OPERATOR PERSPECTIVE
OPERATOR PERSPECTIVE
Demand for casual swimming has stabilised and is moving back to more traditional peak times, says GLL’s Andrew Clark
possible. We offer public access alongside all but our very largest swim lessons; with our goal of getting more people active, we encourage parents to swim while their children are having lessons rather than just sitting watching. “It makes financial sense, too. Casual swim is a good revenue stream for GLL; where centres have closed their pools for lessons, we’ve seen a decline in casual swim income. Of course you have to get the balance right in the programming, but in our experience, as soon as you close a pool to the public for periods of the day, people drift away because they can’t rely on being able to swim whenever they choose. We want our pools to feel open and accessible. “We’ve left pool booking in place so people can secure their spot in advance through our app. They can see which local pool has capacity, at what time and for what price. This further enhances the sense of openness and accessibility.”
He adds: “It’s also the case that ours is a very competitive market. We have to make the most of our USPs compared to the budget gyms and private swim school companies, with our blend of pools and fitness programmes being a strong one.” AI-driven insights Clark continues: “At the moment, we only have turnstile data: we know how many people are using our pools and when. However, we’ll get another level of insight from the AI lifeguarding technology we’re rolling out. Its intelligent camera system detects everyone in the pool, enabling us not only to keep everyone safe – this AI is endorsed by the RLSS – but to see exactly where people are in the pool at all times. We’ll be able to create heat maps to show hotspots and under-used capacity in our pools, enabling us to even better fine-tune programming to maximise yield.
Heat maps will show hotspots and under-used capacity in our pools, enabling us to fine-tune programming
ANDREW CLARK
School swimming and replacing ageing pools must be top of the agenda, bringing with them broader health and equality benefits, says GLL’s head of sport & aquatics
GLL’s own research found swimming to be the life skill that parents most want their children to learn
Clark continues: “Demand for casual swimming moved forward dramatically in 2022 before stabilising in 2023. Now, as people increasingly return to offices, we’re seeing a shift back to more traditional peak times. “The sector is still very buoyant, though. Our swim school has seen a 4 per cent year-on-year, like-for-like growth – we have over 220,000 swim students every week – and we’re seeing lots of interest among fitness members, who now consider swimming part of their wheelhouse. “This goes hand-in-hand with our programming philosophy, whereby we try to keep our pools as open and accessible as
“The last time we spoke, for the State of the UK Swimming Industry Report 2023 , we went into some depth on the impact of COVID,” says Andrew Clark, head of sport & aquatics at GLL. “Some of this is still very evident in 2024, but the industry as a whole has bounced back solidly and is settling down to business as more-or-less normal.”
Clark continues: “Demand for casual swimming moved forward dramatically in 2022 before stabilising in 2023. Read the full 2023 report, for free, at leisuredb.com/publications
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STATE OF THE UK FITNESS INDUSTRY REPORT 2023 STATE OF THE UK SWIMMING INDUSTRY REPORT 2024
STATE OF THE UK FITNESS INDUSTRY REPORT 2023
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STATE OF THE UK SWIMMING INDUSTRY REPORT 2024
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