ASSESSMENT OF THE CONDITIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPA TOURISM IN THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

Abstract

The growing worldwide focus on health and wellbeing has led to a fast growth of spa and health tourism. Health retreats and spas are a rapidly growing sector of the industry where there has been interest in new age remedies and traditional remedial therapies. However, even though Macedonia has a unique mineral water resource, with over 60 recognized springs located across the country, this great tourist potential is not yet fully utilized. Hence, the aim of this paper is to explore the potential of spa in the Republic of Macedonia, to analyze the current development of this form of and its role and importance in the development of the overall tourist offer. The history of hot springs and their use as thermal spas has worldwide origins and dates back to the earliest civilizations (2). Travel to thermal springs for the sake of health and healing can be traced at least as far back as the ancient Greeks and Romans, with the earliest forms of based on apparent curative powers of mineral waters. Nowadays, health and wellness is a rapidly growing sector of today's thriving industry and it has increased its activity worldwide. This trend can be explained by the fact that people nowadays pay more attention to their appearance and their health than in earlier days (2). The growing worldwide focus on health and wellbeing has led to a fast growth of health and spa tourism. This growing desire for the combination of escape with the satisfaction of the need to maintain or recapture personal wellbeing has been recognized by the industry through the promotion of this form of (1). Spa (thermal) industry today is gaining increasing importance in health as its sub-category. The global health practices are connected with the development of spa-facilities (3), focused on the effect of relaxation and curative influence on the human body, achieved by the means of water based procedures, such as mineral waters, thermal pools, vapour baths and saunas (7). Today, spa can be defined from several standpoints, because it is closely intertwined with other forms of health like medical tourism, wellness tourism, thermal etc. The most commonly used definition is the one provided by Smith and Puczko where, according to them, spa is tourism which focuses on the relaxation or healing of the body, using mainly water-based treatments, such as mineral or thermal pools, steam rooms and saunas, with an emphasis focused on curing, rehabilitating, or resting the body (7).