OVERVIEW & TRENDS
TOTAL MARKET
THE CONTINUED BOOM OF LEARN-TO-SWIM
So, just how significant is the demand for swimming lessons? Clearly there’s a backlog to work through of five- to seven-year-olds who weren’t able to learn during COVID: 1Life reports average class levels to be 115–120% of pre-COVID levels, and COO Steve Bambury sees opportunities beyond this, too. He explains: “A child might come in at level 1, but it isn’t just about them getting their 20m badge and then that’s it, they can swim, job done. We need to look at ways to extend their swimming journeys, encouraging them through the levels, maybe even training them as 15-year-old rookie lifeguards.” Read more from 1Life and Bambury in our interview on page 27 . Meanwhile, revenue streams are shifting at Freedom Leisure, says Commercial Director Emma Reeve: “Five years ago, 45–50% of our revenues came from fitness. It’s now roughly one-third fitness, one-third pool – lessons, casual swim, school hire – and one-third from sports, children’s activities and social space provision. Our 68 pools now host 60,000 learn-to-swim participants and we’ve worked hard to achieve that, reconfiguring pool layouts and lesson timings and training up talent.”
Balanced sensibly against the needs of other user groups, swimming lessons clearly present a significant opportunity for operators to maximise usage of their pools, driving revenues and making pool provision more viable moving forward – provided there are enough swimming teachers to deliver all the lessons needed. And this, at present, is one of the major challenges facing operators across the sector. “We’re all having to fight for lifeguards and swim teachers,” says Bambury. “Swim teachers are now typically earning £25 an hour, compared to £15 an hour pre-COVID.
Photo: Freedom Leisure.
“Meanwhile, youngsters have been lost from the industry altogether, drawn to other better-paying sectors, and this has led to a shortage in lifeguards. In time, this will impact more senior roles like duty manager, because we won’t have anyone to progress through the ranks.” Ivan Horsfall Turner, Freedom Leisure CEO, agrees: “It’s hard to keep pace with pay in other sectors. We’re having to rely on promoting the social value of what we do – and the corresponding sense of fulfilment – through working as a swim teacher, for example, rather than working in a supermarket.” You can read more from Freedom Leisure on page 73 of this report.
26
STATE OF THE UK SWIMMING INDUSTRY REPORT 2023
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator