Global spa market worth £81bn and forecast to reach £85.4bn by 2020
The global wellness industry grew 10.6% in the last two years to become a $3.72 trillion (£3.06 trillion) market in 2015, according to new research.
Within that, the spa market grew 2.3% to $98.6bn (£81bn) and is forecast to grow by a further 6% by 2020.
The data was released today by the Global Wellness Institute (GWI) as part of the Global Wellness Summit 2016 taking place in Austria.
The GWI defines the wellness industry as encompassing 10 individual sectors, of which the fastest growing between 2013 and 2015 were: preventative and personalised medicine and public health (+23.5%), fitness (+21.4%), wellness lifestyle real estate (+18.6%), wellness tourism (+14%), and nutrition and weight loss (+12.8%).
The other five sectors analysed were: beauty and anti-ageing, complementary and alternative medicine, spa, thermal and mineral springs, and workplace wellness.
The spa economy grew to become a $98.6bn (£81bn) market in 2015, according to the report. Spa facility revenues were worth $77.6bn (£63.8bn) globally, while the revenue from education, consulting, associations, media, and event sectors that enable spa businesses was worth $21bn (£17.2bn).
The number of spa locations increased from 105,591 in 2013 to 121,595 in 2015. Since 2013, the industry has added 16,000 spas, more than 230,000 workers (to reach 2.1 million), and $3.5bn (£2.9bn) in revenue.
The researchers said that the modest 2.3% annual revenue growth rate (2013-2015) was largely due to the US dollar currency conversion from large spa markets across Europe and Asia. If global spa facility revenues are converted to the Euro, the market actually grew 25%, from €56bn (£50.6bn) to €70.1bn (£63.4bn).
Looking forward, GWI forecast that the spa market would grow a further 6% by 2020, to be worth $103.9bn (£85.4bn).
GWI senior research fellow Katherine Johnston said: “A profound shift in the way people consume wellness is underway: once a luxury or 'add-on', it’s now being infused into every aspect of daily life – from how people work to how they travel. And the spend on proactive healthy choices – on wellness - will continue to comprise a greater percentage of massive multi-trillion industries, whether real estate, food and beverage, or travel.”
Beauty and anti-ageing was the only one of the 10 sectors that declined slightly, from $1.02 trillion (£838bn) in 2013 to $999bn (£821bn) in 2015.
The full report, the 2016 Global Wellness Economy Monitor, with data on regional and national wellness markets, will be released in early 2017.