Environmental challenges in recreation and hospitality services of SPA centers

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

As it is revealed in the literature, there is an intense energy consumption in “Selus Per Aqua” (SPA) centers. Especially electricity and natural gas used for heating, cooling and lighting have very serious negative environmental effects. In particular, meeting these energy sources from fossil fuels and supplying water consumption from clean water sources pose a threat to sustainable environmental targets. In this context, the aim of the research is to calculate the carbon footprint based on energy consumption in 20 SPA centers located in different cities in Turkey and Lithuania. Electricity, natural gas and water consumption amounts consumed during 2022 in 20 SPA centers located in different cities in Turkey and Lithuania were used as a data set. Using the calculation methodology (Tier 1 method) put forward by The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the carbon dioxide emission amount (carbon footprint) of the SPA facilities was calculated. While the annual total carbon footprint of 20 SPA centers in Turkey and Lithuania is calculated as 6.092805 kgCO2eq, the carbon footprint calculated for Turkey is 2.947006 kgCO2eq. The carbon footprint calculated for Lithuania is 3.145079 kgCO2eq. SPA centers, where health, tourism and recreation services are offered together, are centers where human mobility and energy use are inevitable due to their year-round use potential. Research findings suggest that SPA centers cause negative environmental consequences due to energy and water consumption. It is very important to prefer clean energy sources for sustainable environment, health, tourism and recreation and to avoid using clean water resources.