subject: India's first Spa Association-ISWA(Indian Spa & Wellness Association) [print this page] India's first Spa Association-ISWA(Indian Spa & Wellness Association)
Major players of spa fraternity in India have joined hands to form an official body known as Indian Spa & Wellness Association (ISWA) to provide a common platform for interaction and growth of this rapidly growing sector. To announce the launch of the Association, ISWA organised a-day long event The Indian Spa & Wellness Summit 2010 at InterContinental The Lalit, Mumbai yesterday.
The core committee of ISWA includes Dr Manish Patwardhan, Managing Director, Spa Consultancy as President; Arpit Sharma, COO, Sansha Spa as Vice President; Siddharth Shetty, CEO, Evavo Wellness as Secretary; Vaishali Sridhar, CEO, Aparanta Consulting & Management as Treasurer and Dr Rajesh Srinivas, Principal Consultant, Mint Spa Consultants; Pankaj Sharma, Founder and Director, Power Spa; Rekha Chaudhari, Director, JCKRC Spa Destination and Sandhya Chipalkatti, Editor, StyleSpeak as Managing Committee Members.
Announcing the launch of ISWA, Dr Patwardhan said, "There was a need for a regulatory body, which will lay down the rules, regulations, standards and legislation for the spa industry in India. This Association has been started by the stakeholders of industry including spa owners, spa consultants, vendors, equipment suppliers, therapists, spa Directors and Managers. The vision of ISWA is to be recognised as the authoritative voice of the Indian spa and wellness industry. Our mission is to raise the level of integrity, knowledge and professionalism of the Indian spa and wellness industry."
Informing about the objective of ISWA, Dr Patwardhan said, "We aim to create awareness and improve the perception of industry; educate members by conducting seminars; workshops and set standards for course; to reserve the right to have yearly checks on standards and facilities and certify levels attained; guide and conduct industry/market research periodically and promote the traditional healing systems of India, namely ayurveda and yoga in a form acceptable to the modern day spa users
