Acknowledgements HNI acknowledges the important support offered by the following organisations: Institute of Sport and Recreation Management Amateur Swimming Association The management of all pools where this survey took place Copyright Attention is drawn to the fact that copyright of the Business of Swimming, 2004 rests with HNI International. The contents of this report are for the sole use of the addressee. The copying or distribution of this file is strictly forbidden without the prior written permission of HNI International Ltd or in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Disclaimer Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy but HNI cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions due to difficulties in reaching verification in some data. It is therefore important that this report is an aid to making business decisions but that it should not be the only aid for reaching a decision. Published By HNI International, Rookery Farm, Oakhill, Bath, BA3 5HY (Tel. 01749 841632, Fax 01749 841633, ISDN 01749 841631, e.mail, [email protected] ISBN No 0-9544422-1-0 Business of Swimming-___________________________________________________________________Page 1 Business of Swimming-___________________________________________________________________Page 2 Report Contents (Continued) Page 10.1 Admission prices to regular pools 80 10.2 Admission prices to leisure pools 99 10.3 Instruction and teaching charges 101 10.4 Charges for ancillary activities 112 10.5 Club and group hire charges 114 10.6 Case study of a typical pool 125 11. Free swimming initiatives 126 11.1 Free junior swimming in Wales 126 11.2 Glasgow’s Juvenile Free Swim Initiative 126 11.3 East London’s ‘Kids Go Free’ Scheme 127 12. Swimming and the General Household Survey, 2002 128 13. Press coverage of swimming 131 14. Review of aquarobics 132 15. National Swimathon 134 16. Water safety 135 16.1 Accidental drowning 135 16.2 Britain compared to the rest of Europe 136 Business of Swimming-___________________________________________________________________Page 3 List of Tables Table No Subject 1 UK swimwear manufacturer sales in £- Knitted or crocheted textiles 2 UK swimwear manufacturer sales in £- Non-knitted 3 UK swimwear manufacturer sales by volume- Knitted or crocheted textiles 4 UK swimwear manufacturer sales by volume- Non-knitted 5 Breakdown of swimmers by gender, 2002 and 2004 6 Breakdown of pool users by age group, 2002 and 2004 7 Ethnic composition of swimmers, 2002 and 2004 8 Current employment 9 Type of pool user 10 Distribution of swimmers surveyed by government region 11 Motivation for pool attendance, 2002 and 2004 12 Number of times swum, 2002 and 2004 13 Number of times attended pool, 2002 and 2004 14 Days when swim normally takes place, 2002 and 2004 15 Time of day preferred for swim, 2002 and 2004 16 Reason for swimming at chosen pool, 2002 and 2004 17 Number of pools used per week, 2002 and 2004 18 Types of pool preferred by consumers, 2002 and 2004 19 Types of pool where swims take place, 2002 and 2004 20 Average spend at pool, 2002 and 2004 21 Cost of pool entrance for consumers, 2002 and 2004 22 Consumer attitudes to cost of pool entrance, 2002 and 2004 23 Typical health club swimming costs, 2002 and 2004 24 Length of time spent at pool, 2002 and 2004 25 Average distance swum by consumers, 2002 and 2004 26 Size of swimming group, 2002 and 2004 27 Club membership by leisure swimmers, 2002 and 2004 28 Facilities used at pools by consumers, 2002 and 2004 29 Health related facilities used at pools by consumers, 2002 and 2004 30 Living distance from pool, 2004 31 Transport used to get to pool, 2004 32 Time taken to get to pool, 2004 33 Venue travelled from to pool, 2004 34 Daily papers read by swimming consumers, 2002 and 2004 35 Sunday papers read by swimming consumers, 2002 and 2004 36 Television stations watched by swimming consumers, 2002 and 2004 37 Consumer awareness of swimming press reports, 2002 and 2004 38 Consumer attitudes to swimming pool offerings, 2002 and 2004 39 Swimwear purchases by leisure swimmer, 2002 and 2004 40 Swimming learning by consumers, 2002 and 2004 41 Purchasing of swimming badges, 2002 and 2004 42 Purchasing of swimming badges by relative, 2002 and 2004 43 Other sports participated in by swimming consumers, 2002 and 2004 44 Attitudes to value for money, 2002 and 2004 Business of Swimming-___________________________________________________________________Page 4 List of Tables (Continued) 45 Estimated numbers of pools per head of population 46 Average number of children taking part in weekly swimming lessons 47 Average number of parent and children taking part in weekly lessons 48 Average number of adults taking part in weekly swimming lessons 49 Average number of children’s swimming teaching classes per week 50 Average number of parent and child teaching classes per week 51 Average number of adult teaching classes per week 52 Average amount