The International SPA Association (ISPA) released its preliminary 2007 figures on the United States spa industry in August of 2007. Final figures will be released in November.
The preliminary findings of the 2007 Spa Industry Study by The International SPA Association (ISPA) show that the U.S. spa industry is maturing. The number of spas is still growing, but overall revenues are down. Day spa revenues, in particular, dropped sharply even as more day spas opened.
Here are the preliminary findings:
Number of Spas in the United States, 2007
- There were an estimated 14,615 spas in the United States in August 2007, up 6% from 13,757 spas in August of 2006. There were 10,128 spas in April of 2004.
- Although the number of spas is still growing, the rate of growth is slowing.
The number of day spas, resort/hotel spas, medical spas and destination spas all increased between 2006 and 2007. The number of club spas and mineral springs spas decreased.
- 11,736 day spas in the U.S., 80% of the total.
- 1,345 resort and hotel spas, 9% of the total.
- 976 medical spas, 7% of the total.
- 428 club spas, 3% of the total.
- 51 mineral springs spas, 0.4% of the total.
- 79 destination spas, 0.5% of the total.
Annual Revenues of the Spa Industry
While there were more spas in the U.S., revenues actually fell 3.4% from $9.7 billion in 2005 to $9.4 billion in 2006. Revenues are medical spas more than doubled.
Annual Revenues By Spa Type
- Day spas : $5.294 billion in 2006, down from $6.794 billion in 2005.
- Resort and hotel spas: $2.499 billion, up from $2.026 billion.
- Medical spas: $1,063 billion, up from $469 million.
- Club spas: $242 million, up from $209 million.
- There were 110 million spa visits in 2006, a 16% decline from the 131 million spa visits in 2005. It was almost as low as the levels seen in 2003. However, one explanation may be that people are getting multiple services at one visit.
The number of spa employees also declined.
- There were 234,588 total spa employees in July 2007, compared to 267,400 total spa industry employees in August, 2006. Most of the decline was in part-time employees.
- 118,078 of the employees were full-time, 73,648 were part-time, and 42,862 were contract employees.
- There were 215,200 total spa industry employees in April 2004.
- Men, couples and pregnant women are being catered to with special packages. 48% of spas have packages for men, 46% for couples and 45% for pregnant women.
- Teen packages are available at 34% of spas, while senior packages are available at just 20% of spas.
By Anitra Brown, About.com
