Robert Hanea, founder and CEO of Therme Group, told delegates at the Global Wellness Summit in Dubai that he hopes Therme will be able to provide accessible social bathing experiences to 100-120 million guests globally in the next 15 years.

He said he thinks the group's combined sites could build up to welcoming between 25 and 36 million people a year in the next decade.

Hanea described the group's desire to democratise wellness by restoring lost infrastructure – such as Roman baths that catered to whole cities. "We're building to the scale of our time," he added, reinforcing that prices will be kept low to remove barriers to entry.

"Community experience is about desegregating how we live in cities," said Hanea. He said that the way to provide a sense of belonging is to provide experiences where everyone sheds their social uniforms.

He also opposed negative narratives about "crowding" in social bathing spaces, as it's been key to improving immunity for the human species.