EUROPEAN SPAS ASSOCIATION HEALTH - QUALITY - INNOVATION

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1 EUROPEAN SPAS ASSOCIATION HEALTH - QUALITY - INNOVATION

2 EUROPEAN SPAS ASSOCIATION THE COMPETENCES OF THE ESPA MANAGING BOARD Martin Plachý President, Czech Republic - Overview of all agenda Gunnlaugur K. Jónsson First Vice-President, Iceland - PR & Communications of ESPA Jurgita Kazlauskienė Vice-President, Lithuania - Internal and external communication of ESPA Hans-Jürgen Kütbach Vice-President, Germany - Alternative sources of ESPA financing EU-Funds (Cohesion-, Regional-, Structure Funds), EU-Programmes (Baltic, Danube) Laura Natali Vice-President, Italy - EU-Tourism policy, relations to EU-Commissioner and DG Enterprise and Industry Nicu Radulescu Vice-President, Romania - Networking with World Tourism Organisation, contacts with other international associations Ladies and gentlemen, The European Spas Association (ESPA) was founded in 1995 in Brussels as an umbrella association for national spa associations in Europe. It has represented the interests of European spas in Brussels, the continent s political nerve centre, ever since. Also in the future ESPA will focus on the European dimension of spas and health resorts as centres for health, rehabilitation and prevention as well as health tourism destinations. In this context it is essential to emphasis the importance of quality in terms of facilities and services. ESPA will strengthen its position regarding the recognition of local natural remedies and medical services of spas. Prevention measures are investments for the future and spas are the ideal partners! Yours, Martin Plachý ESPA President Dr. Janka Zálešáková Vice-President, Slovakia Medical fundamentals of spas, medical research in spas, medical qualification, quality, certification, EU-Health policy, mobility of patients Wojciech Fulek Vice-President, Poland - Relations and contacts with the spa communities and common projects Thierry Dubois Treasurer, France - Finances of ESPA Joachim Lieber Secretary-General, Germany - Head of Executive THE ESPA OFFICE João Pinto Barbosa PR & Communications Manager, jbarbosa@espa-ehv.eu Reinhard Petry Legal Adviser, petry@espa-ehv.eu Eva Kiewel Coordinator, eva.kiewel@espa-ehv.eu

3 The European Spas Association (ESPA) is an umbrella association of national associations and members from 19 European countries. ESPA represents over 1,400 spas and health resorts as well as facilities for cure, prevention, rehabilitation and health tourism in Europe. The related European market contains according to ESPA approximately 12,000 facilities. The industry employs directly and indirectly around 750,000 people and has an annual turnover of approximately 45 billion euros. This means that the European facilities are not only an essential part of the health services in their national markets and in Europe, but also an important economic factor and employee. In addition, many of these jobs are in structurally weak regions as is untouched nature and the distance to industrialised regions an essential feature of many spas and health resorts. Health resorts in Europe have made an important contribution to public health, in many cases for centuries. Apart from medical treatment, they also contain a wide range of cultural amenities and are home to fascinating architecture in a cultivated environment, in many cases adjacent to unspoilt countryside. Their unique mineral resources such as thermal springs, mineral springs and peloids are successfully used for treatment in the areas of preventive medicine, rehabilitation and health resort medicine. And they include numerous Kneipp centres and thalasso resorts in Europe, where treatment involves the sea climate and marine products. OUR AREA OF EXPERTISE HEALTH QUALITY INNOVATION European health resorts offer a diverse range of services. Nowadays, the classical methods supervised by spa doctors are accompanied by an array of techniques for helping patients to maintain their health and convalesce. They include services, in which traditional and modern natural healing methods are combined with medical expertise. ESPA s paramount job is to support and strengthen its members. Its objective is to maintain and develop the long-standing health resort culture in Europe and to align it within today s national medical systems and the European Union. AND OUR MISSION Align health resorts within the European healthcare market More fairness in competition by quality Promote a clear distinction between health resort therapy and recreational services (wellness)

