TALLINN - Ironically, there may not be a single sauna on Tallinn's Sauna Street, yet a plethora of them can be found across the country. And in keeping with the American approach to retail 's or having everything in one place 's the latest trend in Estonia's sauna industry is to offer clients a whole range of relaxation services in one large complex.
Sauna Kula (Sauna Village), a relatively new establishment in the forest eight kilometers out of Tallinn, does just that. Owned by the Saunamaailm sauna and bath retailer, the four-house complex can host a little over 60 people and put up 21 guests overnight. (Please note: Sauna Village, a business venture, is not to be confused with Saunakula village located in Rapla county further to the southeast.)
Marko Tamm, an owner of Saunamaailm, says the theme-park idea was definitely a part of the business strategy for Sauna Village.
"We took the risk to make such a thing, and so far we have not seen anything like that in Estonia," he said.
In 2000, when Sauna Village was built, Saunamaailm was also involved in building log houses 's the classic structure in northern Europe and Russia 's and the village acted as the company's permanent fair exhibition.
Now, however, the company is no longer in the log house business.
"In the beginning one of the points was to show people what we can build 's what houses and what sauna ovens," Tamm explains. Yet today the owners are more preoccupied with the relatively low cost-effectiveness of the project that took millions of kroons to launch.
Currently the steamy Russian sauna and the hot and dry Finnish sauna take two separate wooden houses. The Hunter's house features hunting-style decor and Russian sauna, and the Aqua house boasts an outdoor hot tub and an infrared sauna.
Tamm said the Russian house, the largest of the four, has so far been the most popular. After all, it has the most posh decor (if, admittedly, the word "posh" can be used when describing a sauna) and has a huge, four-ton sauna oven.
But the sauna-bathhouse business is both seasonal and with peak hours during the day.
"The problem is that people do not go to the sauna in the morning, nor do they go there in the afternoon or at night," stresses Tamm. "The only time they go there is the evening, which gives us about a 30 percent profitability."
Understandably, in the summer Sauna Village does not see many visitors. The colder the weather is, the more people come to enjoy the dry heat of the Finnish sauna. And according to Tamm, the owners are pondering an expansion as part of a new business plan.
"We'd need some sort of a sauna theme-tavern there, or maybe a hotel. Another very interesting idea is to build a Turkish sauna house," says Tamm.
The first Latvian resort conference starts Sept. 17 at the Baltic Beach House, Majori, and is to be opened by the chairman of the Jurmala City Council, Juris Hlevickis, and Economy Minister Juris Lujan. The conference will be host to representatives from international associations such as the European spas association, Estonian Spa Association and the Association of Balneology and Climatotherapy.
The participants hope to gauge a better understanding of the European spa market, develop innovative tourism services and discuss problems and tendencies within the industry, and most importantly, Jurmala's place in Europe's spa market. Lasting two days, on the second day participants will visit Kemeri National Park and Sloka's sulphuric water lake.
