Victoria's Spa and Wellness Tourism Action Plan 2005-2010

Spa and wellness tourism strategies

Objectives

The key objectives of the Victoria's Spa and Wellness Tourism Action plan 2005-2010 are to:

  • position Victoria as the leading destination for spa and wellness tourism, incorporating the state’s natural attributes, including mineral springs geothermal waters and world class spa resorts and facilities
  • increase visitation, length of stay and expenditure by spa and wellness visitors
  • encourage further investment in spa and wellness product and infrastructure
  • increase professionalism and excellence amongst those delivering a spa and wellness experience.

Marketing

The dramatic increase in popularity of the spa and wellness sector between 2001-2004 represents a significant opportunity for Victoria to increase its share of domestic spa visitors. Melbourne is the core market for spa tourism in Victoria, attracting 70 per cent of all spa tourists to Victoria. While Melbourne will continue to be a core source of visitors, greater marketing effort is required to increase interstate spa visitors.

With three of Australia's top 15 destinations (see Figure 5) for domestic spa visitation located in Victoria (Daylesford/Hepburn Springs, Melbourne and Great Ocean Road ) the base from which to build spa and wellness visitation is already established. However, with new infrastructure opening and reinvestment in existing infrastructure and product development taking place in Victoria, there is a need to promote these attributes.

Interstate

Queensland is home to two of the top 15 destinations for spa and wellness visitation, and New South Wales attracts the largest market share of overall domestic spa visitors. The challenge for Victoria, therefore, is to increase visitation from key interstate markets, in particular New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia.

To attract those visitors, a strategy involving both consumer and trade marketing must be developed to inform consumers of Victoria's unique product offerings. This strategy will need to include key messages about the mineral springs and geothermal waters found in Victoria and the supporting product in destinations where these waters are located. The health and wellbeing qualities of mineral springs and geothermal waters should also be included in a marketing and communications strategy.

The unique spa and wellness offerings, and the benefits derived from these experiences, in the Daylesford/Hepburn Springs area will play a key role in a national marketing campaign, currently in development. This campaign represents the first opportunity to profile spa and wellness as a product strength for the state.

A cooperative marketing campaign featuring spa and wellness as a part of Melbourne marketing activity will reinforce Melbourne's key positioning as a stylish, sophisticated and romantic destination.

Other regions where spa and wellness experiences can be profiled include the Mornington Peninsula and the Great Ocean Road, where geothermal waters and spa experiences form a part of the product offering of these regions.

The marketing strategy should include a PR campaign, which will include media familiarisations, media releases and promotions.

Cross promotion with other product segments such as food and wine, shopping, nature-based tourism and arts, theatre and cultural heritage will also be important.

International

Further research is required to gain a greater understanding of potential international markets. Given that Victoria's key international markets, including New Zealand, Asia, Europe and North America, have strong spa and wellness product offerings, it is unlikely that spa and wellness tourism will be a single motivator for travel.

To attract international markets to undertake a spa experience as a part of their holiday in Victoria, further exploration and development of the State's unique product and experiences needs to be undertaken. It is likely that a spa and wellness experience could be a'value-add' product for visitors from overseas, and with correct positioning this could lead to increased visitation and length of stay in Victoria.

Spa and wellness experiences will be of interest to international visitors if developed and positioned in such a way as to highlight the unique point of difference of a spa and wellness experience in Victoria. This could include the use of indigenous products and/or the unique qualities of the mineral springs and geothermal waters in Victoria. For example, the indigenous product Li’Tya is used in a number of spa retreats throughout Victoria and is one such product that could be promoted to international visitors.

A consumer and trade marketing strategy is required to present this product to relevant international markets. The online environment will form a crucial part of marketing to the international market.

Product development

The spa sector of the wellness industry is well developed. With hotels and hotel groups such as Accor, Crown, Hyatt, Langham, The Lyall, Mirvac, Peppers and Westin investing in spa retreats, the sector is well positioned for a coordinated marketing campaign. An audit of all spa products is required with a view to a directory being developed to outline the product offerings in Victoria. Each property’s unique product experiences will need to be highlighted in order to establish a point of difference between those properties and other destinations both nationally and globally.

