Spa News: ISPA’s Consumer Snapshot Initiative Goes Global

For the first time, the International SPA Association Foundation’s popular survey reveals spa usage trends and perceptions of the spa industry around the world.

Launched in 2011, the International SPA Association (ISPA) Foundation’s Consumer Snapshot Initiative provides valuable consumer insight into the spa industry “to better understand consumer choices and their overall perception of the spa industry.” Now, for the very first time, Volume VI of the popular survey has extended globally beyond the United States to include spa-related research from the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.

Says Lynne McNees, ISPA President, “This research aims to shine a light on spa usage trends and perceptions of the spa industry around the world. The level of interest in the results has been remarkable and builds on the continued success of the previous five volumes. As the first international edition of the series, this volume has been greatly anticipated.”

Undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the latest edition of ISPA’s Consumer Snapshot Initiative aims to uncover what motivates spa-goers to visit and, equally as importantly, to not visit a spa, as well as to examine consumer opinions regarding the spa industry as a whole. Data was collected from 4,028 responses from a sample of consumers in Australia, Cananda, the United Kingdom, and the United States.*

Consumer Snapshot Initiative Volume VI Key Findings:

• Overall, Australia has the lowest percentage of spa-goers compared to the other countries surveyed. However, Australia has the highest proportion of male spa-goers relative to its total spa-going population.
• Most people who visit a spa go between one and four times per year.
• British spa-goers place the most importance on the social aspect of a spa visit, with nearly one in five (19%) using their last spa visit to “join a family member or friend.”
• Massage is overwhelmingly the top treatment across all four countries surveyed with almost three quarters of all spa-goers (72%) experiencing one within the last year.
• When it comes to top treatments (including massage), there are only subtle differences between the most-requested services in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

“This research comes at such a fitting time as ISPA celebrates our 25th anniversary,” says Michael Tompkins, ISPA Chairman. “A big thank you to our spa and resource partner members for their service to our industry. The quality research ISPA delivers is one of the many ways we serve our members and support the spa industry. ISPA has been the authoritative voice of the spa industry from the beginning and will continue in that rich tradition. We haven’t changed our focus in strengthening our industry – spa has always been our priority.”

More information on the ISPA Foundation and ISPA’s research can be found at www.experienceISPA.com.

*The surveyed sample was selected based upon the most up-to-date census data in order to be representative of the age, income, and regional distributions of the entire population.