Switzerland could be the most popular wellness tourism destination in Europe

Wellness tourism or as more popularly known ‘Health and Wellness Tourism’ is now a global trend set by the health-conscious people who are desiring to enhance their wellbeing through their travel experiences. This type of travelers looks for those destinations in different parts of the world where they will be able to get specialized services to lose weight, feel better, get rid of muscular problems, eradicate skin problems, relieve from pain and stress, and many more. They also rely on natural supplements to cure their problems. Hence, wellness tourism provides dwell benefits – one way travelers get an opportunity to enjoy the natural and historical spots and on the other way they could avail the benefits of specialized health and wellness services provided in those destinations. Apart from specialized hubs, the resorts and hotels are also creating wellness spas and developing their own hubs for that purpose to attract consumers.  

Over the decades Switzerland has remained one of the most popular tourism destinations in Europe. Mountains, lakes, old towns and villages are already popular among the tourists; recently Switzerland has been gaining attention from large number of tourists as a health and wellness destination. Hotels and resorts in Switzerland are now focusing on wellness spas and services for making Switzerland a ‘hotspot’ of wellness tourism in Europe.

Wellness Tourism

Wellness tourism is not similar to health tourism. In letter situations, people with health issues travel to other countries for getting specialized medical care that is not available in their own countries. Sometimes, people also decide to avail discounted medical facilities in some other countries. Wellness tourism meant to improve and maintain present health conditions of the tourists though some specialized spa and like services. Again, there are tourists who want to maintain their healthy habits when they travel just like normal tourists or for other purposes. Simply speaking, wellness tourism is travel supplemented with the accessibility of various means of personal wellbeing.

Three primary aspects of wellness tourism are lifestyle resorts, beauty spas and spiritual retreats. Hotels and resorts, with a motif to propagate the concept of wellness tourism, provide many wellness facilities to their guests. On the other hand tourists who have craze for maintaining and continuing their heath regime while travelling look for the hotels and resorts where they could avail multiple of wellness facilities like beauty spas, gyms, massage parlors, and foods for health. Thus, the concept is gaining momentum steadily and with an increasing awareness of wellness tourism, the concept has been getting importance across the countries too.

An overview of wellness tourism

There is no doubt that wellness tourism is gaining importance over the past two decades. Large number of people is getting attracted to this concept and preferring to go for vacation in such destinations which serve dual purposes. Still now, wellness tourism is secondary matter for most of the world tourists, i.e. they look for wellness facilities and articles only if those are available in the hotels or the place they are visiting. Globally, there is almost 85% of expenditure on wellness take place only when tourists feel those are needed or attractive. Simply speaking 85% expenses made on wellness are done by tourists unplanned and 15% of expenses were predetermined expenses on wellness¹.

In 2013 wellness tourism economy of the world was worth nearly $438 billion which was almost 13% more than 2012, and roughly 14% of total global tourism expenditures. It had created 12 million jobs worldwide in 2013. The 525 million trips were made by the wellness travelers in that financial year accounted for 6% of the total trips made in the global tourism². Hence, it can be interpreted that wellness tourism is a pretty large segment in the tourism industry which is similar in size to ecotourism and culinary tourism, and larger than sports tourism and medical tourism.  

The trend is enhancing every year, with the increasing consciousness on health and wellbeing; tourists are getting more interests in spotting destinations that can mitigate their lifestyle problems further. They are looking for the tourism destinations where they would be able to ‘detoxify’ themselves and boost their energies.

Wellness Tourism is evidently a budding market for the tourism industry. Tourism Industry experts are advising the governments of countries, authorities of popular destinations and owners of hotels and restaurants to offer multiple and easily accessible services and choices that meet the wellness travelers' needs. Already, a number of popular multinational hotel brands have already taken some significant steps by providing healthy rooms, healthy meals, fitness centers, yoga classes, massage spas and many similar types of services. Government authorities are coming forward to highlight the wellness attractions of their countries or provinces and they are also creating infrastructure for helping the private players top prepare their wellness facilities more proficiently.

