The international plenary session n°1 is proposed by the FTCF. It will take place on November 4, 2021, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., with simultaneous French/English translation.
The selected theme concerns the economic Observation of the Thermalism, and will be based in particular on the presentation of the Economic Observatory of the French Thermal Spas (OESTh), assured by Cédric Baecher, Director of the company Nomadeis which is the operator.
The organization of the session is as follows :

• 9:00 – 9:05 am : Introduction by Jean-François BERAUD, President of the FTCF and delegated project manager
• 9:05 – 9:10 am : Objectives, methodology and indicators, by Cédric Baecher
• 9:10 – 9:50 am : Presentation of the 2019 and 2020 national results, by Cédric Baecher
• 9:50 – 10:00 am : Opportunity of a typology of thermal spas, by Jean-Frédéric Gonthier and Offices du Tourisme de France (OTF
• 10:00 – 10:15 am : Round table on the feedbacks, with the representatives of a tourist office (David Guilbot, from Jonzac), of a thermal establishment (Marie-Hélène Blanque, from Bagnères de Bigorre), and of a resort town hall (Pierre-Yves Vincent, from Gréoux-les-Bains).
• 10:15 – 10:45 am : • Regional focus on Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (AURA)
  • The 2019 and 2020 observation results for the AURA region, by Cédric Baecher
  • Speech of Laurent Wauquiez, President of the AURA region on the thermal policy of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
• 10:45 – 11:00 am : Break
• 10:40 – 11:00 am : The interest of a reflection on the collection and the observation of the economic data of the European thermal sector – first approaches, By Cédric Baecher (Nomadéis) and Claude-Eugène Bouvier (CNETh – ESPA)
• 11:00 – 11:40 am : Round table on the state of the art as regards economic observation of the sector in the European space, with the representatives of the European thermal authorities and the national authorities of several countries.
• 11:40 – 12:00 am : Exchange with the audience on the perspectives of the observation process at European level.

The press conference planned on November 4th, 2021 from 12:30 to 1:00 pm will be centred on the news of the thermal activity in France and in Europe after the crisis of Covid 19, but also, and in counterpoint, on the perspectives of revival offered by the inscription of the Great Spas of Europe to the heritage of the UNESCO
In the presence of :

• Laurent Wauquiez, President of the AURA Region
• Jean-Bernard SEMPASTOUS, President of the Parliamentary Study Group on Thermalism
• Jean-Yves GOUTTEBEL, author of the report on the future of thermalism
• Frédéric Aguilera, Mayor of Vichy, Vice-President of the AURA Regional Council
• Thierry DUBOIS, President of the CNETh and ESPA

The international plenary session n°2 is proposed by ESPA, FEMTEC, ISMH and CNETh and will take place on November 4, 2021, from 2:30 to 4:00 pm, with simultaneous French/English translation.
The theme is about the place of thermal medicine in the next world..
The sanitary crisis, as hard as it was and it is for the thermalism, in France as well as abroad, starts a mutation of the thermal activity. It is the opportunity to question us about the new roles of the thermal medicine. Through testimonies gleaned in the thermal Europe, the participants will try to sketch the outlines of the post-Covid world thermalism, of its role in the fields of prevention, screening, rehabilitation, and ageing well. How will the thermal establishments be integrated to the European, national and local health offer ? What will be the economic model and how will be distributed the financing between the State, the Health Insurance, the complementary health care and the patients ? Will the legal status of the establishments have to be adapted ? Is a harmonization of the European thermalism conceivable… is it even desirable ?
The round table will be introduced and moderated by Claude-Eugène Bouvier, General Delegate of CNETh.
It will bring together :
Participants for France : the representative of the Ministry of Health, the representative of the Health Insurance, the representative of the Mutualité Française, Pr Christian Hérisson, President of the College of the Teachers of the Thermal Medicine,
European participants : Pr Umberto Solimene, President of FEMTEC, Pr Pedro Cantista, President of ISMH, Dr Janka Zalesakova, CEO of the Slovak Thermal Federation, Martin Plachy, CEO Royal Spa (Czech Republic), Thierry Dubois, President of ESPA, Pr Marco Vitale, Scientific Director of FORST (Italy)

