International Journal of Spa and Wellness

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Adapting the wellness offer in Slovenian spas to

the new COVID-19 pandemic conditions

Milica Rančić Demir, Barbara Pavlakovič, Nejc Pozvek & Maja Turnšek

To cite this article: Milica Rančić Demir, Barbara Pavlakovič, Nejc Pozvek & Maja Turnšek (2022)
Adapting the wellness offer in Slovenian spas to the new COVID-19 pandemic conditions,
International Journal of Spa and Wellness, 5:3, 285-297, DOI: 10.1080/24721735.2022.2128589

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/24721735.2022.2128589

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPA AND WELLNESS
2022, VOL. 5, NO. 3, 285–297
https://doi.org/10.1080/24721735.2022.2128589

Adapting the wellness offer in Slovenian spas to the new

COVID-19 pandemic conditions*
Milica Rančić Demir , Barbara Pavlakovič, Nejc Pozvek and Maja Turnšek
Faculty of Tourism, University of Maribor, Brežice, Slovenia

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a markedly negative impact on Wellness; offer; Slovenia;
global tourism and, on the other hand, has offered new spas; COVID-19
opportunities for researchers to analyze the resilience of the
tourism industry in such conditions. Recently, several scientific
articles have emerged claiming that the COVID-19 pandemic
could represent an opportunity for significant changes in tourism.
This refers to changing practices at several levels and spreading
new ethical principles. The pandemic has also made people
aware of the importance of “well-being”. Even without a
pandemic, wellness tourism has been one of the fastest-growing
types of tourism in recent years. In all parts of the world,
including Slovenia, natural spas have tried to adapt to new
conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our analysis confirms
that visitors to Slovenian spas strongly support introducing new/
alternative activities and thus the dispersion of visitors to several
locations. They showed the greatest interest in visiting nature in
the vicinity of spas, which is also expected as a result of the
closure during the pandemic. The purpose of our article is to give
suggestions for offering alternative activities in Slovenian natural
spas. However, adapting the wellness offer in spas should ensure
that the basic traditional principles of wellness are maintained.

Introduction
The pandemic that humanity is combating severely affected tourism (Sharma et al., 2021).
The transformation that can occur inside this sector could be achieved if institutional
revolution happens not only on demand but also on the supply side of this industry, pro-
moting the arrival of new paths. The virus is an incredibly rare opportunity where the insti-
tutional pump is prepared for the stage of transformation (Brouder, 2020). When it comes
to tourism, the COVID-19 pandemic presents an opportunity to reinterpret it while being
out of the reach of exploitative patterns that don’t take into account people, places, and
the natural environment, and more in the direction of tourism that has positive effects
(Everingham & Chassagne, 2020).

CONTACT Milica Rančić Demir milica.rancic1@um.si Faculty of Tourism, University of Maribor, Cesta prvih borcev
36, 8250 Brežice, Slovenia
*The submitted paper is an extended version of the paper presented at the SITCON 2021 conference
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
286 M. RANČIĆ DEMIR ET AL.

Modern wellness centres in Slovenia, which operate according to different principles of