4 AND MEMBERS The European Spas Association is an umbrella organisation representing 20 members from 19 European countries. Following the national members and the details of contact: OUR ASSOCIATION ESPA is a non-profit and non-governmental association based upon Belgian law (A.I.S.B.L.) Since the beginning, ESPA has built up a close network of contacts with policymakers as well as leading representatives of science and business. This goes to benefit above all our members only with a strong association the opportunities offered by Europe can be used to the full. Network of and for health resort and spa experts Certification of health resorts and spa facilities (EuropeSpa) Consultation on legislations and regulations in the member states Contacts by communication and collaboration with members and operators in Europe and worldwide Support for research and the provision of information Development of health resorts and spas together with experts BULGARIA Bulgarian Balneology and Spa Tourism Union (BUBSPA) office@bubspa.org CZECH REPUBLIC Czech Spa Association sekretariat@lecebnelazne.cz DENMARK Klovtoft Kurklinik og Barfodspark wellness@mail.dk VisitVejle visitvejle@vejle.dk ESTONIA Estonian Spas Association (ESPAL) info@estonianspas.eu FRANCE Conseil National des Exploitants Thermaux (CNETh) cneth.thermalisme@wanadoo.fr GERMANY Deutscher Heilbäderverband (DHV) info@dhv-berlin.de HUNGARY Hungarian Spa and Bath Association Csilla.Mezosi@gmail.com ICELAND The Iceland Spa Association nlfi@nlfi.is ITALY FEDERTERME segreteria@federterme.it LATVIA Jûrmala City Council guntau@jpd.gov.lv LITHUANIA National Resort Association of Lithuania info@kurortuasociacija.lt LUXEMBURG Domaine Thermal de Mondorf domaine@mondorf.lu NETHERLANDS HZ University of Applied Sciences, Scaldis Academy Contact University Vlissingen peter.kruizinga@hz.nl ESPA Board member Marlies Sobczak m.sobczak@sobczak.nl POLAND Stowarzyszenie Gmin Uzdrowiskowych RP biuro@sgurp.pl PORTUGAL Associação das Termas de Portugal geral@termasdeportugal.pt ROMANIA Romanian Organisation of Spas (OPTBR) optbr@bluescreen.ro SLOVAKIA Association of Slovak Spas ask@ask.sk SPAIN Asociación Nacional de Balnearios (ANBAL) anbal@balnearios.org TURKEY Turkish Association of Spas, Thalasso and Health Resorts (TURKSPA) mzkaragulle@turk.net

5 OUR WORK PROGRAMME OBJECTIVES Moving Europe s spas and health resorts forward The ESPA s aim is it to develop health strategies for prevention and rehabilitation for the European citizens; to promote and improve quality standards in all spas and health resorts within Europe; to monitor and analyse the conditions of the spas and health resorts in the individual EC member countries; to stimulate exchange of experience, best practice and know-how; to stimulate and resource spa research. The ESPA s Work Programme s basis is built up on the following pillars in order to fulfil the association s anchor points as mentioned above: MONITORING The monitoring of the actual EU news, EU legislations, EU project related content, activities in the area of health politics and healthcare, tourism politics and tourism in general, other related fields on EU and national level as well as press and media activities related to ESPA interests, is the key for activities related to lobbying and representation of an umbrella association. This is also linked to our communication tools which are for example e-insight News to our members. LOBBYING AND REPRESENTATION Being present in Brussels means a lot in terms of lobbying and representation in front of the EU institutions. Set lobby priorities of the European spas and health resorts are the recognition of local natural remedies, the enhancement of the awareness of spa and health resorts as qualified prevention and rehabilitation centres and to emphasise the importance of quality in terms of facilities, services and education. In this context we would like to name the activities under ISO WG 2 and the implementation of the EuropeSpa certification system. ESPA is also working on the acknowledgement of the significant role of health tourism in the overall tourism market. To enhance the visibility in the EU context as well as to show that our activities are linked to the EU 2020 strategy for health and tourism we are expanding the participation in Commission s working groups and platforms. This way ESPA contributes actively to the overall health and tourism objectives of the European Commission.

