pulse points
biggest spenders, so the impact on revenue was less
severe than on visitor numbers. Sadly, the number of spas
closing in 2009 far outweighed the number of openings,
resulting in a net decrease of 700 spas on the market. This
was the slow-burning trend during the recession—smaller
spas seemed to be the biggest casualty, but the impact of
fallen profitability wasn’t immediate, and consequently
the net fall in the number of spas continued throughout
2010 and 2011, incredibly only returning to pre-2009 levels
in 2017.
Despite the gloomy headlines of 2009 and 2010, it is fair
to say that the spa industry weathered the storm of the
recession remarkably well. all of the ‘Big five’ statistics
reported in the 2010 study still remained at their second
highest level recorded since iSPa’s industry research
began in 1999, reflecting the spa industry’s rapid
expansion in the early part of the decade. Since then, the
‘good times’ have been returning, with steady growth in
the main metrics every year. This bounce back tells us that
in a world where uncertainty abounds, the spa industry is
resilient and well equipped for whatever challenge the
wider economic environment throws at it. n
total Spa revenue in the u.S. (billions)
$12.8 $12.3
2008 2009
$10.9
$9.7 $9.4
2005 2006
$7.7
$7.0
$4.2
1999
18
PULSE
2001
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APriL 2019
2003
2007