balneology, climatology, and thalassotherapy, are traditionally most represented in spas.
In recent years, natural spa complexes in Slovenia have been active, including wellness
programs, thus reaching new target groups of guests. At the same time, they emphasise
their advantages, such as long tradition in the field of treatment and rehabilitation with
natural healing resources and thermal – recreational programs, where they intensively
include foreign forms of offer (Finnish sauna, Turkish bath, Thai massage, Indian Ayurveda,
etc.), medical programs for preserving and strengthening health (Gojčič, 2005).
The Foundation for Wellness Professionals defines wellness as prevention without
drugs, which cannot eliminate health problems but can prevent them. Wellness
focuses on minimising three dimensions of factors that cause stress: physical stress
(which irritates the nervous system), chemical stress (which causes toxicity to the
body), and mental damage (which can cause hormonal changes). Therefore, wellness
benefits the human body: it ensures health and a higher quality of life for the population
(Cherry, 2006). During the COVID-19 pandemic, all dimensions were active, so wellness
has a very important role in recovery from the pandemic.
Wellness program users believe that many factors contribute to preserving good
health: living in a clean environment, eating organic food, engaging in regular physical
activity, and establishing a good balance between career, family, and relaxation
(Cherry, 2006). All these aspects of life, career, family, and relaxation were affected by
the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, tourism felt the consequences and losses after the
COVID-19 pandemic, after which there were visible changes in human health, i.e. their
overall psychophysical condition. As a result, people are increasingly looking for new
forms of relaxation. In addition, lockdowns, travel bans between countries, and other
measures to prevent a pandemic have influenced tourists to redirect their travel to dom-
estic destinations that provide them with various health services and services of rest,
relaxation, etc., spas their wellness offers. Wellness tourism, as part of health tourism,
during the COVID-19 pandemic, is one of the possibilities to improve tourism offers
and mitigate the pandemic’s effects. Still, it is necessary to adapt to new circumstances.
The modern way of doing business in tourism in the new conditions of the coronavirus
pandemic (COVID-19) requires improving and changing tourism products and services to
respond to guest requests adequately. Moreover, it is necessary to create a new, quality
offer that will increase the number of guests and improve business in new conditions
(Kristiana et al., 2021). In addition, the business uncertainty that companies in tourism
face creates the need to create well-designed strategies and offers based on quality
research that determines the growth and development of companies in tourism. The
new reality facing companies in tourism requires new approaches, new skills and knowl-
edge that will help tourism companies adequately respond to changes in the environ-
ment and create changes that will bring them survival in the market during the
coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), overcoming the problems that have arisen and ulti-
mately creating a competitive advantage. Accordingly, this paper aims to examine tour-
ists’ attitudes regarding the possibility of adjusting the wellness offer in Slovenian spas to
the new conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The paper is structured as follows. Section I provide a literature review. Section II gives
an overview of the methodology. Section III shows the results of the research. Section IV
discusses the results and gives an overall conclusion.
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPA AND WELLNESS 287

Literature review
The wellness industry has experienced a real boom in the last decades. As an alternative
concept, wellness generally means more than the absence of disease – it represents an
optimal state of health. Supporters of these programs believe that many factors contrib-
ute to wellness: living in a clean environment, eating organic food, regularly engaging in
physical exercises, balancing career and family, and good interpersonal skills (Rančić et al.,
2013).
Modern wellness programs have become a mandatory part of the offer of Slovenian
wellness centres. Wellness tourism in Slovenia can serve as a unique example of the
mutual complementarity of health and tourism functions (Rančić et al., 2014). González
and Bello (2002) show a strong relationship between tourists’ travel behaviour and life-
style. Similarly, a study conducted by Hallab (2006) on a healthy lifestyle in the field of
travel and tourism shows that the relationship between the healthy lifestyle habits of
American citizens and their travel characteristics is related to tourism motivational
factors and socio-demographic characteristics.
In the Slovenian tourist market, the term wellness first appeared in 2002. Wellness
tourism proved to be a suitable form of tourist product outside the summer season,
especially on the Slovenian coast, and outside the winter season in the Alpine part of Slo-
venia. Wellness tourism is not affected by seasonal fluctuations because it is available
throughout the year (Rančić, 2019). On the other hand, the COVID-19 pandemic has awa-
kened people’s awareness of the importance of wellness for health (Choudhary & Qadir,
2021). Kazakov and Oyner (2021) and Voigt and Pforr (2013) believe that wellness tourism
represents a mega market of the twenty-first century, the development of which is fuelled
by increased stress, lifestyle, and demand for personalised services. This reflects the
importance of wellness tourism in Slovenia’s tourist products before, during and after
the pandemic.
Considering the ability of the virus to spread rapidly (SARS-CoV-2), governments world-
wide were forced to implement lockdowns. Tourism cannot operate successfully if it is
devoid of the mobility of people (Sharma et al., 2021). In terms of how things played
out in the past, this industry could always recover swiftly from all kinds of troubles that
it had to face pandemics, epidemics, disasters, and other predicaments. Local, regional,
or national governments are assisting in its recovery by enticing investors by offering
them tax breaks, tempting land-use rules, etc. (Brouder, 2020; Ioannides & Gyimóthy,
2020). Grave problems encourage accelerated technological changes. Technology is a
vital force when it comes to making sure there is flexibility inside the tourism industry.
It can cope with the problems regarding the pandemic. These problems include ensuring
tourists aren’t infected with the virus, uncovering the infected and tracing their contact,
enabling online education for learners, etc. (Hall et al., 2020). During the pandemic,
national tourism comes to the foreground since most tourists come from nearby areas
(Haywood, 2020).
Those who provide tourism services ought to alter their unsustainable product offers
and thus insist on a new demand. These measures could link, provide support, and look
after the entire tourism industry to benefit everyone (Stankov et al., 2020). Buhalis and
Foerste (2015) state that specialised tourist products, such as wellness offered in spas,
contribute to the competitiveness of the tourist destination itself. However, adapting
288 M. RANČIĆ DEMIR ET AL.

