Upgrades and enhancements provide incentives for patrons to return
To remain relevant and attract visitors, municipal aquatic centers must make upgrades and add interest despite the challenges presented by budget constraints and the fluctuations brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of forced closures of facilities, many aquatic leaders lost revenue, and funding for programs was cut, although some cities have managed to pass referenda during that time to start projects. The majority of these projects are upgrades to refurbish older facilities by adding to or renovating the existing infrastructure to align with current trends. Such projects are a real challenge and offer unique opportunities for leaders to optimize facilities. Here’s how.
Major Challenges
One of the major struggles for stakeholders in aquatics is staffing. Because fewer staff members are available for hire, buildings are being optimized to do as much as possible with the fewest number of lifeguards, pool attendants, and other support staff, while still operating safely. For example, play structures in leisure pools can be positioned to minimize blocked views that normally require extra guards. Providing a line of sight to multiple areas from one location reduces the number of staff members that are needed. The same is true of slides—one guard can monitor the top of multiple slides and another person can be at the base.