Attendee registration is underway for the first Spa & Wellness International Council’s (SWIC) Congress, which is taking place in Moscow at the end of this month.

President of the trade association SWIC, Elena Bogacheva, told Spa Opportunities that the congress will become the main place of education and networking for spa and wellness professionals at all levels.

“The spa and wellness community in Russia and CIS states experiences a severe lack of information as the majority of our professionals speak only Russian and cannot use international sources or communicate with colleagues in other parts of the world,” said Bogacheva. The congress will be a way to address these problems.

“The first SWIC Congress is right on time,” Bogacheva continued. “The Russian spa industry received a boost during the winter Olympic Games of 2014, when a large number of hotels opened. The first national standards for spa services were also introduced earlier this year.”

The SWIC is extremely important, given the region’s latest spa business trends. Bogacheva said the current trend is integration: “Medical treatments are being introduced in day spas and beauty salons; client-focused services are introduced in rehabilitation and health clinics (“sanatoria”); and spas are being included in the structure of business hotels.

“We are also witnessing a serious interest in spa business development via franchising, with new Russian spa operators appearing on the domestic market,” added Bogacheva.

130 attendees have registered for the congress, which runs from 31 October to 1 November. They come from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan and Estonia. Another 70 people are expected to register for the event.