International Plenary Session 3 is proposed by the FTCF, EHTTA, Great Spas of Europe, and ESPA. It will take place on November 4, 2021, from 4:15 to 5:45 pm, with simultaneous French/English translation.
The topic is about the tourist dimension of the French and European thermal spas.
Indissociable until the interwar period, the thermalism and the tourism identified together the European water cities.
Indissociable until the interwar period, the thermalism and the tourism identified together the European water cities.
The economic shocks of the beginning of the XXth century, the choices of social organization adopted in the different countries have more or less weakened the synergy between thermalism and tourism.
So, in France, the decision has been taken in 1947 to integrate the thermalism in the medico-social offer ; the tourist dimension of the resorts translating progressively only the satisfaction of the logistic needs linked to the cure.
Other European countries have known different evolutions, of lesser ruptures with the character of pleasure of the stays in thermal spas, with the tourist dimension of the water cities.
It will be proposed to the participants to compare opinions, feedback, exchange on strategic options, to measure if these are shared by the various European actors present.
They will first have to address some preliminary questions: how to reconcile the medical, medico-social and tourist vocations of the resorts? How to manage the diversity of the sites? What tools, reading grids and typologies should be developed beforehand?Organization of the session :
4:15 – 4:20 pm : Introduction by Jean-François Béraud, President of the FTCF
4:20 – 5:10 pm : Presentation of various tourist offers of thermal spas, coordinated by Jean-Frédéric Gonthier (OT Gréoux-les-Bains) :

• Thermal Spas and Mountain Resorts : an offer to be developed /Intervention of Jeanine Dubié, Member of Parliament and President of ANEM (7mn)
• The example of the Pyrenean resorts / Speech by Franck Grivel, Director of the Grand Tourmalet Tourist Office (7mn)
• Spa (Belgium) / Intervention of Nicolas Tefnin, Alderman, or Isabelle Grégoire, Director of the OT of Spa (7mn)
• the ” Rota Termal e de Agua de Chaves-Verin “, a transnational tourist route linking the thermal towns of Chaves in Portugal and Verin in Spain /Intervention by Pablo Rivera, Director (7mn)
• The Route of the water cities of the Massif Central : A network of 18 water cities on the theme of well-being and heritage / Speech by Eric Brut, Director (7mn)
• The European network EHTTA / Speech by José Manuel Baltar Blanco, President of EHTTA (7mn)
• The European network ESPA / Speech by Sissy Katsarova, Vice-President of ESPA (7mn)

5:10-5:30 pm : Round table on the need to diversify the tourism offer and strengthen European collaboration, moderated by Jean-Frédéric Gonthier
5:30-5:45 pm : Speech by Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Secretary of State for Tourism and guest of honour of the session

The international plenary session n°4 is proposed by the City of Vichy, Great Spas of Europe, and the EHTTA. It will take place on November 4, 2021, from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm, with simultaneous French/English translation
The theme concerns the heritage dimension of the French and European thermal spas, and will be based on the approach led by Great Spas of Europe to the UNESCO.
Organization of the session :
6:00 – 6:05 pm : Presentation of the UNESCO/Great Spas of Europe approach, by Paul Simons, Secretary General of Great Spas of Europe.
6:05 – 6:15 pm : The example of Vichy, an exceptional heritage enhanced: presentation by Anke Matthys, coordinator of the UNESCO candidacy for the city of Vichy
6:15 – 6:35 pm : Video presentation of the 11 candidate cities :

• Baden dei Wien (Austria)
• Spa (Belgium)
• Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic)
• Františkovy Lázně (Czech Republic)
• Mariánské Lázně (Czech Republic)
• Vichy (France)
• Bad Ems (Germany)
• Baden-Baden (Germany)
• Bad Kissingen (Germany)
• Montecatini (Italy)
• City of Bath (United Kingdom)

6:35 – 7:15 pm : Round table on the repercussions of the UNESCO approach on the European thermal industry, led by professor Yves-Jean Bignon, deputy mayor of Vichy, in charge of the thermalism, the heritage and the UNESCO approach. The exchanges will deal with the perspectives of collaboration : renovation of the heritage, thermal research, exhibitions, European cooperation (calls for projects).
Participants :

• Margret Mergen, Mayor of Baden-Baden, President of Great Spas of Europe
• José Manuel Baltar Blanco, President of EHTTA
• Thierry Dubois, President of ESPA
• Prof. Pedro Cantista, President of ISMH

7:15 – 7:30 pm : Speech by Roselyne Bachelot, Minister of Culture and guest of honour of the session.