Roundtable Nº 2:
Economic observation of the thermal sector, illustrated by the experience of theFrench Observatory: feedback, exchanges and perspectives of an international observatory.

Claude-Eugène Bouvier

Board member of the European Spas Association (ESPA).

« On the way to building up the international observatory of the thermal economy: some key success points »

Claude-Eugène Bouvier has been the Secretary General of the French Association of Spa Therapy Operators (CNETh) over the last 12 years. He was also until recently the Financial Officer of the French Association for Thermal Research (AFRETh). He is currently a Board member of the European Spas association (ESPA), representing France. As a member of the Collège des Economistes de la Santé (the French association of health economists), he is deeply involved in the evaluation of the economic impact of balneotherapy.

Cedric Baecher

Partner (Co-Lead – Sustainability & CSR), Wavestone (ex Nomadéis)

A graduate of ESSEC (2000), national auditor of IHEDN and INTEFP, Cédric is an expert with the European Commission (energy-climate, circular economy, mobility) and CSR expert with the Progrès pour le association. Management (APM).

Co-founder of Nomadéis, he has acquired 20 years of professional experience in the strategic and operational consulting sector, with public, private and associative actors. Trilingual (French, English, Spanish), he has in-depth knowledge of transition actors and sectors in France and in more than 50 countries.

Member of the Commission of Experts on the Positive Economy chaired by Jacques Attali, he is co-author of the report submitted to the President of the Republic in 2013 and general rapporteur of the positive economy indices.

A fellow of the UN Alliance of Civilizations, the American-Swiss Foundation and the Council for the US and Italy, he is involved in several initiatives and networks dedicated to leadership and intercultural dialogue. He is also a member of the Boards of Directors of Construction21 and the Wavestone Foundation.

Stefan Szirucsek

Mayor of the City Baden bei Wien (Austria), Chair of the Great Spa Towns of Europe Association, Chair of the Austrian Spa Association.

Irena Peršic Živadinov

Director, Kvarner Region Tourist Board

Irena Peršić Živadinov, Ph.D., Director of Kvarner Region Tourist Board, became head of the region’s tourist board in 2011.

She was born in Croatia, then educated in Croatia, Italy, and the USA. She graduated from high school in the USA, where she afterwards studied Business Management. She continued her education at the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University of Padua (Italy).

After returning to Croatia, she gained a master’s degree from the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management in Opatija and went on to obtain her doctorate.

In addition to her profile, concerning to the development of health tourism in the Kvarner Region, she has introduced the Kvarner Health & Wellbeing project & brand in the region.
She encouraged the opening of the Kvarner Health Tourism Cluster in 2014, the first health tourism cluster established in Croatia.

Today Irena Peršić Živadinov is the President of the Management Board of the Kvarner Health Tourism Cluster, she is also a Member of the Scientific Council of the Reference Center for Health Tourism and co-author of the article: Health tourism development research framework at the destination level, Biennial International Congress Tourism & Hospitality Industry 2018.