The Thai Spa Association predicts the country’s spa industry will grow by 15 per cent this year, which would be a notable improvement on last year’s five per cent growth.

Krod Rojanastien, president of the Thai Spa Association, told Thai newspaper The National that the revenue of destination spas will grow by 6-10 per cent, day and hotel spas by 10-20 per cent and spa products by 10-15 per cent.

The value of international spa tourism should reach TBH31bn (US$951m, €833m, £619m) in 2015, while exported spa services, management and related businesses will grow by 12 per cent from last year.

In 2013, spa business generated revenue of TBH22bn (US$675m, €591m, £439m), with 22.5m recorded spa visits.

Destination spas’ revenue dropped 5-6 per cent in 2014, while hotel spas saw a decline of 10-30 per cent. Reasons for this decrease in spa visitations could be the political turmoil that occurred in Bangkok earlier that year. During the second half of the year, however, the sector grew by approximately five per cent, according to Rojanastien.

“Potential markets for [visits to] Thai spas are Vietnam, China, India, Laos, Russia, Turkey and the Middle East,” said Rojanastien.

The Thai Spa Association is also planning to hold the World Spa and Wellbeing Convention in Bangkok between September 24-26 in conjunction with the Beyond Beauty ASEAN (Association of South East Nations) event. These exhibitions are expected to draw local and foreign operators of the wellness industry.

It is expected that another edition of the Thai Spa Association’s Spa Industry Study will be released at the 2015 World Spa and Wellbeing Convention – providing insight into consumer habits and operators’ best practices. The study is conducted as part of a collaboration with Thailand’s Stenden Rangsit University.