Splash Palace Promotion After Huge Decrease in User Rates

The numbers of people using Splash Palace in Invercargill has gone down almost 200,000 over the past five years.

A report to the Infrastructure Services Committee today showed that numbers have declined in 2021-22 to just 250,000, compared to 400,000+ pre Covid.

The facility was closed through June due to planned maintenance and reopened on July 4, and the report also acknowledged the disruptions of the past two years have seen engagement levels in the community fall away, “as routines have been disrupted.”

The Invercargill City Council’s activities report, put together by group managers, said the challenge now is to re-engage and increase participation for the benefit of the community’s health and well-being.

Due to international shipping/supply chain delays, the planned maintenance, which involved replacement of the bulkhead and the access control gates, will be installed at a later date – with no further interruption to the facility operations.

Staff member Richard McWha told the council that a recent promotion to  get people re-engaged had so far been successful.

Revenue in both the retail and cafe had also been the highest in three years, since the pool was open again, and 866 new members had signed up.

Deputy Mayor Nobby Clark questioned the significant drop-off in participation rates of more than 80,000 over the past financial year.

Manager of leisure and recreation Steve Gibling said in August 2021 in the second lockdown and the ongoing restrictions thereafter, the pool was only able to cater for one person per lane, with gaps in between each.

“This had a very significant impact over a period of time.”

He was confident that Splash Palace was on the upward trend again now as a result of the recent promotion.

Nobby also asked whether the decrease in numbers over subsequent years would have an impact on plans for a second pool at the facility.

Richard said the hydrotherapy and spa pools weren’t based around increased participation rates as it was about opening up a new market.