ASEAN Quality Tourism Working Group Meeting that was held in Brunei Darussalam this October.

 The final ASEAN Spa Standard will be endorsed to the ASEAN NTOs for approval of the Ministers during the annual ASEAN Tourism Forum in Manado, Indonesia in January 2012.

JACKY LYNNE A. OIGA



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