The second online meeting of the Thalasso work group (ESPA) took place on June 5th 2024. Invited by ESPA member Marlies Sobczak, experts from France, Germany, Turkey, Spain, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and the Netherlands participated and exchanged news and insights.
With these meetings, the ESPA work group aims to create a platform that combines expertise and builds a strong foundation to meet future challenges. The concept of Thalasso deserves a more prominent place among the general public and in healthcare. Brussels has launched the EU4Health program (2021-2027) to promote health and prevent diseases. It provides funding to eligible health organizations and NGOs. Our member Sven Aerts is the contact person for Brussels.
Topics discussed in this second meeting included:
– modern applications of mud and algae
Mrs. Lourdes Mourelle, doctor in pharmacy, specialist in thermalism and researcher at the University of Vigo gave a presentation about marine peloids and their thermophysical properties.
https://europeanspas.eu /marine-peloids
– quality standards – Mr. Wilhelm Loth director of Staatsbad Norderney presented the criteria of the Deutscher Heilbäder Verband (DHV) for Thalasso in the German countries https://europeanspas.eu/the-deutscher-heilbader-verband-dhv-criteria-for-thalasso-in-the-german-countries.
– the new Directorate General of Health and Food Safety (SANTE) in Brussels offers options for Thalasso. Mr. Sven Aerts presented Erasmus projects and possibilities for each partner. It is possible to have research assignments carried out and to obtain assistance for this.
– Thalasso platform on the ESPA website. The website has been completely renovated in September 2022 and is developing well as a communication tool. We cordially invite you to post your contributions.
There have already been many views and posts in a short time:
- 94 articles/news (5 for Thalasso Group)
- 26 e-newsletters (1 for Thalasso Group)
- database of 11,874 contacts
- https://europeanspas.eu/category/news.
Here you will also find the presentation of Prof. Dr. Friedhart Raschke – comparison of climate & seawater North Sea vs. Baltic Sea in the application of Thalasso therapy https://europeanspas.eu/difference-north-sea-and-baltic-sea-in-the-application-of-thalasso-therapy.
Exchange knowledge and help us take Thalasso to the next level with your contribution!
– Congress: for the first time Thalasso will be a topic at the European Spas & Balneology congress in Lithuania which is held from 25-27 September 2024 in Druskininkai, Lithuania.
THURSDAY, 26 SEPTEMBER 2024
Session 4 – Climate-based treatments
11:00 – 12:30 Representative for ESPA Thalasso group
Further reading: https://europeanspas.eu/congress. https://europeanspas.eu/congress-programme
– Publications
Our American member Laura Powell informed us about 2 articles that soon will be published. Laura has been an international travel industry and wellness tourism analyst and consultant for more than 30 years. She started her career at CNN where she reported on travel for the network. Later
she established a consultancy specializing in tourism and wellness (www.tourismwelldefined.com).
The stories about Thalassotherapy will be for ‘AARP Magazine’ – a publication that reaches millions of 45+ Americans (www.aarp.org/magazine)– and for ‘The Art of Wellbeing’ – a publication put out by Organic Spa Media (https://www.organicspamagazine.com/the-art-of-well-being).
Join us
We want to work on better awareness and positioning of Thalassotherapy, promote knowledge exchange, an even higher level of research and therapies as well as find funding for this and/or generate more profitable turnovers.
Our plan for 2024 includes the following:
– Quarterly Teams Meeting
– Meetings cover specific Thallasso subject
– Contribute to ESPA E-Library
* Participating countries are: Belgium-Bulgary-Czech Republic-Estland-France-Germany-Netherlands-Romania-Slovenia-Spain-Turkey-US. Our current list of interested parties has 40 members.
Contact us at: thalasso@europeanspas.eu .