Management in Spanish Thalassotherapy Centers
8.1 Introduction
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© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
M. Peris-Ortiz, J. Álvarez-García (eds.), Health and Wellness Tourism, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-11490-3_8
quality certifi cation QualiCert, where conditions were established in order to defi ne a center as thalassotherapy, which are: be located in a place of marine climate, use of living sea water (water which contains its organic and inorganic components, among which are microplankton, algae and sea mud), have professional staff with medical supervision and have an infrastructure and equipment needed to apply ther- apeutic techniques based on seawater.
Currently Thalassotherapy is defi ned as a prescribed method of treatment for certain diseases, which combines marine baths with the action of the sun and air (Rocha 2004 ). According to studies, this therapy is benefi cial for the proper func- tioning of the metabolism and seawater has more than 80 elements necessary for the human body, some are antitumor, antibacterial or antiviral. To facilitate absorption of these elements through the skin, mainly iodine and sodium, these should have a similar temperature to the body, between 35° and 37°. It has been found and widely documented that seawater produces stimulating actions in the body and acts as a general tonic. Therefore, this type of therapy is indicated for dermatology, gyneco- logical procedures, musculoskeletal rehabilitation, rheumatology, odontostomatol- ogy, for the respiratory system and otolaryngology (Mourelle 2012 ). It is also applied in post-operative processes, psychosomatic illnesses such as stress, depres- sion or fatigue and in the beauty treatment fi eld.
In the case of Spain, the conditions for the creation of thalassotherapy centers are ideal because it has 7,880 kms of coastline. Moreover, if we consider that tourism is one of the economic motors of the country, it seems reasonable to believe that the sector could have a higher implantation.
For the defense and promotion of this activity, the Spanish Society of Thalassotherapy was created on March 8, 2004 in Isla de la Toja. The criteria admis- sion of members are: immediate proximity to the sea, use of natural seawater, treat- ments with medical supervision, qualifi ed personnel, compliance with health and safety measures and facilities in good working order. This society, with seven found- ing members, now has 11 members. In Spain there are currently 37 establishments, the same as those associated with France Thalasso despite there being a lower French coastal perimeter, although they do not all strictly meet the requirements.
The Spanish regulation on thalassotherapy centers could clearly be improved in the absence of a specifi c regulatory framework for classifying activity centers, in the same way as that for spas that use mineral and medicinal waters. Moreover, this state regulation is outdated, as it goes back to the nineteenth century and is based on the Mining Act. To this, we must add the legislative decentralization, which does not favor the creation of a general legislative framework. Thus, there have been only minor regulatory attempts in Galicia and Murcia.
Despite all this complexity, thalassotherapy centers are undergoing continued expansion within health tourism, which has been favored by the rise of the culture of leisure and health in our society. This type of therapy shows a great potential for meeting new needs like the increase in diseases deriving from occupational and traffi c accidents or the demand for rehabilitation therapies. Moreover, in modern
medicine there is a tendency for prevention and health education, which also pro- motes visiting these centers. To all this, we must add the interest aroused in admin- istrations and coastal populations derived from its contribution to the development of the territory and the local economy and its traditions, generating income and employment (Martínez 2008 ).
However, the sector is facing new challenges. One may be the risk of experienc- ing a loss of identity linked to the search by centers of a more recreational rather than medical dimension. Along these lines, it can also be a problem to focus on the young client without pathologies, when the world population is aging. In short, there is a danger of a positioning very much dependent on fashion and social habits.
Furthermore, in this process of resurgence, thalasos are aware that in order to survive in a context in which they have to compete with other tourism products, should seek customer satisfaction and therefore see Quality Management as a tool for achieving this, as it allows for improvement, fi rstly of its internal activities (Sila 2007 ; Lee et al. 2009 ; Mak 2011 ) with the aim of providing a service that satisfi es the customer and secondly, the performance of the company (Powell 1995 ; Kaynak 2003 ).
There are three reasons for conducting this research: (1) The importance of the tourism sector in Spain, considered as a strategic focus for the economic recov- ery, according to the National Integral Tourism Plan 2012/2015 (PNIT), which represents 10 % of GDP and 11 % of national employment, and in particular
“health tourism is becoming the market segment with the highest growth trend within the tourism industry ”(I Tourism and Health Forum Baleares Islands, 2013), being Thalassotherapy Centers a component thereof, according to the clas- sifi cation based on the characteristics of the water used (ANET/ANBAL 2006 ), (2) thalassotherapy centers have not been the subject of research in the fi eld of quality management, research which on the other hand is necessary due to the boom and importance that health tourism is gaining in today’s society because although it is a small niche market, it has great growth potential compared to traditional tourism.
For all the above, the main objective of this work is to detect the barriers that must be overcome by the Centers, both before and during the implementation and certifi cation of a QMS. In this way, the management of the Center would be pro- vided with the required skills in order to develop strategies to manage the barriers properly, reducing or avoiding them before implantation. A secondary objective was to check for signifi cant differences in perceived barriers depending on whether the Thalassotherapy Center has implemented or not some QMS and to analyze the structure of the barriers in this sector.
To respond to these objectives, the paper is divided into several sections. First, the theoretical framework used to conduct research and from the theoretical review the objectives set are marked. The second section describes the methods used, while the third collects the analysis of the results. The main conclusions and implications of the work are presented in the last section.