6 EU-FUNDING POSSIBILITIES The EU provides a broad range of funding possibilities. ESPA highlights to its members upcoming opportunities, coordinates expressions of interests for precise calls for proposals and organises webinars on specific topics in order to support the MOs members to submit a successful application. At the beginning of April 2014 ESPA received the information about the successful evaluation of last year s submitted project proposal to the European Commission. The project proposal includes 11 partners from 8 European countries and focuses on a transnational tourism product based on a common theme. The project is named In the footsteps of the Romans and brings together European thermal water spas and health resorts which are from Roman origin. ESPA will carry out this project as the coordinator. SPA MEDICINE A currently carried out concrete action in the field of spa medicine (balneotherapy) is the digital brochure Balneotherapy - part of healthcare. In European medical spa facilities for the attention of cross-border healthcare interested patients across the EU. This brochure provides an overview of medical spa products, in the ESPA member countries, as well as provides information whether such care is part of the healthcare system of the country and to what extent it is covered from the public funds. ESPA gives a great attention to the support of the evidence based research in the field of spa medicine, not only in the treatment of chronic diseases, but also in projects aimed at primary prevention of lifestyle diseases, improving quality of life in older age and maintaining working ability of Europeans. By those activities the ESPA wants to be actively involved in European and national programmes maintaining good public health. Wider international cooperation of spas with specialised research institutions and university departments is expected. The database of published relevant scientific papers, in the field of medical spas, is also in preparation. PR & COMMUNICATIONS The main purposes of the ESPA PR & Communications activities are: To strengthen the awareness of the ESPA as the official partner association with the health and tourism decisionmaking bodies of the European Union and with the relevant spa and health resort stakeholders in Europe and worldwide; To promote the European concept of spas and balneotherapy in Europe and worldwide; To promote natural remedies: mineral water, peloids, climate, sea water, healing gases etc; To strengthen the relevance of the role of the European spas and health resorts in prevention of diseases, health promotion and rehabilitation; To communicate the Unique Value Proposition of the European spa and resort medicine to deal with specific health problems of the society, e.g. aging population, obesity, osteoporosis, supported by concrete answers and results by the European spa philosophy. Our main targets are: The ESPA members; the spa destinations, spa clinics, spa hotels, spa facilities, of the ESPA members; EU organs and institutions; journalists & press; other stakeholders (municipalities, regions, universities, entrepreneurs, providers ) Channels and tools: Website Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest) europeanspas e-newsletter e-insight News to our members Printing materials (brochures, leaflet, displays ) Other digital materials (e-brochures) PR activities such as press conferences, press releases, participation in events like congresses, conferences, seminars, trade fairs organised by international or national stakeholders and partners The ESPA Annual Congress Furthermore, the ESPA organises and supports professional events, conferences and hearings on spa medicine related topics.

7 AND KEY INITIATIVES EUROPESPA ESPA launched the EuropeSpa initiative in order to boost cross-border transparency and fair competition in the medical spa and wellness market in Europe. Today it is ESPA s official quality system for medical spa and wellness. EuropeSpa provides technically profound orientation and guidance in the fields of safety, hygiene, infrastructure and service. The EuropeSpa med certificates are dedicated to the medical spa sector while the EuropeSpa wellness certificates cover the whole range of wellness hotels, hotel spas, thermal spas and day spas. EuropeSpa provides to all certified facilities an international platform bringing them to the attention of tourists, tour operators and health insurances all over Europe. ESPA INNOVATION AWARDS The ESPA Innovation Awards reflect the ESPA aim of stimulating exchange of experience, best practice and know-how. It is made for destinations, facilities or initiatives that represent innovation in the true sense of the word; that is, the development of a new, more creative or more effective approach to any aspect of spas and health resorts management, operations or marketing. The evaluation criteria that guide the Judges Panel are as follows: 1. Originality of the innovation 2. Impact of the innovation 3. Practicality of its application 4. Measurability of the benefits 5. Applicability AWARDS CATEGORIES C1 INNOVATIVE SPA & HEALTH RESORT DESTINATION C2 INNOVATIVE MEDICAL SPA C3 INNOVATIVE THERMAL WATERS SPA C4 INNOVATIVE SPA HOTEL C5 INNOVATIVE SPA CONCEPT C6 INNOVATIVE HEALTH SPA PROGRAMME

8 ESPA S CONGRESS PLACES Sopot POLAND 2016 Vichy FRANCE

9 European Spas Association 50, Rue d Arlon, B-1000 Bruxelles Tel: office@espa-ehv.eu twitter.com/europeanspas facebook.com/europeanspas flickr.com/photos/europeanspas pinterest.com/europeanspas