1.     McGroarty Beth, “Europe ranks 1 in global tourism”, Global Wellness Summit, 2004, http://www.globalwellnesssummit.com/component/content/article?id=832:europe-ranks-no-1-for-wellness-tourism-trips-generates-203-million-annually

2.     Ibid.

Wellness Tourism in Europe

Europe is the second biggest wellness tourism market of the world with almost $159.0 billion expenditures in 2013 alone which is almost 36% of overall wellness tourism expenditure of the world. Europe ranks highest in the world in the number of wellness trips³. European wellness trips comprise of mineral baths, naturopathy, saunas, yoga and many more. France, German, UK, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Turkey and Hungry etc. have already got huge popularity as wellness destinations of the world.

Some other countries in Europe like Switzerland, Spain and Austria are also getting ever increasing importance as wellness destinations both as domestic and international wellness hub of the world. The annual growth rate of wellness tourism in Russia, Turkey, Poland and Switzerland are also increasing remarkably, which is clear sign of improvement in this sector of tourism industry for all the major European countries.

Feature of Wellness tourism in Switzerland

Wellness tourism in Switzerland has grown in different levels - Facilities and services provided by Switzerland tourism, the association of Switzerland Cure institutions and independent 3 star and 5 star hotels. The major wellness facilities provided by these three sources are sauna, solarium, whirlpool, steam bath, sport and fitness hubs and swimming pools. Not all facilities are available in all the hotels where these facilities made available. The services provided by all these above mentioned three sources also vary from one hotel to another.

Importance and position of Switzerland in Global wellness tourism market

Switzerland has always remained one of the most popular tourism attractions of the world. On the other hand, Tourism is one of the primary sources of revenue in Switzerland. The increase in tourists’ arrivals has been increasing steadily since 1996 with an average arrival of 1.2 million per month, which saw a record increase in August 2014 with almost 2.6 million arrivals in that month⁴. The country is popular in the world for its mountains, lakes, glaciers and rivers. Some of the world’s most popular cities like Geneva, Zurich, Basel and Ticino also attract millions of world tourists.

3.     McGroarty Beth, “Europe ranks 1 in global tourism”, Global Wellness Summit, 2004, http://www.globalwellnesssummit.com/component/content/article?id=832:europe-ranks-no-1-for-wellness-tourism-trips-generates-203-million-annually

4.     Ibid.

The location of the country is also another reason behind its wide popularity. France is located in the West of Switzerland, Germany in the north, Austria and Liechtenstein in the east and Italy in the south. All of these countries including Switzerland are dominating the European tourism business. Tourists who travel along Europe get opportunities to visit all these countries at one go.

As the wellness tourism is getting wider acceptance from the tourists, Switzerland is also getting higher importance from the tourists. Interestingly, the domestic market as also the international market of European Union are showing clear sign of improvements over the past few years. In fact the domestic tourism within the countries of European Union are much more attractive than any other continents, i.e. to say Europeans travel to the other countries within Europe more frequently than Americans travel in other countries in North America or Indians travel in other parts of Asia. As per statistical data, Switzerland can be considered as one of the major ‘hotspot’ of wellness tourism in Europe both in the domestic and international markets.

As per the record available, in 2013 almost 10.1 million wellness travelers had arrived in Switzerland who had made almost $11.4 billion expenditures in this country. Switzerland was positioned in 9^th position Globally whereas German, France, Austria and Italy were in 2^nd, 4^th, 5^th and 8^th position in Global tourism market. Switzerland is also placed among the world’s fasted growing wellness tourism market were this outstandingly beautiful country ranks 4^th with 8.9% annual increase in expenditures in wellness related services and products in this country. It is also noticed that the country is registering an increase of 5.4 million new arrivals every year since 2012⁵.

