Camiral Golf & Wellness delivers integrative
programmes as part of a 360-degree
wellness model that treads new ground for
the industry. Neena Dhillon pays a visit
Guests at Camiral Golf & Wellness can enjoy a ‘360-degree’ wellness programme / PGA Catalunya
The Camiral Golf & Wellness resort in north-east Spain is famous for its link to the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA). It has one of the world’s top PGA golf courses and has hosted the PGA European Tour numerous times since opening in 1999.
Once known as PGA Catalunya, it rebranded to Camiral in late 2022 to reflect its location on the ancient Cami Ral hiking route between Spain and France.
Resort owner, Irish entrepreneur Denis O’Brien, who also owns the Quinta Do Lago golf resort in Portugal, has spent the last two decades developing it as a year-round destination.
The most recent investment is a €5m (US$5.3m, £4.3m), 1,000sq m Wellness Centre, adding to the resort’s existing offering, which includes restaurants and leisure facilities, hotels and holiday rentals and high-end residences.
Ramping up the spa offering Although the resort featured a small spa and gym previously, CEO David Plana admits it needed a far more comprehensive facility. “Golf is not enough,” he explains. “You need family activities, outdoor pursuits, sports, gastronomy and, of course, wellness. People expect this, and as diversification is important to us, we’re looking for the new Wellness Centre to attract people for longer stays and also to appeal to guests with different budgets and demographic profiles.”
Despite a year of on-off COVID restrictions, the summers of 2021 and 2022 highlighted a regional appetite for travel, with hotel occupancy more than 75 per cent in July and August, while golf and hotel revenues returned to 2019 levels. Plana wants to retain this increasing regional and domestic clientele, and adding more wellness is part of achieving that mission.
‘Accessible’ and ‘recovery’ may not be buzzy marketing terms, but they sit neatly at the heart of the Wellness Centre’s concept. A 60-minute holistic massage at Camiral costs €120 (US$116, £107). Meanwhile, its programme-based approach that lies between clinics like Chenot, Lanserhof and SHA Wellness, and operators such as Aman or Mandarin Oriental, encourages guests to invest in their wellbeing with precision and efficiency.
A new business model Industry figure and consultant Greg Payne, who worked with the resort’s team to conceive the offering, explains more: “The bigger-is-better spa model hasn’t worked for the hospitality industry since the 2008 financial crash, with return on investment in 2,000sq m-plus facilities failing to add up. There’s been a vacuum since, as we’ve waited for the next model to be developed.
“Relaxation, a massage and a robe are simply not enough these days, with consumers wanting more tangible results. In short, luxury alone is no longer the story.
“At Camiral, we’ve created day-long and short-stay programmes that support clients looking for symptomatic relief, by combining elements you’d find at world-leading wellness clinics, but which also offer incredible value for the operator when you remember they’re being delivered in a 1,000sq m space.
“Considering that spa facilities and thermal areas in particular have an average build cost of €3,000 (US$3,200, £2,600) per sq m, this translates into real financial impact on the potential for profit.”
The Wellness Programmes, which start at €385 (US$411, £327) per person, per day, combine movement, relaxation, holistic touch therapies, nutritional expertise and high-tech treatments – some very new to Spain – with a recovery focus. “Back in 2018, I visited a football club and saw how state-of-the-art technologies such as cryotherapy and oxygen chambers were being used to get athletes back on their feet,” says Payne. “I thought about the golf/sports setting at Camiral and how there could be a continuum from spa right through to athletic performance for anybody interested in optimal living.”
Wellness manager Núria Camins, a 15-year spa veteran, says the new concept represents a 360-degree offering to anyone seeking to restore equilibrium, resolve a particular problem, or take preventative action. This holistic approach benefits from the integration of high-tech therapies because “they are able to access a level of the body – the deeper cellular levels – which hands cannot.” The important distinction, however, is that the tech works as a complementary and amplifying component to touch, nutrition and movement.
The programmes The varied menu comprises individual spa treatments and rituals alongside celebration experiences, for example, the one-day Spa-Cation is €300 per person (US$321, £255) or a two-day Bridal Countdown at €450 (US$481, £383), to appeal to the Wellness Centre’s target audience. This ranges from residents who have homes or rentals at the resort, and local visitors – be they from Girona, Barcelona or the wider Catalonia region – to European guests, including from France and other source markets, such as Germany, the Nordic countries, Switzerland and the UK.