and differentiating the existing contents is necessary (Šerić et al., 2021). The global COVID-
19 pandemic has already resulted in changes in tourists thinking and behaviour, so it is
necessary to implement or link specialised tourism offerings such as wellness tourism
with health tourism to improve them (Šerić et al., 2021; Cooper, 2021).
According to Salustri (2019) and Cinti (2021), the challenges to the tourism and well-
ness industry posed by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) can be a stimulus for
renewal of the spas offer and facilitation of changes that were not implemented before
the pandemic and responding to the crisis from a perspective of “transformative resili-
ence”. Vivona et al. (2021) examined the search for well-being in natural environments
in the Covid-19 era. The results revealed that people visited outdoor spaces (parks,
lakes, etc.) and walked for their well-being, although the time spent outdoors was less
during lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kranjčević (2020) believes that the COVID-19 pandemic is the right time to review the
existing principles and settings of sustainable tourism development, its interdisciplinarity,
and thus the health security of tourism and tourists at all levels. Telišman-Košuta (2020)
states that in these changes, the key attitude is towards the technology that enabled
the partially normal functioning of all participants in tourism and that the penetration
of technology into communication with the market or performing various administrative
and simpler tasks will continue. However, “live” travel will remain irreplaceable as a highly
emotional investment. Krešić and Mikulić (2020) believe that the full recovery of tourism
will occur when there is no longer a danger of COVID-19 disease and when the balance
between tourism supply and demand is re-established in the global tourism market.
There must be factors that motivate tourists to use wellness services and real attributes
that attract them to such a facility in wellness tourism. Guided by this concept, a study was
conducted in Malaysia based on which Azman and Chan (2010) wanted to investigate the
motivation of wellness tourists in this area. They collected data through in-depth inter-
views and concluded that the motivation of wellness tourists mostly depends on individ-
ual needs and lifestyle, and then on the price and quality of services in wellness centres.
They also concluded that the main motives of wellness tourists are: escape from everyday
life, relaxation and reward after hard work and relief from stress, the physical appearance
of the wellness centre, ambience and decoration, accessibility, treatment offer and profes-
sionalism of the staff.
Chen et al. (2008) conducted a study at a large wellness centre in Taiwan, including 506
visitors. The study showed that relaxation, searching for activities, Recreation and enjoy-
ing nature are the first four motivation factors. Among these motives, relaxation is the
primary motivator. One research project by Mak and Wong (2007) shows the basic
factors that motivate Hong Kong visitors to search for a spa experience. This survey
received a total of 302 responses. Motivational factors: “relaxation and relief”, “escape”,
“self-reward”, and “health and beauty” were the most important factors that motivate visi-
tors to come to the wellness centre.
On the topic of motivating tourists in wellness tourism, research was conducted in Slo-
venia. More precisely, the motives for visiting service users in wellness centres of selected
hotels in Slovenia were researched. The most important motives were activities free from
effort (doing nothing), improving the quality of life and relaxation. Most wellness tourists
are motivated to optimise their physical shape and mental health. Depending on their
affinities, motives can be stress relief, relaxation, spiritual experience, staying in nature,
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPA AND WELLNESS 289

self-development, meeting people of the same opinion and forming communities,

emotional or creative motives and the like. (Smith & Puczko, 2009).
Therefore, the following research question guided the research:
RQ1. What would tourists prefer to visit as additional activities during the visit to the spa as a
part of the tourist product?

RQ2. What options will guests support if spas need to make urgent changes to their work to
ensure health conditions?

