Abstract
In recent years, there has been a growing public recognition that the wellness phenomenon is becoming a way of life and is reshaping the way we live. In particular, many tourism products claiming to stand for wellness tourism, such as yoga tourism, therapy tourism and so on, are attracting tourists. Spa tourism is widely seen as one of the representative products in terms of the level of development or its popularity. In this respect, this paper analyses the spa industry of two developed countries, Japan and Australia, in the tourism sector. Japan is often quoted as one of the prime leading industrial countries with a substantially developed spa tourism based on the unique natural environment by creating ryokan, which is the traditional form of accommodation with spas. Meanwhile, Australia is famous for a well-developed tourism industry with high demands and supplies for spas tourism in spite of lacking natural hot springs. By comparing the two kinds of accommodation, this study describes their background development and the challenges they are facing nowadays, to determine the differentiating strategies within the context of accommodations with spas. This paper draws on the growing literature offering practical and empirical insights into the differences and similarities between the two countries in their accommodation with spas facilities. Furthermore, the paper provides two case studies in each country and an interview of the on-site supervisor in a hotel to improve its credibility and concreteness. It also explores a successful case of a spa facilities operation in accommodation facilities. The study provides following implications. Japan boasts a long history with a deep-rooted spa tradition. Based on the natural environment, they added their unique pampering physical services to the spas accommodation system. Nowadays, the service in ryokan becomes a good example of customer satisfaction and some Asian countries are attempting to emulate them. Therefore, if the problems of language barriers and managerial professionalism are improved, ryokan could be one of the competitive and representative tourism products of Japan. Meanwhile, Australia is known for its popularity for spa resort facilities. Because the demand is growing, diverse products and price ranges can lead to more people coming to spas facilities. In addition, the main characteristic in the Australian spas is that the services are usually merged into package products. Therefore, if service quality is well controlled by each operator, the diversity of the spas products can be a most effective attraction for visitors. Overall, this study compares and contrasts the spa industry of the two countries with valuable findings and recommendations that can be transferred to many other countries for development in this field of tourism.