A Critical Analysis of How Central European Spas Create Health Tourism Experiencescapes

Dryglas, Diana; Smith, Melanie Kay

doi:10.1080/21568316.2023.2259357

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 85 publications

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“…SPA businesses should carefully evaluate the situation regarding immediate economic, existential, legislative and other impacts and look for ways to minimize their negative consequences. These results are consistent with the results of several studies (Pinos Navarrete & Shaw, 2021; Ceperkovic & Cerovic, 2023; Dryglas & Smith, 2023). This research has several limitations, among which we can mainly include the aspect of representativeness of the sample.…”

Section: Sources: Developed By the Authorssupporting

confidence: 92%

Innovative Activity of Spa Companies in the Slovak and Czech Republic in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Senkova,

Kolesarova,

Kosikova

2024

MMI

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In many health systems in European countries, SPA services are currently part of or a supplement to health care. Owingto their natural healing resources and long-standing traditions, the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic are important European SPA countries. In both countries, SPA tourism is also one of the most important types of tourism, and with regard to its evaluation according to the number of overnight stays and income, it constitutes a significant share of the structure of the tourism industry. One of the greatest challenges for SPA businesses was the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused travel restrictions, business closures, and a decrease in demand and revenue. The impact of the pandemic on SPA businesses in the studied countries has not yet been examined in detail. Accordingly, the aim of the present study is to evaluate the innovative activities of SPA companies in Slovakia and the Czech Republic in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research sample consists of 122 SPA enterprises from both republics. Based on the results of previous research, innovation is generally perceived as an important element in the development of society, crisis management, increasing competitiveness and commercial success. The main research method for identifying and classifying the types of innovations and innovation capabilities implemented in SPA enterprises was a questionnaire survey. The results of the conducted research revealed that the origin of SPA businesses does not affect the country or how people perceive trends. The connections between the types of introduced innovations and some benefits from the introduction of innovations as well as the barriers affecting the introduction of innovations were confirmed. It follows, for example, that companies that invest in innovation processes can improve their performance and the competitiveness of their team and reduce their costs for production or service provision. From the analysis of factors related to the introduction of innovations, it emerged that the most important factors are those that have a direct impact on economic results and the competitive advantage of businesses. On the other hand, those factors related to cultural, environmental or technical aspects of innovation are less important. Despite repeated calls, not all SPA companies operating in the SPA industry in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic participated.

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Section: Sources: Developed By the Authorssupporting

confidence: 92%

Innovative Activity of Spa Companies in the Slovak and Czech Republic in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Senkova,

Kolesarova,

Kosikova

2024

MMI

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“…The analysis for the fifth category is presented in Figure 9, revealing the different products and services mentioned in the THT literature. First, the majority of the related papers concerned spa therapy (Dryglas & Smith, 2023;Fontanari & Kern, 2003;Gustavo, 2010;Jónás-Berki et al, 2015;Speier, 2011), including balneotherapy (Dryglas & Smith, 2023;Speier, 2011), Chinese-style massage and Thai massage (Islam, 2014). The high number of mentions of spa services indicates its prominence in THT.…”

Section: Insights Of Traditional Health Tourismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The seventh category, shown in Figure 11, presented the challenges in the development of traditional health tourism, indicating the factors that require significant attention from scholars and practitioners. First, the most commonly discussed challenge in the articles in the review was the lack of infrastructure and advanced facilities (Dryglas & Smith, 2023;Kiss, 2015). This approach addresses issues such as developing transportation infrastructure (Chanin et al, 2015) and investing in modern health and medical facilities, which are crucial for medical tourism (Yu & Ko, 2012).…”

Section: Insights Of Traditional Health Tourismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The results on the basis of the first and second category indicate the need to conduct cross-country comparisons. Studies have focused on specific regions, which limits the evaluation of cultural differences, and further investigations into different medical/health tourism submarkets in different cross-cultural settings could be beneficial (Dryglas & Smith, 2023;Gustavo, 2010;Kim et al, 2011;Yu & Ko, 2012). While Asia is a prominent continent with a significant number of publications related to health/wellness/medical tourism, comparative studies can strengthen the literature on THT.…”

Section: Emerging Gaps Recommendations and Research Framework For Fut...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The majority of the studies mentioned traditional spa therapy involving bathing in water such as minerals (Dinu et al, 2010;Fontanari & Kern, 2003). Speier (2011) highlighted the commodification of traditional spa therapies and the diversification of services and products in health/medical tourism, while Dryglas and Smith (2023) highlighted that wellness retreat services should be explored from the perspective of spirality. The growing market of medical and health tourism has resulted in the demand for traditional practices where spas are required to focus on the global market by providing generalized packages of therapies.…”

Section: Emerging Gaps Recommendations and Research Framework For Fut...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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A systematic review of traditional health tourism: A priori of wellness tourism

Yan

2024

Multidiscip. Rev.

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This systematic literature review explores the research stream of traditional health tourism (THT) by covering a time frame of two decades. This research aimed to identify the key research areas and themes in the THT literature and proposed a research framework for further investigation. A total of 29 selected articles were analyzed and classified into seven categories, which included national contexts, products and services, driving factors, challenges in the development of THT and so forth. The analysis of the selected articles involved providing a descriptive analysis of the articles, followed by discussion of the content of the articles according to the themes. Additionally, gaps were identified in the literature on THTs. The research framework proposed in this review comprises eleven recommendations, which act as a roadmap for future investigations, encouraging researchers to engage in cross-cultural analyses, mixed-methods studies, and further investigations into different critical factors that affect THT. Thus, the review has significant implications because it provides a future research agenda, and the practical implications can be extended to the tourism industry and policymakers.

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Assessing the Impact of the Influential Factors of Airport Biometric Technology on Air Traveler Behavioral Intentions in the With-COVID-19 Era: The Role of Attitude and Mental Health Value

Untaru,

Chi,

Jung

et al. 2024

Tourism Planning & Development

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A Critical Analysis of How Central European Spas Create Health Tourism Experiencescapes

Cited by 3 publications

References 85 publications

Innovative Activity of Spa Companies in the Slovak and Czech Republic in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Innovative Activity of Spa Companies in the Slovak and Czech Republic in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

A systematic review of traditional health tourism: A priori of wellness tourism

Assessing the Impact of the Influential Factors of Airport Biometric Technology on Air Traveler Behavioral Intentions in the With-COVID-19 Era: The Role of Attitude and Mental Health Value

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