Ms Maria Georga, a specialist in the international health tourism market explores the Polish city, Busko Zdroj’s potential to become the new medical thermal spa destination of Europe.
Just a couple of hours from Krakow and almost three hours from Warsaw airport, you’ll find Busko Zdroj, a thermal spa city in the Swietokrzyskie region in Poland. The city is rich in natural beauty with a large green park in the centre of the city.
While Busko Zdroj and its thermal healing waters are popular amongst the Polish people, this unique destination has not yet been discovered by the international health tourist.
The quality of the sulfur waters is of a consistent standard – all medical spa facilities draw their thermal water from a central pipe. The service range and quality of the facilities vary: public facilities co-exist with military union owned and private facilities. However the combination of cost oriented and profit oriented centre’s can make Busko Zdroj city and the Swietokrzyskie region appealing to heath travelers, locals or foreigners at varying income levels.
Of course, the region needs to adopt the international practices of other established destinations; it is apparent that most facilities are not prepared for foreign travelers. The majority of people currently working at the local medical spa facilities can only communicate in Polish or Russian while there is a profound need to translate all signage, service and product information into international languages.
Local laboratories and small bottling firms have already invested in the sulfur water, creating natural cosmetic products and vitamins.
The people of the Swietokrzyskie region are friendly and helpful, living in the tranquility of this peaceful city. They walk or cycle a lot around the city in their everyday routine, spend afternoons in the park or in open gyms and their evenings in gatherings, barbeques and dancing parties. They are very open and friendly to foreigners.
The treatment packages are very competitive; the country still retains its own currency – the Zloty. A 200 Euro per person package includes a full accommodation and treatment program in a private medical spa center and offers a variety of treatments plans; some of them performed using a combination of thermal water and state of the art modern medical equipment.
The regional authorities have put in a lot of work and effort in recent years, supported by EU funding, in order to make their destination stand out from the already renowned destinations in Poland (Warsaw and Krakow) and turn it into an attractive, alternative attraction for foreign health tourists.
The destination’s proximity to so many European countries with ageing populations and the growing demand for “rejuvenation” services is an opportunity for growth.
A new Baden Baden? A new Karlovy Vary? Or a new concept different from both of them?
Time will tell.
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