th
s
The Spa Of Your Life
A growing
number of
"health and
wellness centers"
cater to a wider
range of interests
as more
Americans head
to the spa.
JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR
STAFF WRITER
Above: Like these two Canyon Ranch
clients, more and more vacationers are
choosing spas.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF TH E CANYO N RANC
Below: Seventy-five percent of spa-goers
are women.
11 -6
G
errie Kalt knows a good
spa when she sees one.
She ought to. As a trav-
el agent she has heard the
feedback from thousands of clients
she has sent on spa vacations over
the past 15 or so years. Many a va-
cation day away from her offices at
Bee Kalt Travel in Birmingham has
been spent in a spa as well.
"I love it," she said, noting that
the Canyon Ranch in Tucson, Ariz.
is her all-time favorite. "I go main-
ly to feel good, to calm me down. I
recommend it and I believe in it."
Ms. Kalt is one of the growing
numbers of people who make their
way to these health and fitness
meccas each year. According to the
International Spa and Fitness As-
sociation (I/SPA), Spa Finders, a
travel group specializing in spa va-
cations, sent 14,000 Americans to
250 destination and resort spas in
the United States last year. That
doesn't include thousands more
who booked their own travel
through independent agents.
Although no exact numbers are
kept on smaller day spas, it is es-
timated that hundreds of thousands
have made their way into over 600
locations, said Kim Marshall, an
I/SPA spokesperson.
`This is the ideal time to be in the
spa business because it is growing
so rapidly," Ms. Marshall said. "And
more and more people are finding
spas fill their needs as far as health
and wellness services go."
The guests, 75 percent of whom
are women, are heading to these
wellness centers as opposed to a
beach paradise or European city for
the services that will relax their
minds, tweak their waistlines and
pamper their bodies.
To attain such nirvana, the spa-
goers are willing to fork over thou-
sands of dollars. While the average
spa stay was just shy of a week in an
I/SPA 1995 survey, guests spent up
to $840 a night for personal services,
from paraffin wraps to mud baths.
The craze has been slow to start.
In fact, the first known spa in North
America was Rancho La Puerta, a
resort spa located three miles south
of the United States border near
San Diego. Founded in 1939, it was
seen in a somewhat cultish light,
with cuisine that featured entire
meals planned around grapes and
speakers who encouraged physical
and mental fitness.
By 1978, the country had 30 des-
tination spas. The slow growth from
the '30s to the late '70s was due in
part to the popular opinion at the
time that spas were for wealthy
clients or for overweight people
looking to lose weight.
"For so many years, spas were
seen as fat farms for the rich and
famous. Or it was the rich person
trying to get away or they were try-
ing to dry up from alcoholism," Ms.
Marshall said.