Spa society boosts efforts to professionalize industry

CEBU, Philippines – After receiving the €600,000 grant from the European Union (EU) two years ago, the Spa Association of the Philippines, Inc. (SAPI) is now intensifying its effort to professionalize the industry through providing trainings to spa operators.

In an interview with SAPI Vis-min board of director Ed Mendez, he explained that the EU grant has been equally divided to the top four Asian spa destinations, which include the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

He said that around P100,000 has so far been shelled out by SAPI through the grant and this has been used to train spa owners nationwide for a span of three months in the actual body massage, proper sequencing and other necessary skills to professionalize spa services in the country.

Mendez who represented newly-opened Langkawi Discovery Spa in Parkmall recently joined the second batch of training along with three other Cebu-based spa operators which started last January.

He said that in qualifying in the training program, particular spa owner has to undergo an interview and must possess passion for the wellness sector.

"SAPI is hoping that the training will be cascaded down to a million of therapists to really professionalize the industry. Spa owners who get trainings are given an operational manual that is based on the EU standard so they can start their operations well," said Mendez.

He said that since Malaysia cannot provide the number for the 50 allocated slots of trainees, they are now lobbying that the 20 slots be given to the Philippines to train more spa owners in the Visayas and Mindanao areas to also intensify their representation in SAPI which are mostly dominated by Manila-based spa operators.

Mendez said that other than engaging the active participation of Vis-Min spa owners, they are also planning to do Department of Health (DOH) accreditation trainings because a lot of spa operators could not get a Department of Tourism (DOT) accreditation without first passing DOH requirements.

He said that they are also hoping to gather an ample number of therapists from Vis-Min so that they can lobby to DOH and DOT to hold therapist accreditation examinations here in Cebu instead in Manila which makes it more expensive for spa owners to comply.

"There are still a lot of things to improve in the spa industry and the trainings can help us professionalize the sector and we hope that through the grant, this will also be cascaded down to smaller spa operators so that its owners will be educated in the proper operations of their businesses and we also look at getting spa suppliers involved so we can establish a strong value chain in the industry," stressed Mendez.