of time devoted to swimming lessons 53 Pool attendance comparison, 1992 and 1993 54 Random sample of regular/standard pool attendances, 2000-3 55 Random sample of leisure pool attendances, 2000-3 56 Average length of daily pool opening 57 Average pool opening and closing times 58 Examination of club use of pools 59 Examination of employment of swimming lanes 60 Average pool time allocation for activities other than swimming 61 Examination of pool staffing levels 62 Accessibility of pool by public transport 63 Examination of main areas of business growth within pools 64 Examination of main barriers to business growth in pools 65 School swimming attendances in Pendle 66 Relationship between number of school pools and pupils by LEA 67 School Top-Up Pilot Scheme results in Bristol 68 School Top-Up Pilot Scheme results in Durham 69 Pools designated under ASA National Strategy for Pools, 2003 70 Performance pools designated under ASA National Strategy for Pools, 2003 71 ASA National Strategic Targets 72 Most and least expensive adult admission charges in regular pools, 2001-3 73 Most and least expensive junior admission charges in regular pools, 2001-3 74 Changes in average regular pool entry charges, 2001-4 75 Changes in average leisure pool entry charges, 2001-4 76 Pool entry charges by local authority, adults and junior, 2001-4 77 Pool entry charges by local authority, senior citizens, 2001-4 78 Most and least expensive adult admission charges in leisure pools, 2001-4 79 Most and least expensive junior admission charges in leisure pools, 2001-4 80 Charges for instruction, adult and junior, 2001-4 Business of Swimming-___________________________________________________________________Page 5 List of Tables (Continued) 81 Most and least expensive adult instruction charges, 2001-4 82 Most and least expensive junior instruction charges, 2001-4 83 Changes in average instruction charges, 2001-4 84 Charges for saunas, 2001-4 85 Charges for sun beds, 2001-4 86 Most and least expensive club hire charges, 2001-4 87 Club hire charges by local authority type, 2001-4 88 Charges for club bookings 89 Diagnostics of Littlehampton Swimming Pool 90 General Household Survey, 2002, participation rates 91 General Household Survey, 2002, participation rates by sex 92 General Household Survey, 2002, participation rates by age and sex 93 General Household Survey, 2002, participation rates by years 94 General Household Survey, 2002, participation rates by socio-economic classification 95 General Household Survey, 2002, participation rates by Government region 96 Press coverage of swimming, 2002-3 97 Accidental drownings in the UK, 2001 98 Accidental drownings in the EU in 2002 (Front cover photo: the Olympic Pool, Barcelona, home to both the 1992 Olympic swimming competition and the 2003 World Swimming Championships) Business of Swimming-___________________________________________________________________Page 6 1. Explanation of the Research The Business of Swimming 2004 reports on two years of research into swimming pool users. The main part of the research looks at 1,734 customers of swimming pools in England, Scotland and Wales. Unlike the Business of Swimming 2002, this year’s survey includes three private as well as a wide range of public pools. The methodology was achieved through a supervised survey. Swimming pool customers were asked on a random basis to complete the survey form. Pools were selected so as to give a distribution that covered all government regions. Each survey period amounted to three hours. For example, if the survey took place on a morning, afternoon or evening when there was low traffic in that pool, the survey still ended after that period. The survey included spectators as well as pool users so as to reflect pool users in total. The survey took place in the period between December 2003 and March 2004. HNI’s survey in 2002 of 1701 pool users is used throughout as a point of comparison although neither group are weighted samples nor does the 2002 Survey include Scotland and Wales. Some of the ensuing tables will show percentages adding to 99 or 101% due to rounding. The second part of this year’s research focuses on the pool operator. Some 85 pool managers responded in detail, helping to complete a picture of pools in Britain to date. This year’s research from pools themselves is supported by HNI’s own analysis of swimming pools in England, Scotland and Wales. The final area examines prices in pools over the last three years. The list is not exhaustive and is based on figures of publicly advertised admission prices provided to the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy over the last three years. These form part of their annual report, ‘Leisure Charges’. In some places, where CIPFA has not obtained prices charged, HNI has provided these from its own market intelligence. Some local authorities have provided figures but they have proved difficult to standardise.