By Sudouest.fr with AFP
Due to Covid closures, spa treatments have had fewer spa guests in the past two years than usual, but hope that the coming season will mark an improvement
In 2021, the 113 spa establishments in France received 326,000 spa guests, said the CNETh (National Council of Spa Establishments) this Thursday for the opening of its annual salon, Les Thermalies. This represents a drop of 43.5% compared to the 581,000 spa guests in 2019 (the last year before the Covid), as the establishments were closed from January to May 2021 due to confinement.
In 2020, because of the first confinement, the thermal establishments had welcomed less than 200,000 people. “The accumulation of these two consecutive seasons clearly shows the extent of the difficulties”, explained Claude-Eugène Bouvier, general delegate of the CNETh. “Fortunately, there has been no cessation of activity thanks to all the measures put in place by the government”, he welcomed.
A “badly started” season
The next season will open in March-April and end in October-November. “We hope it will be more satisfactory, even if it is rather badly started” with a “significant delay in reservations”, continued Claude-Eugène Bouvier. According to him, the conditions of access are being negotiated with the health authorities.
Currently, establishments are subject to a specific regime similar to the health pass: to access it, you need either a full vaccination or a negative PCR test within 72 hours, then confirmed by two self-tests per week. Mr. Bouvier considers it unlikely that access to cures will be subject to the vaccination pass, because they are considered to be healthcare establishments. One of the possibilities would be that the required PCR be done 24 hours before, and no longer 72.
The local economic weight of hydrotherapy is substantial. According to the CNETh, this sector represents 11,500 direct jobs. In addition, “71% of spa towns have less than 5,000 inhabitants” and this activity “often represents the bulk of their resources”. But the effectiveness of cures is disputed in the medical world, which the sector is trying to correct by funding evaluation studies.