While the menu will continue to evolve, there are currently three wellness programmes: Immunity Support, Weight Loss and Detox and Ageing Well. The two-day Ageing Well programme, priced at €755, (US$807, £642) includes a signature hammam experience, a 60-minute massage, an IV vitamin infusion, four additional high-tech therapy sessions, light lunches and wellness refreshments.
“We personalise elements to suit our client’s needs, but each programme addresses specific concerns that are relevant today,” says Camins. “COVID-19 has shown the importance of a healthy immune system, so our Immunity Support programme works to improve its functionality through Kneipp and hammam treatments combined with infusions, photobiomodulation and oxygenation therapy.
“With our Weight Loss option, we believe that the body benefits from a seasonal reset and detox, so here we work on optimising a client’s metabolism, stimulating their circulation and sharing nutritional advice that moves them towards clean eating, rather than calorie counting. Finally, our Ageing Programme is really about the client’s quality of ageing rather than being ‘anti-ageing’ in its focus.”
Getting assessed Experts assess guests, looking for things such as issues with sleep, feelings of tiredness, burnout or sadness and dehydrated skin and then recommend the most appropriate high-tech treatments. If they don’t want to commit to a programme, however, guests can also take a single therapy session to deal with a particular complaint, such as problems with the sciatic nerve.
Indeed, the choice of technologies is designed to aid sports and workout recovery for sports enthusiasts, semi-professionals and professionals alike. Recent visitors have included English and Polish football players who were particularly enthusiastic about their experience of whole-body cryotherapy – this is proving to be one of the most popular high-tech therapies and is priced at €60 (US$64, £51) per session.
During a cryotherapy session, clients step into a Mecotec chamber, initially set at a temperature of -60°C for 30 seconds followed by two-and-a-half minutes at -110°C. “As a client stands in the extreme cold, blood in the body rushes to protect vital organs. As soon as they step out, it floods back into the system, boosting circulation, moderating adrenal stress and releasing endorphins,” says Camins.
Popularised by personalities from Lewis Hamilton to Cristiano Ronaldo, the therapy is designed to reduce inflammation and muscular pain.
Equally intriguing but less extreme, photobiomodulation light therapy also priced at €60 entails clients lying down for 20 to 30 minutes inside a MitoGen pod, during which time a red laser light powers cellular regeneration by stimulating ATP energy production. The third tech option is oxygen chamber therapy, while the fourth involves IV infusions provided by London’s NADclinic.
NADclinic collaboration The Camiral team worked with Dr Saskia Kloppenburg of NADclinic to produce three specific infusions containing different combinations of vitamins, minerals, amino acids and electrolytes: the first is formulated for sports recovery, the second to boost the immune system and the final for essential immunity. They’re delivered on-site by a registered nurse in the privacy of a treatment room.
Camins acknowledges that IV infusions are proving the most challenging to introduce: “International guests, from the US, are the most likely to be familiar with them, so we’ve had to think carefully about how to introduce them to our European guests. We’re still testing this but, as with all the technologies, it helps when our therapists explain how they work in person during an introduction to the spa, and how they can specifically support a guest’s particular needs.”
This challenge of ‘the unknown’ is also picked up by Payne, who says: “A few years ago, cryotherapy would have been regarded as too extreme to be included in a spa environment, but now it’s going mainstream. And with the IV infusions, we’ve had to tread carefully to consider the correct level of staffing and medical oversight to deliver them with a sense of security and assurance.”
So are there any promising early signs about tech uptake? “When we opened in spring [2021], we made the decision to focus on spa over the summer, returning to wellness in the winter to prepare for 2022,” says Payne. “Despite not pushing wellness, we were encouraged to see that the high-end leisure market already had an appetite for tech-led treatments, which made up 26 per cent of the treatment mix in the summer months. But the most interesting fact was that they were additional treatments, contributing to an average of 1.8 treatments per guest over a three-day stay, meaning they represented incremental income and not just a shift in the therapies sold.”
As to be expected of a facility that aims to become one of the leading European wellness centres, Camiral’s spa partners are highly regarded and include Aromatherapy Associates and Biologique Recherche. Clients booking individual rituals, treatments and facials have access to the thermal pavilion in which to recover and relax by experiencing the hot and cold pools, sauna and steam.
