Cross-Border Collaborations in Spas and Wellness: Opportunities and Challenges

1. Cross-Border Collaborations in Spas and Wellness: Opportunities and Challenges Dr Melanie Smith (PhD) Lecturer, Researcher and Consultant BKF University of Applied Sciences Hungary Email: Melanie.Smith@bkf.hu

2. The Challenges of Collaborations ‘Birds of a feather flock together’ ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth’

3. Cultural Differences….. FinnishintheSauna British in the Spa Tearoom

4. The Usefulness of Collaborations for Health and Wellness Projects Management of common resources (e.g. rivers, lakes, mountains) Sharing of good practice (e.g. creating innovative spa experiences) Developing and differentiating products and creating USPs (e.g. establishing complementary not competitive facilities) Developing quality systems and brands Examples: Alpine Wellness – quality trademark and brand Nordic Wellbeing – managing and promoting similar resources

5. IncreasingClustersinHealth and Wellness Clusters often start national or local and go cross-border Good opportunities for increased productivity, innovations and new business formations (Weiermair and Steinhaus, 2003) Europe, especially new Member States in 2004 could not afford to lag behind the rest of the world in clustering for the sake of their innovation and productivity (Ketels and Sölvell, 2006) History of mistrust in Central and Eastern Europe - destination management, clustering, etc very new Medical Tourism Clusters growing worldwide, especially at national level and cross-border medical tourism „A wellness cluster - is natural resources of a geographical location, its services and infrastructure, the integrated activity of wellness and health service providers and administrative institutions in creating wellness products and services meeting the needs of customers” (Hopeniene and Bagdoniene, 2011) Wellness clusters help to build trustworthy and strong brands and quality criteria (Steinhauser and Jochum, 2006) However, brands of wellness cluster are relatively weakly anchored in people's minds – only around 50% and younger consumers (Bertsch & Ostermann, 2011)

6. The Baltic Health Tourism Cluster Baltic Health Tourism Cluster established between Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia in October 2013 Similar traditions including sanatorium treatments, rehabilitation, medical spas, sea bathing Similar resources including mineral water, sea water, remedial mud, peat, climate Gastronomy and cusine based on healthy foods such as fish, berries, mushrooms, herbs The main purpose is to increase the global competitiveness of the region in health tourism as well as enhancingtrust and co-opetition; improvingqualityand jointmarketing

7. A Balkan Wellbeing Project How is wellbeing understood in this region? Lifestylepatterns? Similar traditions including sanatorium treatments, rehabilitation, medical spas, sea bathing, balneology, etc Similarresourcesincludingmineralwater, seawater, mountains, climate Gastronomy and cusinebasedonsimilarfoods? Wellbeingtraditions and therapiesrelatingtoherbs, oils, muds, etc? Product and service quality? Image, marketing, branding?

8. Some Exisiting Spa and Wellness Collaborations in the Balkans

9. The Politics of Collaboration in the Balkans „cross-border cooperation is seen by thenational leaders as very important , as the existence of these projects is understood toshow the pro-European stance of the country, to facilitate benefiting fromvarious European and international funds, and of course to promote local economic development” (Tamminen , 2010: 413) „Cross-border cooperation projects can also be seen as part of a larger-scale programme of identity politics. Integrated into European institutional agendas for a regional approach to the Balkans, theseprojectscan be viewed as a technique for promoting a ‘European identity’, understoodas an institutionalizsed way of perceiving and organising politicalspace based on the values of interethnic cooperation, local governanceand the dismantling of national borders.” (Tamminen, 2010:415)

10. Balkan Wellbeing Project Delphi Study undertaken between 13th November 2013 and 3rd April 2014 In the first round there were 31 respondents from 17 countries and 22 respondents from 11 countries in the second Respondents were sent 10 questions in the first round relating to definitions, image, associations, products, collaborations and marketing Second round respondents were asked to comment on first round data in a questionnaire consisting of 12 questions

11. Top 5 Unique Selling Propositions Suggested Focus of Product Development

12. Potential Areas for Future Collaboration

13. Possible New Products

14. Suggested Images to Represent the Balkans

15. Main Opportunities and Challenges Sea, mountain and spa resorts should be the focus with recreation, adventures and entertainment developed in them. Thermal, medical and rehabilitation spas can be developed for new markets. New products can be developed like gastro-heritage, modernised traditional cuisine, authentic wellness programs and forest bathing. Wellbeing does not have to be costly. The Balkans can offer recreation in nature, healthy home-made food, family happiness and self-esteem (without surgery). We cannot generalise about Balkan countries, some are more developed than others. We need to put the Balkan region on the global health and wellness tourism map. Service quality is perhaps the biggest problem for foreign tourists. "Lack of enthusiasm and engagement" and "financial and economic problems" are the biggest challenges in the Balkan countries. Sustainable development should form the foundations for the rest. Differences in education/skills levels are quite prominent Political and other corruption are serious One can wonder what is the cause and what is the consequence – i.e. is the poor marketing a consequence of an undeveloped product and infrastructure? A good concept is needed!

16. Conclusions Partnerships are becoming very fashionable e.g. EU projects, DMOs, clusters Cross-border working is complex but easier than when there are no close borders! Cultural and lingustic challenges Simple logistics of meeting Virtual working? In reality, hard to administer and be really productive However, great to share good practice and undertake joint research, management, even promotion But only if we are all rowing in the same direction!