Interview to Eloi Plans, president of the International Living room of the Swimming pool

Graduate in Industrial Engineering by the Polytechnical University of Catalonia and Master in Steering of Companies by EADA, Eloi Plans (Barcelona, 1969) was appointed president of the committee organiser of the International Living room Swimming pool Barcelona in 2010. His professional path began in 1998 in Astral. In 2000 it was appointed general director of the same company, and in 2002, under his leadership, created the Group Fluidra. In 2006, Plans was appointed adviser delegated of the Group, and in 2007 led his exit to Stock exchange. In this interview speaks us of the challenges, perspectives and tendencies of the sector of the swimming pool and of the novelties of the next announcement of the living room.

After a path of two decades and ten editions, the International Living room Swimming pool Barcelona is a clear sectorial referent, no only to national level but international. In this occasion, will gather the offer and the demand of the world of the residential swimming pool and of all the installations that allow the use lúdico, sportive and therapeutic of the water. We will have near of 300 companies, 61% foreigners, pertinent of 22 countries. China, Belgium, EE UU, Germany, Low Countries or Canada, that has increased slightly his presence, are some of the countries of which proceed the display units. We calculate that the half of the 19.000 visitors will be foreign, of a hundred of countries like France, Italy, UK, Sweden, Israel, Turkey, Russia, Germany, EE UU and Brazil, among others.

In this occasion, have wanted to improve the living room like an important interactive platform of the sector of the wellness analysing his diverse slopes of the hand of international experts. Like this, we have created the Wellness & Spa Experience Event, a meeting of professionals and national and international employers of the field of the welfare that will have the opportunity to exchange his knowledges to study so much the opportunities of business like the new lines of management and commercialisation of this type of products and services.

“The Spanish companies increased significantly his exports in 2012, reaching the 425 million euros of sales to the outside”

The meeting will have 16 speakers. Some of the international experts more stood out are: László Puczkó, director of Tourism of Xellum Management Quality consultancy Company and general director of Global Wellness and Spa Tourism Industry Monitor, a project of The Tourism Observatory for Health, Wellness and Spa of Xellum (Hungary); Gérard André, expert in wellness and consultor senior of the company Eurofin Hospitality (Lausanne, Switzerland); Jean-Eric Knecht, president and cofounder of Elegance Group and leader of the project International ISO for Wellness and Spa; and Andrea Lomas, boss of the Group Spa Operations, Mandarin Oriental Group, Hong-Kong.

Each day the experts will have lunch with the assistants that wish it to have a direct contact and a physical space to exchange experiences, interests and his vision of the business. The event will explain likewise with a ‘Mentoring Service', that is to say a space where speakers, experts and sponsors will attend to the congressmen to provide them orientation on the appearances that want to improve of his businesses.

Spain is one of the markets of reference to world-wide level and the second in Europe, with a park of private swimming pools of familiar use of more than 1,1 million units. It is necessary to signal that 52% of these has an antiquity of more than 10 years, what supposes a big opportunity for the renewal of the installations, in addition to strengthening the tendency to incorporate new equipment and accessories.

According to the last available data, to world-wide level the park of swimming pools is of 15 million units. EE UU, with 9 million swimming pools and a turnover of 3 trillion dollars, represents 61% of the world-wide market. Sudamérica Concentrates 4%, and the tax of growth of the Latin American countries situates between 6% and 8% annual. The European Union, with a park of almost 4 million swimming pools, represents 26%, with France in command, followed of Spain, Germany, Italy and United Kingdom.

The crisis has changed of deep form the dynamics and the patterns of growth of the majority of western economies. In Europe and United States, the construction of swimming pools has diminished, but in the north countries of Africa or in Asia goes in increase. Europe keeps on being the most sophisticated market regarding tendencies and Brazil, instead, presents the combination of the three phenomena: maintenance, renewal and construction.

The volume of business of the sector to the closing of the past exercise was of 1.190 million euros, precisely thanks to that the external markets compensated the decremento of the internal demand. The Spanish companies increased significantly his exports regarding the previous exercise, reaching the 425 million euros of sales to the outside.

