Spa-ology

There is a bit of a trouble with the terminology when talking about spas, hot springs, saunas and the like. The terms have somewhat set meanings but are often co-opted or mistranslated for different purposes.

A boy looks at a hot spring with longing

Spa

The sound official the ISPA, the International Spa Association, on their website defines spas as places that “are devoted to enhancing overall well-being through a variety of professional services that encourage the renewal of mind, body and spirit.”The word spa itself is a direct borrow from the name of an actual city in Belgium. In Spa, the city, cold water mineral springs have served as the source for a healing and tourism industry for centuries that continues today. Coincidently, the word bath was lifted from the English town of the same name for much of the same reason. This naming convention goes both ways as Hot Springs as a city name is very common all over the US where hot springs have been found and resorts developed.

In modern terms the word spa is basically the brink-and-mortar establishment where one goes to enjoy all sorts of water related treatments. It is common to come across spa towns, spa centers and spa vacations where the idea of going to some sort of water therapy is the central theme. The term resort refers more to a higher-end and all encompassing establishment or even an area or town that serves as a destination with a combination of tourism, facilities and hotels. In this chapter I will try to stick to using spa as the overall term for a generic water therapy location when not being specific to a hot springs resort or establishment.

qingquang

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