Food and environment Nutritionist Mireia Cervera has worked with the destination’s executive chef David Vives to create menus for each wellness programme. “We use integrative nutrition to help our clients achieve all-round health; not just to lose weight,” she says. “In a world that can make it challenging to maintain control over your diet, we guide clients by showing them how a natural, nutritious diet can help prevent disease and improve symptoms.”
Cervera is available to personalise diets, but there is a sample seasonal menu created in advance for each programme. For example, a typical Immunity Support meal includes a salad of cabbage, celery, apple, pomegranate and raisins, followed by tofu, mushroom and pumpkin lasagne, and fruit salad with a soup of green tea, fennel and celery to finish.
Enclosed in 540 hectares of tranquil green landscape and a recipient of the IAGTO Sustainability Award for Nature Protection, Camiral’s environment is akin to a nature reserve. In-house biologist, Oriol Dalmau, is responsible for “preserving green infrastructure, nurturing botanical diversity and reintroducing near-extinct species to the terrain”. With its own organic garden, vineyard and beehives, the destination’s secure and spacious green setting is well suited to the addition of the Wellness Centre, which was built from scratch.
"We’re looking for the new Wellness Centre to attract people for longer stays" – David Plana, CEO
"Relaxation, a massage and a robe are simply not enough these days" – Greg Payne, consultant to Camiral Golf & Wellness
"The concept represents a 360-degree offering to anyone seeking to restore equilibrium, resolve a problem, or take preventative action" – Núria Camins, wellness manager
About Camiral Golf & Wellness
Less than an hour from Barcelona, 20 minutes from the Costa Brava and 15 minutes from Girona, Camiral Golf & Wellness is based around real estate development.
It incorporates two championship golf courses, two hotels – the 5-star Hotel Camiral, designed by architect Lázaro Rosa-Violán and the contemporary Lavida Hotel – as well as a Kids’ Club facilities and five restaurants.
Camiral Golf & Wellness offers outdoor activities designed to enable guests to enjoy the surrounding countryside, including Forest Park – a family adventure park with a zip-wire, cycling, trekking and horse-riding on trails through nearby forests and mountains.
Villa plots are for sale, enabling owners to develop their own property in keeping with the resort’s architectural concepts, while the resort offers move-in-ready, architect-designed villas.
The Residents’ Club offers owners and guests access to facilities including a 20m outdoor pool, solarium, children’s pool, Technogym-equipped gym and the new spa and wellness offering.
"We believe in using integrative nutrition to help our clients achieve all-round health; not just to lose weight" – Mireia Cervera, nutritionist
"We’re preserving green infrastructure, nurturing botanical diversity and reintroducing near-extinct species" – Oriol Dalmau, biologist
First Person
Neena Dhillon tried out the Immunity
Support programme at Camiral Golf & Wellness
Personal reboot
I’d been feeling fatigued, with dull aches in my back – a sure sign of inflammation, which is a classic symptom of a long-term lung condition I suffer from, so the Immunity Support programme seemed the right option.
I was most nervous about the cryotherapy, but as I was in the hands of the caring therapist, I felt reassured as she talked me step-by-step through the process. I loved that I could choose my own music and was able to see my therapist through the glass; she gave me countdowns, so even though time seemed to slow, I never felt unable to endure the chill.
While in the chamber, numbness became apparent, as did intense aching in my knees. Stepping out into a warm dressing gown, however, felt incredible and for the first time, every nerve ending in my body felt intensely alive.
After a 15-minute break with tea, in which a lovely feeling of hyper-awareness remained, I moved on with the same therapist to a hammam scrub and cleanse, during which hot, warm and cold water was used. The intuitive touch of the therapist felt even more welcome following the cryotherapy and the use of alternating hot-cold was very effective.
Other firsts
In other firsts, I tried photobiomodulation, a warming and enveloping experience, as well as an IV infusion, which passed pleasantly enough thanks to the regular observation of the staff. Fortunately, I don’t mind needles. Perhaps those who do will need more persuasion to sign up in a wellness/spa setting.
Over the course of two days, I felt the most impactful therapeutic sequencing when tech was followed by hands-on treatment and then rest in the Thermal Pavilion. I can safely say I’m a convert to these high-tech therapies, but the winning aspect of the experience remained the combination of tech and touch.
The therapists at Camiral are a real asset; a sign of any good holistic massage is when you feel your therapist has understood your very particular and idiosyncratic vulnerabilities through her touch.