Switzerland is such a country which has the potential to become one of the front runners in wellness tourism market in the world. In fact every part of this country gets attention from the visitors due to distinctive natural, historical and political characteristics. There is a huge scope of expansion of wellness market because the country is rich in natural resources and abundant of places for promoting wellness activities including outdoor games like skiing, cycling, Para gliding and water sports. Switzerland has been facing stiff competition from all its neighboring countries in this sector and statistics showing the country is lagging behind German, Austria and Italy in this sector.

5.     McGroarty Beth, “Europe ranks 1 in global tourism”, Global Wellness Summit, 2004, http://www.globalwellnesssummit.com/component/content/article?id=832:europe-ranks-no-1-for-wellness-tourism-trips-generates-203-million-annually

Though the country is sufficiently improving in this sector, still more intensive activities are required to improve in every aspects of wellness tourism.

Promotion of Switzerland as a wellness tourism destination is the sole responsibility of Switzerland Tourism Authority. However, some major political and economic issues have made this destination a less preferred wellness tourism hub in comparison to other countries in European Union.

Future of wellness tourism in Switzerland

Despite several signs of surging market of wellness tourism in Switzerland, there are several issues crippling Swiss tourism including severe labor problems and currency issue. These problems are major hindrances before the Switzerland which is keeping the country much behind the other competitors like France, German and Italy.

The economic condition in Switzerland has remained quite positive over the past few years. Despite the ongoing pressure due to economic chaos in Europe Switzerland has shown modest condition in all major industrial aspects. But, several domestic challenges in Switzerland, such as the poor Swiss franc’s strength against the euro and comparatively higher expenses the travelers have to incur for lodging, transportation, food and activities than in other European countries. As per the experts and statistical data the country is also considered as one of most expensive winter destinations in Europe. Regardless of all of these issues, Switzerland has been able to improve earnings from tourism marketing including wellness tourism marketing. But, that improvement doesn’t come in comparison to Switzerland’s neighboring countries or other newly appearing wellness tourism destinations like Russia, Spain and Turkey.

A few intensive market analyses can reveal the advantages, disadvantages and issues before the wellness tourism market in Switzerland.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT stands for Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats. SWOT analysis can easily reveal the present condition of Switzerland and the aspects where improvements are required.

Strength – Switzerland enjoys one of the best geographic locations in central Europe. Its rich natural diversity and proximity to several other developed economies of the world like German, France or Italy has made this country one of the best wellness tourism destinations in Europe. The tourism authority in Switzerland has taken several steps in promoting wellness tourism in the country. Availability of skilled workers, strong infrastructure and willingness of hotel and restaurant owners as also tourism companies to promote wellness tourism are the major strength of the country.

Weakness - Restrictive visa policy, higher value of franc with respect to Euro, lower investment from government are the primary hindrances before wellness tourism industry in Switzerland. The infrastructural facilities against wellness tourism are not developing as fast as France or German, as a result Switzerland is receiving less number of tourists in comparison to the other countries in similar category. The country is also lacking sufficient working force and promotional facilities to attract tourists from international markets like from Australia and Asia.

Opportunities – Switzerland has huge scope to develop wellness tourism market in the country. It’s diversified natural resources, strong infrastructure, good percentage of skill labor force, good reputation in international market and above all century old experience in wellness tourism can make it the leader in wellness tourism market. The country also possesses good relation with neighboring countries especially with German; as a result they get opportunity to bring skill workers in case of scarcity in that sector. 

Threats – Stiff competition from the other European countries is the major threat to Switzerland. The facilities offered in the hotel and resorts in other countries are considered much more attractive and less expensive in comparison to other competitors in European markets.

Interpretation of SWOT analysis

SWOT analysis reveals that there is an immense scope for improvement in wellness tourism in Switzerland. They have to take some drastic initiative to strengthen core areas in this industry. The authority as well as tourism organizations also need to promote Switzerland as wellness tourism hub in Europe more vigorously in international market. Hotel and resort facilities need to be less expensive or should extend more services at the same price keep competition with the neighboring countries alive.