Methodology
The research about adapting the wellness offer in spas and offering alternative activities in
Slovenian natural spas is a part of a survey “Research on energy, spas and energy tourism”
conducted online from 04.05.2021–04.08.2021. The survey is based on a literature review,
and questions are adjusted to the research aim. The questionnaire is divided into three sec-
tions: energy, spas, and power plants, and for this research, we used the section about spas. In
this section, we were interested in how often participants visited spas in the past and to what
extent they see various forms of the additional offer as something that makes sense for spas
in the future. This section includes the questions “How often did you visit spas in 2019 or
earlier, so generally before a pandemic” and “What kind of tourist offer would you like to
visit in the offer of additional activities during your visit to the spa”, “What is your primary
reason for visiting the spa?”. Participants were also asked to rate the level of support (I
don’t support at all, I don’t support, neither support nor do not support, I support, I very
much support) if spas need to make urgent changes to their work to ensure health conditions
(“Price increase and thus reduction in the number of guests”, “Unchanged implementation of
activities, but in compliance with the regulations of wearing a mask, maintaining distance,
disinfection”, “Introduction of new/alternative activities and thus dispersion of visitors to
several locations”, “The time limit for visits with booking”). The survey was anonymous,
and participants were not required to answer all survey questions.
The convenience sample using snowball sampling was used for data collection via
social media. The target population includes residents of Slovenia. Five hundred thirty-
four participants responded to more than 80% of the survey. Participants who did not
respond to 80% or more of the survey were removed from the dataset. Of those who
responded, 130 identified males (31.60%) and 282 females (68.40%) from Slovenian muni-
cipalities such as Brežice, Ljubljana, etc. Most participants completed Bachelor’s studies
(56.70%), while the least completed primary schools (2.00%). The mean age of participants
is 54 years (Table 1).
Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation) and frequencies are used to concisely
describe the data collected and explain the reasons for offering alternative activities in Slo-
venian natural spas. Independent samples t-test is conducted to determine whether there
is a difference in the options guests would support if spas need to make urgent changes
to their work to ensure health conditions between males and females. Chi-square test of inde-
pendence was used to determine whether the primary reason for visiting the spa and the
type of tourist product that tourists would like to visit in the offer of additional activities
during the visit to the spa by Primary reason for visiting the spa are related. IBM SPSS
version 23 was used for statistical analyses, and the significance level was set at α = 0.05.
290 M. RANČIĆ DEMIR ET AL.

Table 1. Socio-demographic characteristics of participants

Variable N % (M; SD)
Gender
Male 130 31.60
Female 282 68.40
Educational level
Primary school 8 2.00
High school 62 15.30
College 26 6.40
Bachelor’s Degree 230 56.70
Master’s or PhD Degree 73 18.00
Refused to answer 7 1.70
Age 404 (54.00; 13.39)
Source: Authors’ calculations.

Findings
Descriptive statistics
Most tourists visited spas in 2019 or earlier before a pandemic rarely (45.01%) or several
times a year (32.59%), while the least tourists visited spas weekly or more (0.67%) (Figure 1).
Wellness tourists usually have several reasons to visit the wellness centre, but one is
primary. The primary reason for visiting the spa is relaxation, while the least important
reason is healthy food. Other reasons for visiting the spa are physical activity, mental
activities/education and medication or healing (Table 2). According to Rančić (2019),
the vast majority of respondents (66.5%) single out relaxation as their primary reason

Figure 1. How often did you visit spas in 2019 or earlier, before a pandemic? Source: Authors’
calculations.
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPA AND WELLNESS 291

for visiting a wellness centre, which coincides with the results of this research. Treatment
is not the primary reason for going to the spa because modern spas with wellness centres
are intended more for these types of services than classical treatment. There are special
facilities or institutions.
The results show that guests would support the Introduction of new/alternative activi-
ties and thus dispersion of visitors to several locations if spas need to make urgent
changes to their work to ensure health conditions (M = 4.08; SD = 0.83), followed by the
time limit for visits with booking (M = 3.47; SD = 1.14) and unchanged implementation
of activities, but in compliance with the regulations of wearing a mask, maintaining dis-
tance, disinfection (M = 3.38; SD = 1.16), while the guests would support the least price
increase and thus reduction in the number of guests (M = 2.51; SD = 1.07) (Table 3).
One of the possibilities for reducing the number of simultaneous guests in the spa is
introducing an additional offer. Respondents need to choose which type of tourist
product they would prefer to visit as additional activities during a visit to the spa. The
tourists would prefer to visit in the offer of additional activities during the visit to the
spa Nature: natural parks, sea/river/lakeshore, followed by Recreation: hiking, cycling,
outdoor relaxation techniques (yoga, meditation), forest selfness … , while tourists
would prefer the least Entertainment: outdoor events and animations (Table 4).