In this case, her observations about my pain and tenderness were spot on, and her recommendations of how to optimise the rest of my time in the centre were welcome. My overall sense of wellbeing was notably lifted, my back pain-free and my energy revived.
More than a month on, I still felt the benefits of my short stay. It would undoubtedly elevate the programmes further to have some form of physiological testing to fully validate the experience.
The most impactful therapeutic sequencing was when tech was followed by hands-on treatment and then rest
Chilling in the cryo chamber / Photo: Neena Dhillon
IV infusion was a first for Dhillon / Photo: Neena Dhillon
Read more from this issue of Attractions Management magazine
View contents of Attractions Management 2022 issue 4
Spa People: Marc Cohen
Leading medical, research, science and educational activities are all part of the new medical director’s role at the Peninsula Hot Springs Group in Australia
Menu engineering: At your service
Get inspired by the latest wellness services including a high-tech diagnostic circuit at SHA and a Zita West fertility programme at Bürgenstock
Interview: Stephan Wagner
As Saudi Arabia taps into tourism, the man heading up wellness at Amaala talks to Spa Business about what the major development is looking to bring to a previously undiscovered part of the Kingdom
Interview: Aradhana Khowala
The chair of the advisory board of the Red Sea – a Saudi development the size of Belgium – shares her passion for regenerative tourism with Spa Business
Sponsored: RKF: Dressed to impress
Following exciting new launches at Equip Hotel in Paris, including the new DresSoft line, RKF Luxury Linen is gearing up for an eco-friendly and fashion-conscious 2023
Everyone’s talking about...: Cold water immersion
A new scientific paper warns of the significant risk of cold water therapies. Spa Business investigates how operators can protect those taking part in extreme bathing programmes
Event report: Healing summit
Self-help and self-love were the key messages from this wellness event in Portugal, says Spa Business’ Lisa Starr
Sponsored: Comfort Zone: Effective by nature
Comfort Zone has revealed three new
products, including a new neck and
décolleté fluid, leveraging the power of
botanical bioactive extracts
Interview: Alex & Sue Glasscock
Editor-at-large, Jane Kitchen is put through her paces at The Ranch's new outpost in Palazzo Fiuggi, Italy and catches up with the owners
Event Report: Global Wellness Summit
The 16th annual GWS, held in Tel Aviv, Israel, homed in on the sector’s biggest issues following the pandemic. Spa Business reports on the highlights
Research: Wellness for all
A new study by the Global Wellness Institute provides a framework for businesses and governments to make healthy lifestyles accessible to all
Sponsored: TechnoAlpin Snowroom
The TechnoAlpin Snowroom made our Grand Aufguss Masters event extra special, says Robert Heinevetter
Finishing Touch: Cold call
Tumor suppression and boosting ‘good fat’ are two potential benefits of exposure to cool temperatures and swimming in icy waters, scientists reveal
An opportunity to reimagine one of the UK’s most recognisable towers has been formally
opened by Rivington Hark, as St Johns Beacon invites operators and partners to shape its
next phase. [more...]
Camiral Golf & Wellness delivers integrative
programmes as part of a 360-degree
wellness model that treads new ground for
the industry. Neena Dhillon pays a visit
Guests at Camiral Golf & Wellness can enjoy a ‘360-degree’ wellness programme / PGA Catalunya
The Camiral Golf & Wellness resort in north-east Spain is famous for its link to the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA). It has one of the world’s top PGA golf courses and has hosted the PGA European Tour numerous times since opening in 1999.
Once known as PGA Catalunya, it rebranded to Camiral in late 2022 to reflect its location on the ancient Cami Ral hiking route between Spain and France.
Resort owner, Irish entrepreneur Denis O’Brien, who also owns the Quinta Do Lago golf resort in Portugal, has spent the last two decades developing it as a year-round destination.
The most recent investment is a €5m (US$5.3m, £4.3m), 1,000sq m Wellness Centre, adding to the resort’s existing offering, which includes restaurants and leisure facilities, hotels and holiday rentals and high-end residences.
Ramping up the spa offering Although the resort featured a small spa and gym previously, CEO David Plana admits it needed a far more comprehensive facility. “Golf is not enough,” he explains. “You need family activities, outdoor pursuits, sports, gastronomy and, of course, wellness. People expect this, and as diversification is important to us, we’re looking for the new Wellness Centre to attract people for longer stays and also to appeal to guests with different budgets and demographic profiles.”
