How to keep recreation and aquatic services accessible when money is tight

Rising living costs across New Zealand and Australia mean leisure facilities face the dual challenge of maintaining operational viability while ensuring their services remain accessible to people feeling the financial pinch in the communities they serve.

We spoke to Recreation Aotearoa General Manager Operations Tracey Prince-Puketapu to get her insights on ways leisure facility managers can keep customers coming through the doors when there’s less disposable income to go around.

Prince-Puketapu said in times of economic hardship, it’s more important than ever for recreation, aquatic and leisure centres to make sure their services are accessible to those who need them.

“It’s a well-known fact that any type of physical activity helps to improve mental well-being,” she said.

Entice new members

Prince-Puketapu said offering free “have-a-go sessions” was an effective way to keep new members coming when times are tough.

“You want to target those people who are not your normal users to bring them into your facilities. And while they’re there, offer them a special membership or concession rate, which hooks them in so they come back to you on a regular basis.”

She had also seen some facilities around New Zealand successfully attracting new members through initiatives such as women-only swimming sessions or offering discounts to Community Services Card holders to enjoy leisure services they might not have been able to afford.

Motivate the members you have

Prince-Puketapu said a large proportion of people’s New Year’s resolutions focused on improving their health and wellbeing, but the unfortunate reality was that many of them gave up on those resolutions by mid-February.

That meant there was value in running campaigns with challenges to support people to hold fast to their resolutions by continuing to visit facilities.

One example Prince-Puketapu had seen was a ‘swim around New Zealand’ challenge. Members record their progress in the pool, aiming to collectively swim the 5000km distance equivalent to circumnavigating New Zealand’s coast in a year.

Welcome families

Prince-Puketapu said offering special package rates for families or organising family-focused activity days were good ways to attract entire families into a facility.

“Something we’re super passionate about at Recreation Aotearoa is encouraging families to come in together and enjoy a recreation experience.

“If you get a whole family coming to a facility, they might realise that it’s not an overly expensive activity to do together – potentially becoming regulars who come back every weekend.”

Analyse attendance data

“Attendance data can be a helpful tool to maximise the use of a facility’s resources. Facility managers can offer discounted rates during quiet times in the day, which boosts engagement without any negative effect.

“You don’t want to add pressure to peak times, but you do want people to be coming and using your facility in the off-peak times,” Prince-Puketapu said.

By analysing your attendance data, managers can also identify particularly popular classes or courses where extra sessions might be desirable, or the most well-used parts of a facility, which could be deserving of extra investment or expansion in the future.

Get community buy-in

When people in the community are involved in discussions about local leisure facilities, they tend to become invested in their success and look after them better.

“Our members have told us when they’re looking at redeveloping a site or building new facilities, having conversations with local communities about what they would like is important, because then you have that community ownership,” Prince-Puketapu said.

This could be particularly important in the current climate, when councils were having to make tough decisions around where to spend ratepayer dollars.

Use technology to your advantage

It can be challenging for recreation centres to reduce operational costs. This is especially true for aquatic centres, which need to maintain the water in their pools at an appropriate temperature.

“Building management systems that automate water treatment at aquatic centres can save time and money by keeping water quality and temperature at optimum levels.

“Energy is probably the biggest cost for facilities, and reducing that cost doesn’t come cheap but if it’s a new build it’s feasible.

“When we look at new facilities like Te Ngaengae Pool, which has just re-opened, energy efficiency was a big focus during the rebuild,” Prince-Puketapu said.

Prince-Puketapu emphasised the value of investing in accessibility at recreation facilities during economic downturns.

“A recent Sport New Zealand study has found for every dollar invested in recreational physical activity, $2.12 is generated in positive social return.

“For the amount of money that’s invested in any type of community recreation facility, that social return on investment is super important,” Prince-Puketapu said.