Further work is required to develop product packages in conjunction with spa retreats and complementary products such as accommodation, dining, shopping, theatre and flights to encourage the travel trade to include spa/wellness products in their programs.

For the spa and wellness tourism sector to have increased appeal to the international market, spa/wellness destinations may need to explore opportunities to source and include products that are indigenous to the area, eg. Hepburn Springs and Daylesford Naturals products. This can include raw products used in treatments that are sourced in the local area, or those that have been or are currently being used by Australia's indigenous communities, such as Li’Tya.

The wellness sector is not well developed in Victoria. The emergence of wellness as a global trend appears to be a significant opportunity for Victoria. Wellness retreats such as those offering an intensive program for consumers requiring guidance on diet control, exercise, stress management and detoxification programs, are becoming increasingly important. Assistance to bring about lifestyle change is being sought by upper socio-economic groups who are endeavouring to reassess their lifestyle in order to prevent health problems developing later in life.

Victoria does not currently have an integrated retreat offering an extensive residential program for consumers wishing to undertake an intensive wellness program. This represents a significant opportunity for a new or existing business to develop. Currently New South Wales and Queensland capture this market via the Golden Door Health Retreats.

Industry development

The spa industry has a strong and cohesive industry structure in place. ASPA (Australasian Spa Association) is a national spa industry body with a Victorian chapter. Approximately one third of ASPA's members are based in Victoria, including representatives from all the major spa retreats. ASPA is currently developing a spa tourism plan for Australia aimed to create a shared vision for developing and growing spa experiences, as a healthy and high yield sector of Australia's tourism industry. This is welcomed and it is anticipated that Victoria's Spa and Wellness Tourism Action plan will dovetail into the national plan.

Professionalism and excellence

Spa and wellness tourism is a service that offers an intimate and more personal experience. As such, the role of people is critical in the delivery of quality experiences. Planning for the appropriate mix of competencies and skills to meet minimum standards and generally raising industry professionalism has been identified as both a challenge and an opportunity for Victoria. Excellence in the area of customer service can provide Victoria with a clear competitive advantage, both nationally and internationally.

Businesses engaged in delivering spa and wellness experiences may use the following existing mechanisms to improve professionalism and assist in the goal of attaining high standards:

  • structured/traditional training and education development programs
  • less formal/less structured professional skill development programs such as mentoring
  • business development tools and standard measures. For example, the Better Business Tourism Accreditation Program (BBTAP). Consideration should be given to modify existing programs to suit the spa sector
  • recognition and rewards programs such as sector-specific, regional, state and national tourism awards.

Tourism Victoria is facilitating the preparation of a Professionalism and Excellence Strategy aimed at creating a competitive advantage for visitor satisfaction. To capitalise from this opportunity businesses in the spa and wellness sector should aim to be familiar with the strategy and adopt its principles.

Business sustainability

Business profitability must be maintained and, where possible, enhanced to ensure sustainability.

Issues such as the availability of skilled staff, salaries and product pricing need to be addressed if the industry is to continue to meet growing demand in a sustainable manner.

The following are some principles to help maintain and enhance the industry’s position in the future. The industry should seek to:

  • support best practice market research
  • expand marketing activities to target new markets
  • engage the community - this is particularly important in the Daylesford/Hepburn Springs region where spa and wellness tourism is one of the key product offerings of the area
  • review the visitor experience - there may be a need to partner with other sectors such as hotels and restaurants to maximise the visitor experience.

Spa and wellness businesses must also be encouraged to adopt environmentally sustainable principles, including responsible use of water, energy efficiency and waste management. As spa experiences in the Daylesford/Hepburn Springs are dependent upon the continuing supply of mineral waters, sustainable practices will need to be adhered to in order to ensure the long-term survival of the area.

Investment opportunities: Victoria's geothermal water & mineral springs reserves

Tourism Victoria is producing guidelines for the development of tourism opportunities at Victoria's geothermal and mineral springs reserves. These guidelines will be a valuable tool for the attraction of greater investment in geothermal and mineral spring attractions to grow the spa and wellness segment in Victoria. In particular, the guidelines will consider the location and status of geothermal water and mineral springs, specific planning and design issues and include detailed benchmark case studies. The assistance that these guidelines will provide to potential investor groups and relevant government agencies will encourage the development of this product from concept to reality.