FINAL MORNING PRESENTATIONS
The third and final day of the GSS began with presentations by the remaining two teams in the Student Challenge; these teams represented Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia, and Hong Kong Polytechnic’s School of Hotel & Tourism Management. The winner of the competition between four teams, which included some cash and internship opportunities, was the Hong Kong Polytechnic team.
Susie Ellis then introduced the fruits of the last year’s labors; a research report entitled “Wellness Tourism and Medical Tourism: Where do Spas Fit?,” and the landmark Evidence-Based Medicine Portal for Spa & Wellness Therapies; this will be discussed in more detail later on in the day.
Dr. Ken Pelletier, one of the architects of the aforementioned portal, presented “Integrative Medicine for Spas; What Works? What Doesn’t?” His presentation pointed out the “graying of planet earth.” For example, Thailand & Indonesia are projecting explosive growth in age over 65 in the next 15 years, and earth has more people living past age 100 than ever. Medical and health care costs are eating into corporate profits, and the HCFA estimates that by 2030, these expenses will amount to more than 33% of GDP. Pelletier says the solution is incorporating integrative medicine into health care. Ongoing research shows promising results with many “natural” remedies or approaches, including using epigenesis to identify genetic markers that can be altered through lifestyle and environmental influences.
Pelletier shared a quote from 1998 in which the Chinese said that “western medicine showed real promise as an adjunct to TCM,” which received a laugh from everyone. This list of effective alternative medical practices is extensive; Mind Body Medicine, Nutrition, TCM, Acupuncture, Western Herbal, Homeopathy, Chiropractic, Ayurveda, Spiritual Healing, Naturopathy, Acupuncture, and the studies showing measurable results will now be easily accessible to the spa industry via the portal.
Pelletier believes the future confluence of integrative medicine and spa will involve developing and expanding the online database, telemedicine, genomics, epigenesis and personalized integrative medicine, and the international corporate market (progressive companies investing in this research to lower costs later). He envisions comparative personalized health assessments that elicit and sustain healthy behavior changes, and provide analytics and reporting on outcomes, and online coaching, providing low cost and high ROI for individuals, companies, insurers and governments.
Dr. Daniel Friedland, Founder & CEO SuperSmartHealth, presented “Evidence-Based Medicine: Setting the Scientific Foundation for the Global Spa Industry.” The passionate Dr. Friedland was another of the architects of the portal, and his company incorporates evidence-based medicine and integrative holistic medicine into a new definition of health: medical and mental health. Evidence is critical in the spa industry; according to Dr. Friedland more than 77% of the patients say they want to see medical evidence of the efficacy of spa treatments. Evidence-based medicine is really a bridge between customers seeking to improve their health and the providers of treatments. The spa & wellness industry should help clients navigate their journeys into wellness, using four fundamental principles:
- You are the CEO of your health; the patient leads. He doesn’t like the word patient, or consumer, or user. Call them health seeker, which expresses the desire for wellness.
- You define your vision for optimal health.
- You recognize the vision.
- You are empowered to harness resources to experience optimal health, and support to implement what works.
When looking at the medical evidence, you have to follow a clear process:
- Frame the subject properly
- Find high quality information
- Evaluate information to determine its validity
- Apply the evidence in treatments
A process is required, as there are over 8000 articles published every day, and it takes information mastery to sort the good data from the bad. But using this evidence gives the spa industry the opportunity to link scientific results to our treatment menus.
EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE PORTAL
Now, after the exciting buildup, the new portal is revealed by Susie Ellis, Dr. Pelletier, Dr. Friedland, Dr. Marc Cohen, and Nader Vassenghi. For now, the portal can be accessed through the GSS website, but it will eventually be located at spaevidence.com. What is in place now is a Phase 1 implementation, but a very rich one. There are 22 categories of therapies in an attractive layout with layman’s language. Clicking on each therapy gives you a brief description, and then 3 additional choices: a spotlight feature highlighting 4-6 research initiatives, a link to ongoing clinical trials, and direct access to the research that has been done on the therapy. The doctors involved in the project decided to incorporate 4 different well-regarded research databases; Pubmed, TRIP, Cochrane, and Natural Standard, which are each very detailed. The portal also includes a conversation tool, and the option to submit your own research results. The main objective of the portal is to provide a useful global tool for the industry to use and build on evidence of the effectiveness of spa therapies.
The panel had some remarks:
Dr. Cohen: Beware of negative evidence that can be a danger. Also, when there is no evidence, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist, but there may not have been clinical studies. Creating practice-based evidence is a valuable opportunity to create an evolution framework and develop the industry. Cohen encouraged us to play with and use the data.
Dr. Pelletier: By collection information from spas all around the word, we can build together the knowledge by conducting trials, and a way to involve our clients in the therapeutic side of our work.