When we speak of the residential swimming pool of domestic use, observe that the consumer is going back to the classical rectangular swimming pool and bet by accessories of quality and by original elements to customise it. It notices also an increasing interest for minimising the impact of the structure in his natural surroundings applying sustainable solutions. When it treats of swimming pool of public use, is investing especially in hygiene and in the reasonable use of the resources, doing use of the systems that offer us the new technologies.

Also have changed the reasons that motivate to the families to purchase a swimming pool. The relax appears for the first time in third position, after the one to freshen in summer and happen more time with the family. On the other hand, the decision of purchase is increasingly rational: the customer looks for especially quality and durability.

For the industry, the innovation is fundamental: without innovation loses comba in the markets. To follow evolving it is necessary to invest in R&D, no only to satisfy the demand of the “here and now”, but to advance to the needs of the consumers.

In the 30 richer countries of the world estimates that they exist 289 million consumers of these services related with the therapeutic use of the water, what supposes a turnover of almost two trillion dollars according to a study realizar in 2011 by the Independent Institute of Investigation SRI International of Stanford (EE.UU). This figure engloba the turnover of nueve distinct disciplines: spas, alternative medicine (naturopatía, homoeopathy, etc.) nutrition (biological foods and nutritional supplements), preventive and personalised health, medical tourism and of welfare, beauty and therapies anti-aging, oriental disciplines (yoga, meditation) and physical exercise in general. In this sense, fits to signal that this year the living room will coincide in the enclosure of Big Via with Body Life, the event devoted to the sector of the fitness that will present proposed of equipment, design, setting and management of sportive installations. The coincidence of the two contests will constitute an only occasion to know the offer of the sector of the welfare to the complete.

According to the results of a study of the quality consultancy DBK of September of 2012, Spain has near of 800 establishments of wellness, of which 67% are spas installed in hotels, 20% urban spas or spas situated in residential zones, centres wellness and shopping centres, 11% spas termales and 2% remaining centres of talasoterapia. Likewise, the group of establishments oriented to the tourism of health and welfare invoiceed a total of 3.250 million euros in 2011. The segment that experienced the greater growth was the one of the hotels with spa, that in 2011 registered an increase of 11% in his volume of business thanks to the influx of foreign tourists, that compensated the contraction of the internal demand. These figures show that the sector of the wellness, after having experienced an exponential growth in the last decades, is profesionalizando increasingly and that definitely has an enormous potential and a long route by in front.

“Today the domótica allows to achieve an intelligent ‘control' of processes like the leak, the pumping, the dosage of products desinfectantes, the register of consumption of water or the air conditioning”

The tendency consists in integrating the technology in the swimming pools, as it allows racionalizar the consumptions of water and power and, at the same time, guarantees the maximum efficiency of the structure. The maintenance of the swimming pool is a good example of this: the domótica allows to achieve an intelligent ‘control' of processes like the leak, the pumping, the dosage of products desinfectantes, the register of consumption of water or the air conditioning. Other tendencies are the use of alternative energies, the lighting with leds, the new systems of air conditioning that allow to take advantage of the residual heat, or the application of material echo-sustainable, that is to say technologically recyclable, are example of systems that beside the passive measures that affect directly to the architectural design (isolations, orientations, solar protections) allow to attain the maximum energetic efficiency and the consistent saving in the consumptions.

In this sense, and to ratify our bet by the sustainability, in the frame of the living room will deliver the Prizes Barcelona International Aquatic Exhibition to the Innovation and Sustainability, that will recognise the character emprendedor of the marks of the sector. They will reward two of the best innovative initiatives that guarantee the sustainability in the fields of swimming pool, wellness and sportive aquatic installations and recreational.

Yes, totally. From 1994, year of his first edition, the living room has contributed to dinamizar one of the solidest markets of the country. It treats of a strategic meeting for the companies that wish to consolidate his network of distribution, expand his wallet of national and international customers or find new ideas to diversify his business. I consider that it is especially in time of crisis when it is necessary to take advantage of all the occasions that offers the market to invest in knowledge, networking and innovation.