Terme, 2022 turnover on the rise. Acceleration on medical activity

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The spa activity resumes its share and in the first 9 months of 2022 the turnover slightly exceeds 600 million, including spa services and revenues generated by the hotels owned by the spawith a recovery of 36% compared to the same period of 2021. The sector is suffering due to expensive energy and is unable to recover pre-pandemic levels when the turnover was around 800 million and including the activities of the induced activities reached 1.5 billion.

The Federterme assembly

These are the numbers that Massimo Caputi, president of Federterme, presented at the annual shareholders’ meeting. An opportunity to illustrate the next moves in the sector starting from the birth of Italcaresa platform that will be online next year and will be dedicated to health tourism, a segment in which Spain, Portugal, Germany and Slovenia manage to carve out significant shares of a business that is worth over 2.1 billion euros worldwide, according to a report by The European House – Ambrosetti, while wellness tourism exceeds 13.3 billion.

The goal is to intercept the flows of patients who from Northern Europe, from the USA and once also from Russia choose the spas of the Iberian peninsula or Slovenia and who in the future, for example, will be treated in Abano Terme, Chianciano, Saturnia or choosing from the 330 spas of the peninsula. Italcares will have to be approved by the Ministry of Tourism and will be managed by Federterme.

Medical clusters

This platform will involve the excellences of both public and private Italian healthcare with the creation of real medical clusters. The hospitals must be accredited abroad and Italcares, in addition to the rehabilitation chain, will represent the easiest way for guests to organize travel, accommodation, therapies and treatments.

“The reference model is the Spanish one where health tourism is the strong growth thanks to a combination of tourism, health and a profitable partnership between public and private as well as favorable regulations” adds Caputi. “We aim at respiratory and motor thermal rehabilitation because the scientific community has shown how thermal treatments accelerate recovery times – adds Marina Lalli, vice president of Federterme and president of the Foundation for thermal scientific research (Forst) which promotes and supports the medical-scientific research activities in the thermal sector -. With Italcares the supplementary health funds of Europe and individual patients will find a unique and integrated offer ». According to the federation’s estimates, medical tourism should grow by 46% next year, while once fully operational the platform will produce a 15% growth in direct personnel.