Despite a year of on-off COVID restrictions, the summers of 2021 and 2022 highlighted a regional appetite for travel, with hotel occupancy more than 75 per cent in July and August, while golf and hotel revenues returned to 2019 levels. Plana wants to retain this increasing regional and domestic clientele, and adding more wellness is part of achieving that mission.
‘Accessible’ and ‘recovery’ may not be buzzy marketing terms, but they sit neatly at the heart of the Wellness Centre’s concept. A 60-minute holistic massage at Camiral costs €120 (US$116, £107). Meanwhile, its programme-based approach that lies between clinics like Chenot, Lanserhof and SHA Wellness, and operators such as Aman or Mandarin Oriental, encourages guests to invest in their wellbeing with precision and efficiency.
A new business model Industry figure and consultant Greg Payne, who worked with the resort’s team to conceive the offering, explains more: “The bigger-is-better spa model hasn’t worked for the hospitality industry since the 2008 financial crash, with return on investment in 2,000sq m-plus facilities failing to add up. There’s been a vacuum since, as we’ve waited for the next model to be developed.
“Relaxation, a massage and a robe are simply not enough these days, with consumers wanting more tangible results. In short, luxury alone is no longer the story.
“At Camiral, we’ve created day-long and short-stay programmes that support clients looking for symptomatic relief, by combining elements you’d find at world-leading wellness clinics, but which also offer incredible value for the operator when you remember they’re being delivered in a 1,000sq m space.
“Considering that spa facilities and thermal areas in particular have an average build cost of €3,000 (US$3,200, £2,600) per sq m, this translates into real financial impact on the potential for profit.”
The Wellness Programmes, which start at €385 (US$411, £327) per person, per day, combine movement, relaxation, holistic touch therapies, nutritional expertise and high-tech treatments – some very new to Spain – with a recovery focus. “Back in 2018, I visited a football club and saw how state-of-the-art technologies such as cryotherapy and oxygen chambers were being used to get athletes back on their feet,” says Payne. “I thought about the golf/sports setting at Camiral and how there could be a continuum from spa right through to athletic performance for anybody interested in optimal living.”
Wellness manager Núria Camins, a 15-year spa veteran, says the new concept represents a 360-degree offering to anyone seeking to restore equilibrium, resolve a particular problem, or take preventative action. This holistic approach benefits from the integration of high-tech therapies because “they are able to access a level of the body – the deeper cellular levels – which hands cannot.” The important distinction, however, is that the tech works as a complementary and amplifying component to touch, nutrition and movement.
The programmes The varied menu comprises individual spa treatments and rituals alongside celebration experiences, for example, the one-day Spa-Cation is €300 per person (US$321, £255) or a two-day Bridal Countdown at €450 (US$481, £383), to appeal to the Wellness Centre’s target audience. This ranges from residents who have homes or rentals at the resort, and local visitors – be they from Girona, Barcelona or the wider Catalonia region – to European guests, including from France and other source markets, such as Germany, the Nordic countries, Switzerland and the UK.
While the menu will continue to evolve, there are currently three wellness programmes: Immunity Support, Weight Loss and Detox and Ageing Well. The two-day Ageing Well programme, priced at €755, (US$807, £642) includes a signature hammam experience, a 60-minute massage, an IV vitamin infusion, four additional high-tech therapy sessions, light lunches and wellness refreshments.
“We personalise elements to suit our client’s needs, but each programme addresses specific concerns that are relevant today,” says Camins. “COVID-19 has shown the importance of a healthy immune system, so our Immunity Support programme works to improve its functionality through Kneipp and hammam treatments combined with infusions, photobiomodulation and oxygenation therapy.
“With our Weight Loss option, we believe that the body benefits from a seasonal reset and detox, so here we work on optimising a client’s metabolism, stimulating their circulation and sharing nutritional advice that moves them towards clean eating, rather than calorie counting. Finally, our Ageing Programme is really about the client’s quality of ageing rather than being ‘anti-ageing’ in its focus.”
Getting assessed Experts assess guests, looking for things such as issues with sleep, feelings of tiredness, burnout or sadness and dehydrated skin and then recommend the most appropriate high-tech treatments. If they don’t want to commit to a programme, however, guests can also take a single therapy session to deal with a particular complaint, such as problems with the sciatic nerve.
Indeed, the choice of technologies is designed to aid sports and workout recovery for sports enthusiasts, semi-professionals and professionals alike. Recent visitors have included English and Polish football players who were particularly enthusiastic about their experience of whole-body cryotherapy – this is proving to be one of the most popular high-tech therapies and is priced at €60 (US$64, £51) per session.
During a cryotherapy session, clients step into a Mecotec chamber, initially set at a temperature of -60°C for 30 seconds followed by two-and-a-half minutes at -110°C. “As a client stands in the extreme cold, blood in the body rushes to protect vital organs. As soon as they step out, it floods back into the system, boosting circulation, moderating adrenal stress and releasing endorphins,” says Camins.
Popularised by personalities from Lewis Hamilton to Cristiano Ronaldo, the therapy is designed to reduce inflammation and muscular pain.
Equally intriguing but less extreme, photobiomodulation light therapy also priced at €60 entails clients lying down for 20 to 30 minutes inside a MitoGen pod, during which time a red laser light powers cellular regeneration by stimulating ATP energy production. The third tech option is oxygen chamber therapy, while the fourth involves IV infusions provided by London’s NADclinic.
NADclinic collaboration The Camiral team worked with Dr Saskia Kloppenburg of NADclinic to produce three specific infusions containing different combinations of vitamins, minerals, amino acids and electrolytes: the first is formulated for sports recovery, the second to boost the immune system and the final for essential immunity. They’re delivered on-site by a registered nurse in the privacy of a treatment room.
Camins acknowledges that IV infusions are proving the most challenging to introduce: “International guests, from the US, are the most likely to be familiar with them, so we’ve had to think carefully about how to introduce them to our European guests. We’re still testing this but, as with all the technologies, it helps when our therapists explain how they work in person during an introduction to the spa, and how they can specifically support a guest’s particular needs.”
This challenge of ‘the unknown’ is also picked up by Payne, who says: “A few years ago, cryotherapy would have been regarded as too extreme to be included in a spa environment, but now it’s going mainstream. And with the IV infusions, we’ve had to tread carefully to consider the correct level of staffing and medical oversight to deliver them with a sense of security and assurance.”
So are there any promising early signs about tech uptake? “When we opened in spring [2021], we made the decision to focus on spa over the summer, returning to wellness in the winter to prepare for 2022,” says Payne. “Despite not pushing wellness, we were encouraged to see that the high-end leisure market already had an appetite for tech-led treatments, which made up 26 per cent of the treatment mix in the summer months. But the most interesting fact was that they were additional treatments, contributing to an average of 1.8 treatments per guest over a three-day stay, meaning they represented incremental income and not just a shift in the therapies sold.”
As to be expected of a facility that aims to become one of the leading European wellness centres, Camiral’s spa partners are highly regarded and include Aromatherapy Associates and Biologique Recherche. Clients booking individual rituals, treatments and facials have access to the thermal pavilion in which to recover and relax by experiencing the hot and cold pools, sauna and steam.
Food and environment Nutritionist Mireia Cervera has worked with the destination’s executive chef David Vives to create menus for each wellness programme. “We use integrative nutrition to help our clients achieve all-round health; not just to lose weight,” she says. “In a world that can make it challenging to maintain control over your diet, we guide clients by showing them how a natural, nutritious diet can help prevent disease and improve symptoms.”
Cervera is available to personalise diets, but there is a sample seasonal menu created in advance for each programme. For example, a typical Immunity Support meal includes a salad of cabbage, celery, apple, pomegranate and raisins, followed by tofu, mushroom and pumpkin lasagne, and fruit salad with a soup of green tea, fennel and celery to finish.
Enclosed in 540 hectares of tranquil green landscape and a recipient of the IAGTO Sustainability Award for Nature Protection, Camiral’s environment is akin to a nature reserve. In-house biologist, Oriol Dalmau, is responsible for “preserving green infrastructure, nurturing botanical diversity and reintroducing near-extinct species to the terrain”. With its own organic garden, vineyard and beehives, the destination’s secure and spacious green setting is well suited to the addition of the Wellness Centre, which was built from scratch.
"We’re looking for the new Wellness Centre to attract people for longer stays" – David Plana, CEO
"Relaxation, a massage and a robe are simply not enough these days" – Greg Payne, consultant to Camiral Golf & Wellness
"The concept represents a 360-degree offering to anyone seeking to restore equilibrium, resolve a problem, or take preventative action" – Núria Camins, wellness manager
About Camiral Golf & Wellness
Less than an hour from Barcelona, 20 minutes from the Costa Brava and 15 minutes from Girona, Camiral Golf & Wellness is based around real estate development.
It incorporates two championship golf courses, two hotels – the 5-star Hotel Camiral, designed by architect Lázaro Rosa-Violán and the contemporary Lavida Hotel – as well as a Kids’ Club facilities and five restaurants.
Camiral Golf & Wellness offers outdoor activities designed to enable guests to enjoy the surrounding countryside, including Forest Park – a family adventure park with a zip-wire, cycling, trekking and horse-riding on trails through nearby forests and mountains.
Villa plots are for sale, enabling owners to develop their own property in keeping with the resort’s architectural concepts, while the resort offers move-in-ready, architect-designed villas.
The Residents’ Club offers owners and guests access to facilities including a 20m outdoor pool, solarium, children’s pool, Technogym-equipped gym and the new spa and wellness offering.
"We believe in using integrative nutrition to help our clients achieve all-round health; not just to lose weight" – Mireia Cervera, nutritionist
"We’re preserving green infrastructure, nurturing botanical diversity and reintroducing near-extinct species" – Oriol Dalmau, biologist
First Person
Neena Dhillon tried out the Immunity
Support programme at Camiral Golf & Wellness
Personal reboot
I’d been feeling fatigued, with dull aches in my back – a sure sign of inflammation, which is a classic symptom of a long-term lung condition I suffer from, so the Immunity Support programme seemed the right option.
I was most nervous about the cryotherapy, but as I was in the hands of the caring therapist, I felt reassured as she talked me step-by-step through the process. I loved that I could choose my own music and was able to see my therapist through the glass; she gave me countdowns, so even though time seemed to slow, I never felt unable to endure the chill.
While in the chamber, numbness became apparent, as did intense aching in my knees. Stepping out into a warm dressing gown, however, felt incredible and for the first time, every nerve ending in my body felt intensely alive.
After a 15-minute break with tea, in which a lovely feeling of hyper-awareness remained, I moved on with the same therapist to a hammam scrub and cleanse, during which hot, warm and cold water was used. The intuitive touch of the therapist felt even more welcome following the cryotherapy and the use of alternating hot-cold was very effective.
Other firsts
In other firsts, I tried photobiomodulation, a warming and enveloping experience, as well as an IV infusion, which passed pleasantly enough thanks to the regular observation of the staff. Fortunately, I don’t mind needles. Perhaps those who do will need more persuasion to sign up in a wellness/spa setting.
Over the course of two days, I felt the most impactful therapeutic sequencing when tech was followed by hands-on treatment and then rest in the Thermal Pavilion. I can safely say I’m a convert to these high-tech therapies, but the winning aspect of the experience remained the combination of tech and touch.
The therapists at Camiral are a real asset; a sign of any good holistic massage is when you feel your therapist has understood your very particular and idiosyncratic vulnerabilities through her touch.
In this case, her observations about my pain and tenderness were spot on, and her recommendations of how to optimise the rest of my time in the centre were welcome. My overall sense of wellbeing was notably lifted, my back pain-free and my energy revived.
More than a month on, I still felt the benefits of my short stay. It would undoubtedly elevate the programmes further to have some form of physiological testing to fully validate the experience.
