A new health and wellness “destination,” including a spa, water park and restaurants could be coming to D.C.
Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Thursday that the city has entered into an agreement with the Therme Group to explore sites in the District for the new health and wellness destination.
The group already operates four such sites in Germany and Romania and is looking at expanding into the D.C. area with a new location.
The Therme Group is based out of Austria and is an operator of “well-being resorts.”
Marketing group “Destination D.C.” said about 21 million people visited D.C. last year, which is 91% of pre-pandemic numbers.
“We are always thinking of more ways to bring people to Washington,” Bowser said. “It’s really like nothing we have experienced. It’s part spa, part water park, but all fun.”
The agreement with Therme is for one year. In that time, D.C. will help identify locations for the facility, which is expected to bring 5,000 construction jobs over a two-year period.
During the “Travel Rally” at Franklin Park on Thursday, D.C. announced that in 2022, domestic tourism rebounded to 91% of pre-pandemic levels, with 20.7 million domestic visitors who spent $8.1 billion and helped generate approximately 84,000 jobs.
Additionally, in May, D.C. is making available $1.6 million in grants to the hospitality technical assistance and workforce development program. The District will start accepting applications May 26.
“We know that people are the key to our comeback, so we love that more visitors are coming back to D.C. More visitors means more people supporting our local businesses, more jobs for our residents and more activity in our city. Our comeback is underway — let’s keep pushing,” Bowser said.