As SWOT analysis shows the core areas were Switzerland still lagging behind their nearest competitors, Ansoff Matrix shows four different growth strategies Switzerland can undertake to enhance their competitive advantage in domestic and international markets.

Ansoff Matrix takes into account the following four aspects:

Market Penetration – It means compete in the market more vigorously to grasp more market than the competitors. Market penetration strategy is less risky and less expensive because no new options or resources are needed to generate higher market niche. Since, Switzerland is already growing as a wellness tourist destination, government and other responsible authorities there only need to strengthen their existing infrastructure, promotional system, higher market exposure in specially in those markets where the country have not got much attention.

Market Development – It entails new markets where from Switzerland has not got any attention neither the wellness tourism industry in Switzerland has tried to develop new markets there. They should concentrate on newer opportunities in several Asian, African and American countries like Argentina, Brazil, India, China, Japan, South Africa etc. Rapid economic development in these countries has been creating large number of financially sound families who prefer to travel in different parts of the world. A planned market development strategy will enable Switzerland to get attention from tourists in these countries.

Facility and Service Development – The wellness tourism in Switzerland is based on the facilities provided by the hotels such as sauna, stem bath, swimming pool, whirl pool, medical center and fitness center. The services provided by the hotels and resorts include massage, supervised outdoor sports, recreational services and refreshment services. Apart from hotels and restaurants several cure centers in Switzerland provides similar facilities and services. In order to attract tourists from international market, hotels and resorts, tourists’ associations and tourism policy makers in Switzerland need to emphasize more on the market demand, better and upgraded facilities and more specialized services.

Diversification - Though it’s known as the riskiest part in any kind of market expansion, Switzerland needs a cooperative approach in expanding its wellness tourism. The country needs cooperation from authority, hotel and resort owners and all other stake holders to develop wellness facilities and services as also expand in new markets to promote wellness tourism in Switzerland.

Sustainable wellness tourism development is Switzerland

Government needs to emphasize on quality management as far as wellness tourism is concerned. Top quality of facilities and services are vital to ahead in international competition and compete with able rivals within the wellness market. A decent wellness infrastructure, professional services and qualified staffs are the minimum requirements for providing comprehensive wellness services to the guests.

People from higher economic strata in any country show interest in wellness tourism, hence hotel and resorts providing such services and promoting the concept on behalf of their countries should take every matter very seriously. Switzerland needs an all-around development as evident from the Ansoff matrix. Right from basic facilities to expert support system, every single aspect needs certain changes to get competitive advantage over the nearest competitors.

A sustainable wellness tourism development is not possible without involving all the stake holders related with the industry. Government should involve all in this matter to provide Switzerland greater leverage with the already existing resources employed in the industry.

Major challenges before the authority are the following (Tosun, 2001) -

1.    Level of priority given to tourism including wellness tourism in national economy.

2.    Lack of necessary development approach.

3.    Structure of the central and local administrative system that are involved in tourism industry.

4.    Level of importance given on environmental issues and tourists’ concern over those issues.

5.    Commercialization of wellness tourism in the country and government’s control over it.

6.    Structure of international tourism system and the country’s compatibility with that system.

A close analysis of this above challenges and working on those matters will enable the authority to create strategy for overall growth in wellness tourism sector.

Conclusion

Undoubtedly Switzerland is one of the most popular destinations in Europe and its wellness tourism is also growing rapidly. But Switzerland has the opportunity to record more growth in wellness tourism than they are presently showing. Certain hindrances are lagging the country behind the major competitors like France, German and Italy. As evident from the SWOT analysis there are not many weaknesses obstructing progress of wellness tourism in the country. The Ansoff matrix is also showing how the country can take opportunity of the newer markets and developed facilities and services to expand their wellness tourism sector. Focusing on the major challenges and taking necessary steps to mitigate those issues can give this naturally beautiful country some extra mileage in wellness tourism sector.

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