The most impactful therapeutic sequencing was when tech was followed by hands-on treatment and then rest
Chilling in the cryo chamber / Photo: Neena Dhillon
IV infusion was a first for Dhillon / Photo: Neena Dhillon
Read more from this issue of Attractions Management magazine
View contents of Attractions Management 2022 issue 4
Spa People: Marc Cohen
Leading medical, research, science and educational activities are all part of the new medical director’s role at the Peninsula Hot Springs Group in Australia
Menu engineering: At your service
Get inspired by the latest wellness services including a high-tech diagnostic circuit at SHA and a Zita West fertility programme at Bürgenstock
Interview: Stephan Wagner
As Saudi Arabia taps into tourism, the man heading up wellness at Amaala talks to Spa Business about what the major development is looking to bring to a previously undiscovered part of the Kingdom
Interview: Aradhana Khowala
The chair of the advisory board of the Red Sea – a Saudi development the size of Belgium – shares her passion for regenerative tourism with Spa Business
Sponsored: RKF: Dressed to impress
Following exciting new launches at Equip Hotel in Paris, including the new DresSoft line, RKF Luxury Linen is gearing up for an eco-friendly and fashion-conscious 2023
Everyone’s talking about...: Cold water immersion
A new scientific paper warns of the significant risk of cold water therapies. Spa Business investigates how operators can protect those taking part in extreme bathing programmes
Event report: Healing summit
Self-help and self-love were the key messages from this wellness event in Portugal, says Spa Business’ Lisa Starr
Sponsored: Comfort Zone: Effective by nature
Comfort Zone has revealed three new
products, including a new neck and
décolleté fluid, leveraging the power of
botanical bioactive extracts
Interview: Alex & Sue Glasscock
Editor-at-large, Jane Kitchen is put through her paces at The Ranch's new outpost in Palazzo Fiuggi, Italy and catches up with the owners
Event Report: Global Wellness Summit
The 16th annual GWS, held in Tel Aviv, Israel, homed in on the sector’s biggest issues following the pandemic. Spa Business reports on the highlights
Research: Wellness for all
A new study by the Global Wellness Institute provides a framework for businesses and governments to make healthy lifestyles accessible to all
Sponsored: TechnoAlpin Snowroom
The TechnoAlpin Snowroom made our Grand Aufguss Masters event extra special, says Robert Heinevetter
Finishing Touch: Cold call
Tumor suppression and boosting ‘good fat’ are two potential benefits of exposure to cool temperatures and swimming in icy waters, scientists reveal
Hotel de France, located on the British Isle of Jersey, has created a wellness retreat package
that includes a hot yoga session that will take place in Jersey Zoo’s butterfly sanctuary.
A new immersive attraction designed to transport visitors into the final hours of ancient Pompeii
is preparing to open near the world-famous archaeological site in southern Italy.
Experience design company, BRC Imagination Arts, has completed a transition that sees founder
Bob Rogers pass ownership of the business to four long-serving senior executives, while
remaining actively involved with the company.
Movie Park Germany has opened a new Paramount Pictures-themed attraction as part of its 30th
anniversary celebrations, using immersive storytelling and adaptive reuse to reinforce the park’s
longstanding “Hollywood in Germany” positioning.
Therme Manchester’s 28-acre development, which will include interconnected glass pavilions
that measure 65,000sq m, will be the largest bathing and wellbeing attraction in the world once
complete, according to prof David Russell, CEO of Therme UK.
Efteling has opened Hooghmoed, a new family drop tower designed to broaden the appeal of its
recently launched Sirene Island themed area and introduce younger visitors to thrill attractions.
A proposed Puy du Fou development near Bicester and Universal Destinations and Experiences’
planned resort in Bedford are emerging as part of a wider transformation of the Oxford–
Cambridge Growth Corridor into a major centre for UK leisure and tourism inv
Shedd Aquarium has opened the Immersion Theater developed in partnership with SimEx-
Iwerks, as part of a wider strategy to enhance the guest experience and create additional
revenue opportunities.
The UK government has announced a temporary reduction in VAT on visitor attractions and
children’s meals as part of a summer cost-of-living support package designed to stimulate the
visitor economy and encourage family days out.
As designer Yinka Ilori prepares for his first solo gallery show in London, he speaks exclusively
to CLADmag about his mission to spread joy, the power of play, and his bold approach to using
colour (including the colours you won’t see in his work).
The government of Thailand is exploring plans for a THB300bn (£6.3bn, US$8.3bn)
entertainment complex in the country’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), with officials
proposing a large-scale theme park and sports destination as part of a broader tourism and
economic development strategy.
+ More news
COMPANY PROFILES
TechnoAlpin Indoor TechnoAlpin is the world leader for snowmaking systems. With the Indoor snow division, TechnoAlpin c [more...]
Holovis Holovis is a privately owned company
established in 2004 by CEO Stuart
Hetherington. [more...]
Clip 'n Climb Clip ‘n Climb currently offers facility owners and
investors more than 40 colourful and unique
Cha [more...]
instantprint We’re a Yorkshire-based online printer, founded
in 2009 by Adam Carnell and James Kinsella. [more...]
An opportunity to reimagine one of the UK’s most recognisable towers has been formally
opened by Rivington Hark, as St Johns Beacon invites operators and partners to shape its
next phase. [more...]
