Received this email from Debra Locker at ISPA helping clarify the question I had about “male visits on average”

Hello Susie – we hope you are enjoying a lovely holiday season!

Thanks for your comprehensive coverage of ISPA’s 2007 Spa Industry Study on your blog. We wanted to clarify one of the questions you raised from your posting on Nov. 23 regarding the number of male patrons and visits.

“Male visits on average” is not the same as the number of male spa-goers. ISPA measures both visits and number of male vs. female spa-goers as two different ways to look at genders and their behaviors.

-The ISPA 2007 Spa Industry Study asks industry professionals the percentage of visits received in their spa by male guests. The percentage of male visits reported in the ISPA 2007 Spa Industry Study do not equal people, though equals the number of visits male guests make to a spa.

-The ISPA 2006 Spa-goer Study, which is a survey of consumers, reported that 31% of U.S. spa-goers and 29% of Canadian spa-goers were male. These figures represent the actual number of people and not visits.

For a practical example, your husband Pete may visit a spa 10 times in a year and my husband Ron may visit twice. They’d have a combined 12 visits, but we would only count them as two males. Their combined visits (12) would be measured as a percentage in the ISPA 2007 Spa Industry Study and the actual number of men (2) would be counted in the ISPA 2006 Spa-goer Study.

I hope that helps clarify your question about the percentage of male spa-goers and their visits. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with additional questions.

Once again, thank you for your coverage of the 2007 Industry Study, as well as the recent ISPA Conference & Expo, on your blog. Best, Debra

Debra Locker Public Relations Director International SPA Association 2365 Harrodsburg Road, Suite A325 Lexington, KY 40504 P 1.859.226.4374 F 1.859.226.4445 debra.locker@ispastaff.com and http://www.experienceispa.com/
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