Global Spa Summit Spa Briefing: Colorful Indonesia

It’s almost time for the 2011 Global Spa Summit!  It begins May 15th in Bali.  My days are filled with last minute preparations, reviewing briefing papers that are coming in from all over the world, and making sure our team here has thought of everything (hopefully) to make the Summit a super success.  It’s really a lot of fun and a time when I learn a great deal about what is happening around the world re spas and wellness.

This year, in the “Spirit of the Summit” we want to make as much information available as possible not only to delegates who will be attending the Summit, but also to others who might find the data valuable.  We know that not everyone can attend the yearly Summits, but there is no reason that others shouldn’t benefit from the information shared!  So I thought that my blog might be a good vehicle to help spread the word.

For starters, I will share with you some of the individual country briefing papers written by this year’s delegates.  This will give you a chance to garner some up-to-the-minute grassroots information in bite-size pieces. Hopefully it will be fun and of interest to you.

It seems appropriate to start out with Indonesia.  This briefing, written by first-time delegate Martha Tilaar, was especially interesting because she wrote about the vibrancy of the younger generation in Indonesia.  Enjoy!

Briefing Report: Asia – Indonesia

What are some changes you have noticed in your customers this past year? Are you seeing any new requests from consumers? People in Indonesia, especially women, are very fashionable and more conscious with new trends and are very adaptable with the changes and influences from the West. Spa and wellness becomes everybody’s need for balancing their daily life. In the last 5 years, beauty clinics under medical doctor supervision are growing and more men and women have started to welcome high technology and instant ways of beauty treatment. Physical body alteration are welcomed and discussed publicly. However, although all high technology beauty treatments are booming, natural ways of beauty treatment are still favorable for most women in Indonesia, such as lulur, timung, Javanese massage, Balinese beauty treatment, acupuncture, etc.

What sectors do you see attracting the most investment capital these days?  What about when it comes to the spa and wellness arena? With its population, Indonesia is very attractive for any kind of investment capital, though for now the mining and plantations are still the major profitable investment. Indonesia is also a member of G20 and the middle class is growing faster, and unlike European countries or Japan, we have a young generation who will be the strength of this country in years to come.  Indonesia’s tourism has not reached its potential, with around 7 million tourists per annum, and the target should be much bigger than that. Indonesia still has many more places and culture that has not been explored, like Komodo Islands, Raja Ampat, Wakatobi, Derawan Island, etc. This is also applicable with the spa and wellness arena, since Indonesia’s culture still has many unexposed traditions and unrevealed beauty treatments. Indonesia is also very good in fusing foreign cultures with our indigenous culture, so it will enrich the industry.

What is the future looking like for spa and wellness in your country? The spa industry in Indonesia is still growing and very promising, as people become more conscious about wellness and stress management in this modern and fast world. However we have to admit that the industry lacks strict standardization and competencies, and needs more improvement in some areas. In the future, after all the issues are solved, we believe that the market is going to be very huge and as mentioned before, Indonesian people are very adaptable with new trends coming from the West.

SUBMITTED BY:
Martha Tillar
Founder
The Martha Tillar Group
Indonesia
www.marthatilaarspa.com

My twitter address: @susieellis