Sustainable Health and Wellness Destinations. Proceedings of the International Conference Held in Chaves (Portugal), 13-15/10/2011

• Autor(a) principal: Joukes, Veronika
• Data de Publicação: 2012
• Outros Autores: Lourenço-Gomes, Lina, Marta-Costa, Alexandra
• Tipo de documento: Livro
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10348/3138
• topic: turismo médico; medical tourism; turismo de saúde e bem-estar; health and wellness tourism; marketing; case study; estudos de caso; market study; estudo de mercado; termas; spas; yoga

A first group of articles focuses (1) on the recovery of the landscape and the river Guadaíra (Andaluzia) in the surroundings of and together with the Pozo Amargo spa resort (Jesús Raúl Navarro García e Frederico Alvim); (2) on the use of soap operas to promote spa tourism in Ourense (Galicia) (Noelia Araújo Vila and José Antonio Fraiz Brea); (3) on highlighting the role of developmental stimulator in the spa sector, using the recent Galician experience in the field as an example (Noelia Araújo Vila e José Antonio Fraiz Brea); (4) on the transformation of Castelo Novo into a spa tourism product (António Costa Gonçalves) and (5) on the evolution of Spanish and Portuguese wellness-oriented hydrotherapy in the last decades (Josep Sánchez Ferré). A second group of articles focuses on examples outside the Iberian Peninsula. Iulia Scarlat studies the growth of one of the oldest baths in Europe, those of Băile Herculane (Romania). Anna Petropoulou compares Greek regions with and without spas and concludes that there is a strong correlation between local economic growth and tourist destinations with centuries-old baths. Anja Tuohino and Juho Pesonen show how Finns interested in experiencing health and wellness moments in rural areas search for tourist information on-line. Timothy Jeongl Yeol Lee argues that Australia’s spa resort industry can be strengthened - cooperatively – with joint planning according to rules agreed to by every stakeholder. The same author and Boram Lim compare Japanese ryokan and Australian spa resorts, focusing on lodging aspects. The third group of articles begins with an analysis of the largest Portuguese programme for social spa tourism for the elderly in the decade of 1997 to 2007, organized by INATEL by a team from the University of Aveiro, composed of Maria João Carneiro, Eusébio Celeste, Kastenholz Elisabeth and Helena Alvelos. Another quantitative approach is the one by Carlos Marques and Isa Gonçalves from the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro. From a case study at a spa in the Algarve they deduce that the most important factor for a satisfactory spa experience is relaxation, whereas the most satisfied clients had an “enthusiastic experience”. Five colleagues from Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Javad Bagheri, HJH van den Berg-Emons, JJM Pel, HLD Horemans and HJ Stam use three devices to measure the effects of whole body vibration in muscular performance and do not register any significant difference between them as far as Jump Force and Jump Rate of Force Development. The group ends with what it started with: a case study about senior spa tourism. This was conducted by Mei-Ting Hsieh and Jeongl Timothy Yeol Lee in Taiwan in the attempt to discover what motivates elderly tourists into visiting certain spas or not. The fourth group of articles starts with an analysis of the thermal bath cluster in Galicia by Miguel Loureiro and Pedro Gonzalez-Figueroa Dorrego. They identify 14 key factors for the success of a cluster initiative and highlight the importance of intellectual capital. Rosa Maria Riveiro Conde, Andrés Mazaira and Patrício Ricardo Soares Costa apply the SERVPERF scale to the spa sector in Northern Portugal to measure the perceived service quality. By using other quantitative techniques Pablo Carlos Villamarin and Maria Elisa Alén González prove that Galician health and wellness organizations (thermal baths, spas and thalassotherapy) define clear differentiation strategies. Joaquim Gonçalves Antunes applies the quota sampling process to the spa goers of the Dão-Lafões region, in order to measure their level of loyalty. Three investigators from the University of Vigo, José Álvarez Garcia, José Antonio Fraiz Brea and Maria de la Cruz del Rio Rama, analyse what obstacles need to be overcome by Spanish bathing resorts in the deployment and certification of a Quality Management System. The fifth and final part opens with a case study in Loulé, Algarve, by Ana Isabel Renda, Júlio da Costa Mendes and Patrícia Oom do Valle. Its results show the growing interest of hotels in promoting spas to some segments of residents and, also, those residents’ reluctance to take advantage of the offer in the environment in question. Roos Gerritsma and Xavier Puertas ask what part yoga plays in attracting Dutch (yoga) tourists to Barcelona and Spanish (yoga) tourists to Amsterdam, the yoga capital of the Netherlands. Roos Gerritsma joined Angelique Lombarts to present the first phase of the research project “Preventive Wellness, also in the Netherlands” whose main objective is to specify the ideal preventive wellness experience for Dutch spas. Einar Svansson uses a case study at the Blue Lagoon, Iceland, to confirm that we can learn more about a spa destination, by reconstructing its history from the point of view of its lead users. Three Romanian investigators Dragica Tomka, Vladimir Holodkov and Romana Romanov, built a model that correlates 3 factors: (1) innovation management with its own principles, (2) change management, focusing on improving wellness and quality of life and (3) the sustainable local development in regions that have natural resources for wellness purposes. They aim to use this model to monitor and improve how the three areas in question interrelate in a given region.