Independent samples t-test results

An independent samples t-test was conducted to determine whether guests support intro-
ducing new/alternative activities and thus dispersion visitors to several locations if spas
need to make urgent changes to their work to ensure health conditions differ between
males and females. The results indicate a significant difference between males (M = 3.97;
SD = 0.79) and females (M = 4.16; SD = 0.83); t(404) −2.17, p = 0.030 < 0.05 (Table 5).
The results show that there is no difference between males and females in Price
increase and thus the reduction in the number of guests (p = 0.142), Unchanged
implementation of activities, but in compliance with the regulations of wearing a mask,
maintaining distance, disinfection, (p = 0.357), and The time limit for visits with advance
booking (p = 0.943).

Chi-square test of independence results

Chi-square test of independence was conducted to determine whether the primary reason
for visiting the spa and the type of tourist product that tourists would like to visit in the
offer of additional activities during the visit to the spa by Primary reason for visiting the
spa are related. The results are significant, χ2(20) 63.55, p < 0.001; Phi = 0.44. Therefore,

Table 2. Descriptive statistics for the primary reason for visiting the spa
Variables Rank
Relaxation 1
Treatment 2
Mental activities/education 3
Physical activity 4
Healthy food 5
Source: Authors’ calculations.
292 M. RANČIĆ DEMIR ET AL.

Table 3. Descriptive statistics for the options guests will support if spas need to make urgent changes
to their work to ensure health conditions
Variables N M; SD
Price increase and thus reduction in the number of guests. 426 2.51; 1.07
Unchanged implementation of activities, but in compliance with the regulations of wearing a mask, 426 3.38; 1.16
maintaining distance, and disinfection.
Introduction of new/alternative activities and thus dispersion of visitors to several locations. 426 4.08; 0.83
The time limit for visits with advance booking. 426 3.47; 1.14
Source: Authors’ calculations.

we may conclude that the primary reason for visiting the spa and the type of tourist
product that tourists would like to visit in the offer of additional activities during the
visit to the spa by Primary reason for visiting the spa are related.
Based on the chi-square test of independence results and Figure 2, we can conclude
the following:

. 44.00% of tourists whose primary reason for visiting the spa is physical activity would
like to visit Nature: natural parks, sea/river/lakeshore … as the offer of additional activi-
ties during the visit to the spa.
. Most tourists (30.00%) who visit the spa because of healthy food would like to visit
industry: a tour of nearby production plants (e.g. power plants, factories) as the offer
additional activities during the visit to the spa.
. 26.00% of tourists whose primary reason for visiting the spa is relaxation would like to
visit Nature: natural parks, sea/river/lakeshore … as the offer of additional activities
during the visit to the spa.
. Most tourists who visit the spa because of mental activities/education (35.70%) would
like to visit Nature: natural parks, sea/river/lakeshore … as the offer of additional activi-
ties during the visit to the spa.
. Tourists who visit the spa because of treatment (26.50%) would like to visit Nature: natural
parks, sea/river/lakeshore … or industry: a tour of nearby production plants (e.g. power
plants, factories) as the offer of additional activities during the visit to the spa.

Discussion
According to Rančić (2019), 54.30% of respondents visited wellness centres several times a
year, 37.40% of respondents visited wellness centres less frequently, and only 0.4% of
respondents visited wellness centres 1–2 times a week. Given that the research data

Table 4. Descriptive statistics for the type of tourist offer tourists would prefer to visit as additional
activities during the visit to the spa
Variables Rank
Nature: natural parks, sea / river / lake shore … 1
Recreation: hiking, cycling, outdoor relaxation techniques (yoga, meditation), forest selfness … 2
Culture: museum, city, collection … 3
Events: lectures on healthy living, cooking courses for preparing healthy food … 4
Industry: a tour of nearby production plants (e.g. power plants, factories). 5
Entertainment: outdoor events and animations 6
Source: Authors’ calculations.
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPA AND WELLNESS 293

