Dubious Study on Hygiene “at Austrian Thermal Spas”

According to a recently publicised private study that was apparently initiated by a “Hotel-Relax-Guide”, 80 percent of the water samples taken from 600 inspected Austrian hotels and spas were objectionable. Dr Horst Wagner, managing director of the Loipersdorf thermal spa, fiercely criticised the study immediately after it was published: “No concrete facts or facilities are specified. Hotels with small wellness facilities and highly professional thermal spas are lazily lumped together.  Not even the method with which these results were reached is specified. We reject this dubious, cross-the-board attack on ‘Austrian thermal spas’ (there are around 30, not 600) and the facilities in the Styrian thermal region in particular…” With regard to the Loipersdorf thermal spa, Wagner emphasises that the facility is “exemplary when in comes to hygienic standards. Regularly based, unannounced inspections by the hygienic institute of the University of Graz prove this. The institute has certified that our fulfilment of the standards and regulations goes way beyond those required by law. The latest certificates are always available for the public to review.” (eap)