Spa tourism is taking off and Gran Canaria is just what the doctor ordered

TRADITIONALLY, holidays have given us a chance to get away from it all, relax with the family and generally recharge our batteries. However, the 21st century break has seamlessly become something else altogether - a holihab.

Many celebrities enjoy regular spells in rehab, the term commonly used for private residential rehabilitation units. Here, they shut themselves away from prying strangers, demanding bosses and needy family members, trying to 'find themselves' and readdress behavioural and health issues. But we mere mortals apparently need this emotional health check as well and are increasingly using our holiday allowance to rehabilitate mind and body and help us cope with the daily grind.

It is as if the annual holiday - far from being an occasional luxury - is now a requirement of our stressful lives. If money allows, it is the glue that holds the rest of our working life together; it can save us from physical exhaustion, family combustion and mental flat-lining. With many travel destinations also offering cosmetic and medical holiday packages, one can even return from holiday looking ten years younger.

The Gran Canarian Wellness Association has wisely addressed this holihab need by actively promoting spa tourism. The organisation works with a range of healthy hotels, providing consumers with targeted breaks designed to rejuvenate the mind, assist weight loss, address physical ailments or simply relax. With the island's renowned surgical provision, medical tourism is also popular, with non- surgical cosmetic procedures, as well as plastic surgery, often forming part of guests' holiday wish lists.

Modern holihabbers head to the southerly Maspalomas region of Gran Canaria, with the newly-built Meloneras resort especially popular. An easy half-hour taxi ride from Las Palmas airport, Meloneras boasts designer boutiques, smart golf courses, a sedate, relaxed atmosphere and an air of casual elegance. An area that is home to many four and five-star hotels that celebrities such as actor Orlando Bloom, model Miranda Kerr and singer Jennifer Lopez frequent, this air of exclusivity shouldn't put you off; prices can be surprisingly affordable.

Further west along the island's Atlantic Ocean coastline, just a few hundred kilometres from Africa, lies Puerto de Mogn. This more traditional Cran Canarian location boasts a picturesque fishing port, small, bustling market and daily catches of fresh fish, including marlin and tuna. I stayed at the large Hotel Cordial Mogn Playa, a great base from which to access the stunning coastline, where diving and snorkelling are popular.

"Mogn sees lots of repeat visitors," the hotel's guest relations manager, Vincente Gonzales Abraira, told me over coffee. "They enjoy the superb climate here, the long golden sandy beaches and the rich mineral water, which has health-giving benefits."

This Spanish mineral sea water is not just good for the skin; it permeates the whole island of Gran Canaria, with the sea breeze gently blasting the senses and boosting the body's respiratory system. Take a brisk walk along the coast to speed your heart rate up and you are absorbing a diverse combination of minerals and negative ions that charge the air and are said to help relieve symptoms of asthma, seasonal depression and fatigue. This 'open-air spa' is the perfect way to recharge the batteries and focus on relaxation.

But there's no excuse not to relax completely and make like a celebrity. Even die-hard adventurers, who are up with the dawn chorus and usually spend their holidays exploring and sight-seeing, will welcome the chance of some rest and recuperation, with men and women equally catered for. Treatments such as sports massages and nutritional analysis are especially popular with the male of the species.

Thalassotherapy is also popular in the Canaries, and involves treatments based on sea elements - from seaweed masks, salt scrubs and volcanic mud massages to lymphatic drainage and Vichy showers. There can be few more relaxing experiences than getting a beach-side, multi-sensory massage, with the fresh ocean spray filtering through to the treatment room and with the waves crashing gently below you.

Sitting still doesn't necessarily equate to boredom, and these meditative spa exper-iences offer a great chance to assess the direction of our lives and realise what is important to us. Dashing around sight-seeing may seem life-enhancing, but time spent on mental rejuvenation can be more beneficial, if you dare to stop talking and sit still for long enough.

Personally, I found the Gran Canarian spa break quiet cathartic - like a celebrity rehabber going cold turkey from a narcotic, the experience of relaxing can bring its own demons. As you drift off into happy oblivion, you may find unwelcome thoughts rearing their ugly head - the emotions from a family argument that was suppressed, or the anger you never passed on to a colleague.

It's OK, this is simply the 'mental detox' part of holihab. Just let the emotions out - I'm told that spa staff are quite used to people becoming tearful as they let their guard down and their adrenaline levels abate. Pretty soon, as your chi is rebalanced, your skin buffed and your lymphatic system drained, you'll notice your emotional health is also being nurtured.

Of course, you can gain holihab benefits at many locations, but Gran Canaria is special - just under four hours from the UK, it is safe, clean and, above all, healthy.

So, if your demanding boss or needy family are driving you to the end of your tether, consider arranging your very own celebrity rehab - you won't want to check out. n

Four-star Hotel Cordial Mogn Playa (www.cordialcanarias.com), seven nights, full board 700 per person.

Direct flights from Edinburgh to Gran Canaria with Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) cost around 164 per person.

• For more information visit the Gran Canaria Wellness Association, www.grancanariawellness.com

• This article was first published in the Scotland on Sunday on January 30, 2011