The National Spa Conference, organised by the French Thermal and Climatic Federation (FTCF) and its partners, has been held in Gréoux-les-Bains from 5 to 7 November, bringing together 230 key players, spa operators, representatives of the sector’s institutions, and dedicated elected representatives of the spa industry.
The meetings provided an opportunity to take stock of the contribution made by the spa industry on health, to present the prospects and challenges of spa medicine and the innovations planned for the spa industry.
Bringing together the key players in the spa industry
The first day was devoted to presentations by two key partners in the spa industry: The Observatoire National de l’économie des stations thermales (National Observatory of the Spa Economy) and Atout France.
The National Observatory of the Spa Economy is tasked with measuring and promoting the impact of the spa industry in terms of tourism, regional attractiveness and boosting employment and local trade. The analyses are based on data submitted by spas, tourist offices and General Managers of spas to Nomadéis, who presented the 2024 results.
The tourism development agency, Atout France, has presented the details and results of the ‘Villes d’Eaux, Villes de Bien-être 2024’ campaign, dedicated to promoting the natural, cultural and gastronomic heritage of these destinations.
The official welcome of participants took place at the Gréoux-les-Bains spa, in the presence of Adeline and Eleonore Guérard, CEOs of the Chaîne Thermale du Soleil, Jean-Yves Gouttebel, inter-ministerial coordinator for the spa industry, Paul Audan, mayor of Gréoux-les-Bains, Jean-François Beraud, president of the Fédération Thermale et Climatique Françaiseand Thierry Dubois, President of the Conseil National des Établissements Thermaux (CNETh).
Intervention by Paul Audan, Mayor of Gréoux-les-Bains
Paul Audan, mayor of Gréoux-les-Bains and president of the French Spa Mayors’ Association, gave a presentation of his town, an out-of-the-ordinary place with a population of 3088 citizens, whose economy is essentially based on the spa industry, and which welcomed 27,000 spa visitors in 2023, generating almost 70 million euros in direct and indirect benefits.
Since its first edition in 2015, this is the second time that Gréoux has been chosen to host this major event in the spa industry.
Intervention by Marina Ferrari, French Minister for Economy and Tourism
Both in her position as Minister for the Economy and Tourism and as the elected representative of one of France’s largest spa towns (Aix-Les-Bains), Marina Ferrari assured the audience that the government is convinced, on the basis of numerous studies, of the role played by spas in terms of public health. The Minister cited a number of the pathologies concerned, including, among the most recent, post-breast cancer care and the Covid long syndrome.
Anticipating future challenges
In the sights of the Conseil national des établissements thermaux (CNETh) this year, the funding of medical cures, which is threatened as part of the Social Security Financing Bill 2025’.”
Thierry Dubois, President of CNETh, stressed that spa treatments also play a role “in terms of prevention, support for ageing and detecting the risk of dependency”. He argued that “Spa medicine is an opportunity for access to health for all, as a complement to other treatments; it cannot be considered as a variable for adjusting public accounts”.
Another major issue for resorts is the management of water from France’s 149 thermo-mineral springs, some of which are threatened in the very short term by climate change and drought.
In 2023, according to the Observatoire national de l’économie des villes thermales (National observatory of the spa towns economy), 70% of spa establishments had no forecast or precise knowledge of how this resource would evolve over the next five years. ‘It’s a subject that concerns us because we have a few establishments that are forced to be careful,’ reminds Thierry Dubois. “We prefer to plan ahead rather than suffer”.