Prima pagină » Features and Reports » The Future Starts Today » Sanitas per aquam

Sanitas per aquam

Though difficult, the year 2022 was a good one for spa tourism in Romania

Corina Cristea, 06.01.2023, 12:05

2022 was a complicated year, full of challenges for Romanian tourism – it started under the specter of Covid, continued with the war on Romanias border and ended by slaloming between the energy crisis, the labor crisis and galloping inflation. The picture was drawn by the president of the National Association of Travel Agencies (NATA), Dumitru Luca, according to whom, though, the demand for tourism exceeded expectations, most likely due to the long period of mobility restrictions, of the budgets allocated to vacations, accumulated and not previously spent.

“We expect that more and more travelers will look for forms of ecotourism, discover their advantages and enjoy the huge resource that is nature. And when it comes to nature, Romania has many assets”, the president of NATA also said.

Invited to Radio Romania, Nicu Rădulescu, the president of the Spa Tourism Employers Organization, spoke about the tourist offer of the top resorts in Romania:

“Romania has extraordinary resources and natural resources well rated in Europe and we can really do a quality spa tourism, using the medical experience, the experience that leads to the tourists who come and are interested in their health. And the results have started to show, because, if five years ago, the average age of those who came to the spas, about over 60%, was over 50 years old, now we have an increasing number of young people coming to the SPA and Wellness areas. They constitute a very valuable segment and young people between 35 and 40 years old now account for 62%. Which means a total change in how spa tourism is perceived and an inclination to go to spas more for prevention than for treatment”.

A determining factor in their decision is related to the spa component, which in recent years has become a real industry. The most sought-after tourist offers have become those that include among theirs services various types of therapies and massages, body and facial beauty services, spa equipment, specialists and facilities. People who work in tourism say that the most suitable spa holidays are those where, in addition to the specific treatments and therapies, you can do various sports, cruises, diving, swimming, climbing, bungee jumping, hiking, outdoor exercises, cycling, kayak-canoeing , horse riding, tennis and the list goes on.

Here is Nicu Rădulescu again:

“Actually, this, let’s call it “new” field goes back to the Roman times. Spa means sanitas per aquam, meaning health through water. The Romans who invented the first baths in the spa area of Herculaneum were doing this. We realized we are very well rated, and that right now just about every hotel built in the spa area have a spa. This area, of spa and wellness, very much favored by youth, shows you that we have to take care not only of the body, but also of the mind, the soul. Water, first and foremost thermal water, but also sulfur water, which is sometimes recommended for some ailments and also for drinking, therefore, is water for inner cures, and outer cures. There is also the mofetta gas, which in the Transylvanian area is an extraordinary curative factor, unique in Europe. We are the only country that has mofetta gas. Of course, some prefer to come here for medicinal mud packs. So Romania as a country is very well placed in terms of natural resources. We have the necessary science, because lets not forget a very strong segment, well known all over Europe, we have the spa and physical therapy physicians. They are the ones administering massages, they pay close attention to whatever happens in spa resort. If you noticed, during the pandemic the rate of infection in spas was below 1%. Which means that we were very, very interested in creating protection corridors, and creating very clean areas. Tourists were also very responsible, they understood what it meant for tourism in Romania. They also understood that this could also mean a spa Romania. I am very optimistic about the next few years, I expect that the rate of incoming tourists will be much higher.”

Balneology is a science that is very well developed in Romania, says Nicu Radulescu, recalling that the Romanian Balneology Institute dates back to the 1920s, and still works under the guidance of the Ministry of Health, and more and more young physicians opt for spa and physical therapy:

“In any case, from a European perspective, Romania is well rated in terms of the medical factor. It is said that our physicians are very well trained, and that generally spa medicine is a tradition in Romania. In fact, since Romania is so diverse in terms of mineral waters and natural cures, it has to capitalize on this resource with a very well trained medical work force.”

The spa and physical therapy area blends treatments with mineral thermal waters, but also procedures in regular medicine.