OPERATOR PERSPECTIVE
Competing for attention He continues: “Typically our pools will be open for around 14–15 hours a day, of which around four hours will be swimming lessons, two hours school sessions, one hour aqua aerobics, and three hours lane swimming. The rest is what we still need to optimise and we’re pivoting in two important ways. “The first is towards closer allegiance with the NHS and health services, with 24 of our sites now set up as MSK (musculoskeletal) hubs and offering Good Boost and Escape Pain programming. It’s a great way to optimise pools and fill off-peak hours. “Our other pivot is in the direction of fun and experience. We’ve recognised that people now have so much choice when it comes to their leisure time, and that as swimming costs have gone up – albeit only in line with inflation – so the price difference shrinks. Swimming is still great value, but other activities now come in at a comparable cost. “We need to compete more strongly within the leisure market: we can’t just assume that people will continue to turn up. Sadly the capital costs of things like flumes
and wave machines are prohibitive at the moment, but we’ve partnered with Airspace to create Atlantis Splash at eight of our sites so far; more will follow. These inflatable sessions are proving very popular, driving strong visitor numbers and revenues.” Godfrey continues: “On average across roughly 50 sites with pools, I’d say our pool programmes are currently around 80% optimised; some are more like 50%, others 100. If we knew how to optimise the last 20%, we’d do it immediately, but we expect the above two pivots to contribute to this. “The main challenge is how we strike a balance between meeting community needs and driving enough guaranteed revenue to remain viable. Lane swimming and swimming lessons are both bookable, and both are up compared to pre-pandemic, meaning guaranteed revenue. Aqua aerobics also remains popular. “But casual swimming usage is slightly down, and you never know who or how many people will come for each session. That’s tough when you know you could fill the pool with 40–60 kids in lessons every half an hour.”
We need to compete more strongly within the leisure market: we can’t just assume that people will continue to turn up.
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STATE OF THE UK SWIMMING INDUSTRY REPORT 2023
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