Table 5. Independent samples t-test results

Gender
Male Female
(n = 127) (n = 279)
Variable M SD M SD t p
Introduction of new/alternative activities and thus dispersion of visitors to 3.97 0.79 4.16 0.83 −2.17 0.030
several locations.
Price increase and thus reduction in the number of guests. 2.62 1.08 2.45 1.07 1.47 0.142
Unchanged implementation of activities, but in compliance with the 3.48 1.05 3.36 1.21 0.92 0.357
regulations of wearing a mask, maintaining distance, disinfection.
The time limit for visits with advance booking. 3.48 1.05 3.49 1.18 −0.07 0.943
Source: Authors’ calculations.

from this study are similar, visitors to Slovenian wellness centres have a relatively well-
developed habit of using wellness services, which is not surprising given their standard,
Western rhythm of life, but also a large number of such centres in a small area. It should be
added that their health system is investing a lot of effort in spreading the wellness phil-
osophy, especially through the mission carried out by the public health network of Slove-
nian spas (Rančić, 2019).
The survey results showed that quests would support introducing new/alternative
activities and thus dispersion of visitors to several locations if spas need to make
urgent changes to their work to ensure healthy conditions. Therefore, if spas need to
make urgent changes to their work to ensure health conditions, guests will not support
the most unchanged implementation of activities but comply with the regulations
of wearing a mask, maintaining distance, disinfection. The unchanged implementation

Figure 2. Bar chart for The type of tourist offer that tourists would like to visit in the offer of additional
activities during the visit to the spa by Primary reason for visiting the spa. Source: Authors’
calculations.
294 M. RANČIĆ DEMIR ET AL.

of activities, but in compliance with the regulations of wearing a mask, maintaining dis-
tance, and disinfection, is in the third place of changes to the spa’s work to ensure health
conditions guests would support.
According to the independent samples t-test results, females would provide higher
support to introducing new/alternative activities and thus dispersion of visitors to
several locations if spas need to make urgent changes to their work to ensure health con-
ditions than males. This can mean that females are more adaptive to new/alternative
activities in tourism and changes in spas offered due to concern about health conditions.
Furthermore, males do not differ from females in support of spas need to make urgent
changes to their work to ensure health conditions regarding price increase and thus
reduction in the number of guests, unchanged implementation of activities, but in com-
pliance with the regulations of wearing a mask, maintaining distance, disinfection, and
the time limit for visits with advance booking.
Since most tourists who visit the spa for healthy food would like to visit the industry, Slo-
venian natural spas should adapt their wellness offer and include a tour of nearby production
plants (e.g. power plants, factories) as additional activities. But Slovenian natural spas should
focus more on adapting their offer, including a visit to natural parks, sea/river/lakeshore … as
the offer of additional activities during the visit to the spa. Most tourists whose primary
reason for visiting the spa is physical activity, mental activities/education mentioned these
activities as their favourite. Therefore, the tourists would prefer to visit nature (natural
parks, sea/river/lakeshore … ) as they offer additional activities during the visit to the spa. Fur-
thermore, tourists ranked visits to natural parks as the first type of tourist product, and they
would prefer to visit as additional activities during the visit to the spa.

Conclusion
The paper aimed to suggest alternative activities and adapt the wellness offer during the
COVID-19 pandemic in Slovenian natural spas. The survey results showed that guests
would like to visit natural parks, sea/river/lakeshore, hike, or relax with yoga or mediation.
Still, they would not agree with the price increase and the reduction in the number of
guests. Therefore, Slovenian natural spas should adapt their wellness offer during the
COVID-19 pandemic and include more relaxing activities to help guests enjoy spas and
help them temporarily forget about the current problems caused by the COVID-19 pan-
demic and adapt to new living conditions. However, adjusting the wellness offer in spas
should ensure that the basic traditional principles of wellness are maintained and that
guests are satisfied with the new offer.
Given that the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) is a global pandemic that has affected
all spheres of life and is recommended to stay outdoors, the best recommendation for
improving the offer of Slovenian natural spas is to offer activities in nature such as a
visit to natural parks, river, … In addition to adhering to the recommended measures
for preventing coronavirus (COVID-19), such as social distance, expanding the offer of
natural spas by visiting nature is an adequate expansion of natural spas. Besides, the situ-
ation created in tourism due to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) can and should be
used to promote the resources and potential of Slovenian natural spas and to build
their image as “healthy and safe destinations” that provide much more than “only”
wellness offers.
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPA AND WELLNESS 295

