Healing places, healing landscapes
The kind of medical tourism, which is based on natural resources, offers spatial-specific tourism products, meaning, that the characteristics, attraction and infrastructure of these products mainly depend on the geographical features of the given space. (Michalkó G. 2004). The problem of healing places and healing landscapes was first investigated by researchers within the topic of the geography of health. (Gesler W. M. 1993, Williams, A. 1998, Wilson, K. 2003). The categories of healing places and healing landscapes include a wide range of localities, taken together with their physical and spiritual environments, all of which have traditionally been famous for their healing qualities in treating illnesses of the mind and the body. Spas, mineral springs also belong here, which have always been visited by people with the aim of recovering from a disease, washing and cleaning, relaxing and revitalizing. Many of these places - thought to have been the scenes of miraculous healings - have become destinations for pilgrims. (e.g. Bethesda-Lake, Lourdes). „The most important aim of pilgrimages, typical of Catholic religion, is penitence, but this aim is often complemented by the wish to recover from a disease. The statue or the picture of the patron saint of the place, the local spring or well is thought to have miraculous healing powers. (Juhász K. 1998, pp. 156-157)”.
The basic factors, leading to the emergence of spas and places of pilgrimages were very similar. Capitalist development, leisure time at people’s disposal opened up new dimensions for the development of spas. On the one hand holiday-making and entertainment also appeared as activities of importance, while on the other hand, due to changes in people’s views of nature, it was thought that recovery did not directly come from God, but it did come from natural resources, for example from medicinal waters, which were considered as gifts from God. (Kósa L. 1993).
When visiting spas people’s emotions, their love of a certain (healing) place (the so-called topophilia) also played a role. The mere thought that they could directly experience the place and its atmosphere had a beneficial effect on people’s physical health and psychological well-being. (Curtis, S. 2004). This aspect has a special importance when visiting certain natural landscapes or man-made destinations which offer nature-related experience, for example recreational parks or therapeutical gardens. These places, due to their beauty, varied features, their quietness or wildness, may become a refuge for the modern man, who wants to get away from stress, noise and the ugliness of his industrial environment. Consequently, a place, a locality is much more than a simple symbol. Place, landscape and health are interrelated and the relationship between them is to be interpreted holistically, and in their culture-specific dimension.
In the developed countries the criteria for officially becoming a spa are very strict. In Hungary a spa can be a settlement, or part of a settlement which can take pride in one or another healing factor and an institution which is used for treatments (medicinal baths, hotels, or sanatoria). It is one of the basic requirements from this point of view that the environmental conditions, granting the undisturbed healing process, be also given. These factors include the cleanliness of the air, low noise level and well-tended, nice green areas. Infrastructure also plays a role in the process, including public utilities, transport, mass communication, communal and public services.
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Some of these healing places have been functioning traditionally, without radical changes in profile, but there are some others, the functions of which got complemented or changed with time. Davos in Switzerland can be quoted as an example, which used to be a spa, but today it is known as a ski resort. (Tasnádi J. 1998).
’Spa region’ is a relatively new term in specialist literature; it is ’an area with a diametre of about 20-40 kilometres, which comprises a variety of medical and wellness components – natural resources, natural surroundings, cultural heritage – and elaborates competitive programmes and offers and operates them for wellness and medical tourists (Várhelyi T. 2011/12, p. 16.)”.
Thermal baths, spas and climatic sanatoria are establishments which treat or rehabilitate patients by exploring some of the natural resources in their surroundings. In order to function properly they need quality specialist staff and experience, primarily in the areas of rehabilitation, rheumatology, cardiology and geriatrics. (Várhelyi T. 2011/12).