Healthy holidays uncovered
You know what you’re going to get from two weeks on a beach – rest and relaxation, a tan, exotic food and nights spent drinking too much local hooch. But, increasingly, people want more of an experience from their holiday – a report by the English Tourism Council reveals that ‘health tourism’ already contributes £1.4 billion to England’s economy – and this is only a third of amount British spend on spa tourism abroad. Now there are Pilates breaks for posture, yoga holidays to help perfect your poses and spa breaks to sort out everything from stress to skin disorders.
The trouble is that, just like normal holidays, holistic holidays can turn into hell. Expect they can even be worse – because they involve your health, you’re at risk of coming home ill as well as disappointed. Hygiene is particularly important when comes to treatment rooms, spas and pools, where lots of naked bodies, shared areas and warm air and water provide a haven for germs to multiply. In spa bath, you’re most likely to catch a nasty, spotty skin rash called folliculitis, commonly caused by pseudomonas bacteria. You could even be unlucky enough to contract the fatal Legionnaire’s disease, with recent outbreaks report on cruise ships, at a sauna Japanese spa. Even worse, faulty spa baths almost killed two holidaymakers recently – one was sucked underwater by the pump and almost drowned, while the other now has memory loss from being electrocuted. Pools aren’t always safe, either – chlorine kills most germs, but there have been outbreaks in the UK and abroad of a chlorine-resistant microorganism called cryptosporidium, a cause of severe stomach upsets.
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