Research has certain limitations. One limitation relates to the measuring instrument
used in the research. The measuring instrument for certain questions is based on the
Likert scale, i.e. evaluating a certain statement on a scale from 1 to 5. Therefore, the
answers of the respondents are based on subjective assessment. Since the survey was
anonymous, subjectivity was reduced, but there is certainly an influence of socially desir-
able responses and biases of respondents.
Furthermore, there is also the influence of cultural, sociological and economic differ-
ences in the research, so there are limitations in interpreting the results due to the
different perceptions of certain services created by these differences. Some data only cor-
respond to a rank calculated based on the respondents’ opinions, not permitting us to
understand whether some opinions would be much more prevalent than others.
Future research should include more variables to assess whether some opinions would
be much more prevalent than others and obtain other relevant conclusions.

Acknowledgement
This research was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation pro-
gramme, grant number 731117. The GeoFood project is supported through the ERANET Cofund
GEOTHERMICA project (Project no. 731117), by the European Commission, The Research Council
in Iceland (Rannis), Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), the Ministry of Infrastructure, and the Min-
istry of the Environment and Spatial Planning, Republic of Slovenia.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Funding
This research was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation pro-
gramme [grant number 731117].

Notes on contributors
Milica Rančić Demir, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Tourism, University of Maribor
(Slovenia). She received her doctorate in geosciences from the University of Novi Sad, Faculty of
Sciences, Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management (Serbia). Her main fields of
interest are wellness tourism, hotel management, food and beverage management and quality
management. She is the author and co-author in numerous research papers and conference pro-
ceedings. She has taken part in different domestic and international projects in the area of
tourism, hotel management and food science.
Barbara Pavlakovič is an academic and a researcher at the University of Maribor, Faculty of Tourism,
Slovenia. Her work and research fields cover various aspects of tourism, industrial tourism, com-
munication and safety in tourism. She graduated in communication studies from the Faculty of
Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, developed her public relations skills in several organisations
as a PR practitioner and continued her career in academia. Currently, she is finishing her PhD study
at the Faculty of Organisational Sciences, University of Maribor; her doctoral thesis addresses active
industrial tourism concepts related to HR and safety and security. She participated in a nationally-
funded ŠIPK project, »The story of industrial Metlika: Design of innovative tourism products: indus-
trial tourism, revitalisation and sustainability«, Horizon 2020 and Geothermica funded GeoFood
296 M. RANČIĆ DEMIR ET AL.

project, and a nationally-funded research project Tourism and Climate Change. Her published works
include scientific articles about industrial tourism, HR, safety and security in tourism, books and
book chapters about sustainability and renewable sources, and conference contributions about
mentioned topics.
Nejc Pozvek is a teaching assistant and researcher at the University of Maribor, Faculty of Tourism,
Slovenia. He covers the field of tourism geography and destination management and focuses in par-
ticular on aspects of sustainable development and (strategic) management and planning with the
possibility of incorporating the degrowth paradigm. He graduated at the Universitiy of Ljubljana,
Faculty of Arts, Department of Geography. During his academic career he participated in many pro-
jects of which more important are nationally-funded Tourism 4.0 – enriched tourism experiences,
Climate Change and Sustainable Tourism Development in Slovenia, H2020 and Geothermica
funded GeoFood. He participated in tourism development strategy projects for Municipality of
Brežice and Municipality of Sevnica, and is a member of the team creating Territorial Collective
Brands according to the “Authentic from Slovenia” model.
Maja Turnšek is Associate Professor & Vice Dean for Research at University of Maribor, Faculty of
Tourism, Slovenia. Her background is in media and communication studies. She lectures on com-
munication psychology and marketing in tourism. Her main research interests cover the political
economy of new media, experience design in tourism and tourism and climate change.

ORCID
Milica Rančić Demir http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4467-5328

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