With increasingly knowledgeable spa visitors, spas have to stay ahead of the curve—with new massage techniques, innovative body-therapy treatments and trendy products.

Marketing efforts aside, spas are havens of health and rejuvenation, and spa techniques have been found through research to possess health benefits.

In keeping with the annual parade of spa-trend lists, SpaFinder released its "Top 10 Global Spa Trends" for 2010 on Dec. 8.

1. The New P Word: Goodbye, pampering. Hello, prevention.

2. Year of the Hammam: With spa-goers increasingly seeking authenticity, tradition, and that magical spa experience that also offers true results, the Middle Eastern hammam (hamam in Turkey) represents one of the hottest trends for 2010.

3. Not Going to, But Belonging to a Spa: No longer a place where you infrequently go for the occasional treatment, spas are being creatively re-imagined as places of belonging. emotional health.

4. The Online Spa: 2010 will be a watershed year for the spa industry’s virtual presence.

5. The Hybrid Spa: The modern spa is increasingly a hyphenated affair, with spas incorporating far more fitness, fitness centers incorporating more spa, hospitals incorporating spa elements, and spas bringing in more medical doctors and specialists.

6. The Price Is (Still) Right: 2009’s headline spa

story was the industry’s aggressive response to the global recession and the near-universal focus on deals, deals, and more deals.

7. Wellness Tourism Wows: We’re familiar with people seeking spas for wellness—and also with “medical tourism,” crossing borders for medical procedures (often plastic surgery, dentistry, knee replacements.) Make room for wellness tourism.

8. Scary and Silly Spa Stories Drive Evidence, Science, and Standards: As spas move into the health and wellness sectors, facts, evidence, and science that support industry approaches will move front and center, even at the cost of a few diamond facials.

9. Diversity at a Tipping Point: For years analysts have discussed how the spa industry has been attracting new demographics (men, teens, seniors, new ethnic groups). But in 2010 diversity has reached a tipping point: It has fully arrived, and it’s here to stay.

10. Stillness : The modern human experience is an unprecedented amount of sensory overload, noise, and media stimulation. With the spa as one of the last remaining sanctuaries of silence and serenity, look for the industry to put a new emphasis on stillness, on slowness, on silence.

Read a complete press release on the trends here.

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