Rejuvenating revenue: spas and retreat centers profit from stressed-out professionals seeking wellness, relaxation.

• Author: Duckwall, Jane
• Position: Statewide: BUSINESS NEWS FROM ACROSS NORTH CAROLINA

With her 50th birthday approaching, Brenda Harris, who works in financial services in Raleigh, saw an ad for the Art of Living Retreat Center in Boone. She was considering treating herself to a "gift of wellness," prompted in part by the high stress level of her job. She picked a six-day retreat at the center's Shankara Ayurveda Spa, which cost "a couple thousand dollars," she says. It was so worthwhile that she has returned to the center for other programs, including a six-day yoga retreat. "I've never been off the health wagon," she says, "but this just really tweaked it in a way that brought in the missing puzzle pieces."

A growing emphasis on wellness has strengthened some muscles in North Carolina's tourism industry, with more hotels and resorts offering a range of services designed to relieve stress and promote better health. Trips to the spa have become a popular way for overworked professionals to rejuvenate and become more centered. "From a hotel standpoint, it's a fabulous new revenue center/' says Dana Clark, director of Appalachian State University's Hospitality and Tourism Management Program.

Adding spas and wellness programs at hotels translates into higher revenue from guests who either would not have showed up or might have sat by the pool. Hotels get a portion of the payments for massages, body wraps, facials and other treatments performed by licensed professionals, who typically are independent contractors. The number of licensed massage therapists has more than doubled since 2004, according to the website of the North Carolina Board of Massage & Bodywork Therapy, a state-appointed group started in 1999 to regulate the industry. That represents a growth rate eight times faster than licensed hairstylists, manicurists and makeup artists--which grew 14% since 2002, according to the North Carolina Board of Cosmetic Art Examiners.

Venkat Srinivasan was earning a six-figure salary as a research scientist at Texas Instruments Inc. in Dallas when he decided he wanted to do something more meaningful. In 2011, he started working for the Art of Living Foundation, a nonprofit based in Bangalore, India, and founded in 1981 by Hindu spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. The group, which has programs in 152 countries, promotes peace and humanitarian causes with a focus on managing stress through meditation, breathing techniques and yoga. Srinivasan now manages the Boone retreat center, which was opened in 2012 by the foundation's sister...