“The enthusiastic response of ISPA members to the
original report, however, pushed ISPA to secure the
necessary funding to conduct the Study annually.”
“We initially viewed it as something
we would revisit every few years,” says
Lynne McNees. The enthusiastic
response of ISPA members to the
original report, however, pushed ISPA
to secure the necessary funding to nearly unbroken since 1999. The only
year in which the ‘Big Five’ statistics
declined was, as one might guess,
2009. During that initial wave of the
Great Recession, revenue declined by
4.3 percent and spa visits tumbled by amazing to see the growth in spa-
going over the years among the
general population.”
“Research is really what put us on
the map,” says McNees, and ISPA has
no intention of diverting from consis-
conduct the Study annually. “The ISPA
Foundation’s fundraising efforts,”
McNees adds, “have been able to
maintain it consistently. There were a
few early years that we thought we
may have to skip, but that would have
been very detrimental to the history.
We’ve been very fortunate to be able
to continue it and see the growth.”
Indeed, that growth has been 10.2 percent. The past two years’
record-setting numbers, however, are
a testament to the resiliency of the
industry and the increasingly far-
reaching impact of the spa and
wellness industries.
Witnessing the expanding
influence of spa has been the best
part of this ongoing twenty-year
project, says McIlheney: “It’s been tently delivering high-quality,
independent research. As the spa
industry undergoes radical changes
driven by emerging technologies and
innovative products, the ISPA U.S.
Spa Industry Study will continue to
track every transformation.
After all, you can’t know where
you are—or where to go—without
knowing where you’ve been. n
the original isPa industry
study also included
canadian spas.
Beyond the ‘Big five’
The ‘Big Five’ metrics—total
revenue, spa visits, spa locations,
revenue per visit and number of
employees—have become the calling
card of the ISPA U.S. Industry Study,
but they’re most relevant to those
outside the spa industry. For spa
operators, looking beyond the ‘Big
Five’ numbers in each year’s Study
will reveal data with obvious
practical applications, such as year-
over-year changes in average prices
by treatment type, growth in alter-
native treatments and services, or
what an average spa’s retail product
mix looks like.
38
PULSE
■
SEPtEmbEr 2019
the Study
goes global?
while conducting a more
global study has proved
impractical in the past, ISPA
never says never. ISPA
leadership regularly reeval-
uates the idea, and a more
“incremental approach” to a
worldwide industry study is
a possibility, according to
Colin mcIlheney.