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
Business & Investment Opportunities
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