British spa-goers prioritise the social side of spa, new research finds

British spa-goers place greater importance on the social element of spa than their US and Australian counterparts, according to new research. 

According to the International Spa Association’s (Ispa) Consumer Snapshot Initiative, “joining a friend or relative at the spa” was the reason for their most recent visit to a spa for 19% of Brits.  

This is the first year the Consumer Snapshot Initiative, carried out by Ispa in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and now in its fifth year, has looked a spa-going patterns in countries outside of the US. 

This year, the research also covered consumer spa habits in Canada and Australia.

Of the four countries surveyed, Australia has the lowest percentage of spa-goers. However, the country also has the highest number of male clients, among those who do visit spas. 

The research, which incorporated responses from 4,000 consumers in the four countries surveyed, also found that the typical spa-goer visit a spa between one and four times a year. 

The most popular treatment across the board remains, by an overwhelming majority, the massage, with 72% of spa-goers having had a massage in the last year. 

The Consumer Snapshot Initiative is carried out to discover why people do, or do not, visit spas, and shed light on the consumer perception of the industry as a whole.