Vessenghi: It is important that spas and their clients become engaged with this platform.
Dr. Friedland: We must trust in the power to improve health that is inherent in what we do.
Susie Ellis: Now was the right time to create this platform, because studies were not available ten years ago. The first article started in 1997, but a real boom regarding wellness and research occurred after 2004. Do not hesitate to give feedback, the site will be developed on an ongoing basis.
So, now there are studies, free and available to everyone, let’s use it!
Ruben Toral, Founder of MedeGuide, presented “The Vast Opportunities in Medical Tourism.” Toral is based in Bangkok and as a former director at the highly regarded Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok has first-hand knowledge on this topic. His company has compiled an online database of over 3,000 doctors in 10 countries, and also provides strategic consulting to hospitals and medical tourism boards.
He began his presentation by showing us a Sixty Minutes clip on Bumrungrad; this featured an average citizen from Kansas getting on a plan to Bumrungrad to have a quintuple bypass for $12k that would have cost $100k in the U.S. At Bumrungrad, the hospital rooms look like hotel rooms, the lobby has boutiques and restaurants, and they care for 450k international patients per year. They even have a relationship with Thai Airways, and patients can pay for treatments with air miles!
Toral defines medical tourism as leaving your country to go to another for a medical reason. The people who participate are quality seekers, value seekers, and miracle seekers. Countries like it because they are typically high-spending visitors who stay longer; hospitals and doctors like it because it is cash business, and consumers like the choice and cost savings. Aging, chronic disease, rising costs and health system overload will all contribute to the growth of medical tourism, which he described as a disruptive force in healthcare.
Toral advised us to “wake up” and be serious, if we want to be taken seriously by the medical community. Clients are tired of waiting for good medical care, and spas are in the position to empower consumers to make better choices. We should emphasize lifestyle management; we offer accessible, affordable therapies, with proven efficacy; our imagery and marketing should support that message.
Guendalina Gennari of Ecole Hotelier Lausanne announced a one-year scholarship opportunity, valued at US$22k, for a student to attend a one year post-graduate program at the school, which balances the arts and sciences of hospitality management. The program can be accomplished with only 4 visits to the school itself, and the rest is done online or as cast study work. The deadline to apply is in one week!
After our lunch break, we heard again from Social Scientist Marc Smith with some advice on SEO. Google now searches more than just the web; searches can go into twitter, message boards and other real time listings. Actual client feedback is the most powerful recommendation for urging customers to try your spa. He also discussed some Twitter strategies, such as finding the “right” people to follow, and the right conversations to retweet to expand your network. He says that Groupon doesn’t give any insight on why customers would choose your product (makes sense; if they’re interested in groupon, they’re buying on price). We should run promotions getting clients who like our spa to check into social media sites to express their positive opinions.
Our last general session at the summit was given by Dr. Laszlo Puczko, M.D. of Xellum, based in Hungary. Dr. Puczko was one of the members of the research team that created this year’s GSS report “Wellness Tourism and Medical Tourism; Where Do Spas Fit?” The report, weighing in at well over 100 pages, offers definitions of both medical and wellness tourism from multiple perspectives, detailed case studies on 12 countries considered leaders in this field, and results from a survey of over 200 previous GSS delegates.
Puzcko elaborated on the confusion that exists between the terms “medical tourism,” “health tourism,” and “wellness tourism.” But we do know that the medical tourism industry is projected to be worth approximately US$60b, while wellness tourism is over US$100b. Governments will serve as catalysts for this business development, yet even so, 1/3 of the governments interviewed had never heard of promotions for spas and wellness. Some of the trends in wellness that can incorporate spas are longevity centers, wellness cruises, eco spas, alpine wellness and holistic retreats.
His last word on the question of using the phrase “health tourism;” you can be healthy but not well for whatever reason (mood, weather, etc.) so wellness is a much better business for spas to be in.
CONCLUSION
The summit concluded with a 1 hour “Engagement Roundtable” activity, where delegates worked in groups to define the most pressing needs for the next year in the three realms of customer, money and future. This activity involved working with the group at your table of 6, and then participation with the whole delegation, including bargaining and opinion-sharing, in the creation of master priority lists the GSS board will use to set a direction for the coming year.
The last bit of business was the announcement of the location for the next GSS as Aspen, Colorado, June 4-6 2012. Aspen has a number of cutting-edge initiatives concerning public health, and the Aspen Institute and St. Regis will be the official summit locations. Co-chairs for 2012 are Richard Dusseau, CEO of Spa Strategy and Philippe Bourguignon, Vice Chairman of Revolution Places. We concluded with a champagne toast and said our goodbyes, until next year.
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