EHTTA welcomes new members and celebrates a new international partner

Download the full press release in English here

Good news from the European Historic Thermal Towns Association: the association, certified as a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe has grown to 52 members in 20 countries! To be precise, it now has 50 members in 18 Council of Europe countries plus two International Partners from countries outside Europe.

During its Executive Council meeting last week, the applications of four thermal towns, regions and associations were accepted: the Romanian historic thermal town Baile Herculane extends the list of member towns and even adds the 18th country in Europe to the map.  The Catalan Thermal Towns Association and Métropole Grand Nancy have also been accepted as new members.

Baile Herculane is a significant historic thermal town and we very much appreciate the efforts they have made to join EHTTA, as they seek serious support for the rescue of their thermal heritage which is at risk.  The Neptune Baths in Baile Herculane was one of Europa Nostra’s seven most endangered heritage sites in Europe in 2022 and we are very glad to be able to further promote and help their project.” said Mario Crecente, EHTTA’s Scientific Committee President.

In May 2022 several members of the Catalan Thermal Towns Association impressed the audience of the “Café of Europe” in Caldes de Montbui with their thermal waters and cultural heritage.  EHTTA welcomed their application to join as an Associate Member, and to add some fascinating Catalan thermal towns to the Iberian section of our map. 

The city of Nancy in France looks back on a long tradition of spa culture in its thermal establishments and has lately made impressive investments to develop exciting modern thermal facilities. The inclusion of the Greater Region of Nancy as an EHTTA Associate Members follows the earlier decision to hold the next International Congress on Thermal Tourism there from 8th – 10th November 2023.  

The growing international reputation of the European Historic Thermal Towns Association has led to further extension overseas. As a new International Partner, the Saratoga Spa State Park in the State of New York joins as a significant example of a (European model) spa town in the USA. Already its “therapeutic spa landscape” has been the subject of case studies and presentations by EHTTA, and its Director, Alane Ball Chinian was recently appointed as EHTTA’s first “Ambassador of Thermal Tourism”.

According to EHTTA President Manuel Baltar from Ourense Province this new relationship is very important for the association’s goal to reach out to North America.

“As a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe, we are not only keen to promote ourselves as tourist destinations, but have an important task of educating people in the broadest sense, about European culture and heritage. Our historic Thermal towns have a unique package for visitors, with their combination of wellness, health, history and culture, and from our recent campaigns we know that this package is attractive to European and American audiences.”

He continued. “With the addition of new members in Europe and even in the USA, we are able to develop our profile even further, and to give visibility to our historic thermal towns, whether they are large cities such as Nancy or small thermal villages such as the various Catalan towns in the foothills of the Pyrenees.  We are keen to advocate for towns such as Baile Herculane with important but abandoned heritage and to make connections with towns based on our European model, such as Saratoga Springs.  We are looking forward to another successful year in 2023, and the addition of these wonderfully varied members with their different stories and backgrounds is a great start to the year.”

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For further information please contact:
Simone Zagrodnik, EHTTA Executive Director:                     simone.zagrodnik@ehtta.eu

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