Energy: Gas crisis: Difficult times for pools and thermal baths

Relaxing in the thermal baths or romping around with the kids in the fun pool could soon become more expensive if energy prices continue to rise.

There have long been calls for classic swimming pools to be temporarily closed completely in view of the impending gas shortage. And it is still unclear how the Federal Network Agency stands with them. It decides who will continue to be supplied should the highest level in the gas emergency plan be declared. “Our recommendation is to keep the pools open for as long as possible and to let the companies deal with their pool operations,” said Klaus Batz, Managing Director of the European Waterpark Association (EWA), the German Press Agency.

save costs

“There may be some who come to the decision that we have to reduce the offer. There may also be those who say we have to close at least temporarily.” The bathrooms are currently still full, said Batz. “But we certainly don’t have easy times ahead of us. You have to say that openly.” The companies already had a difficult time during the corona pandemic. Now, in addition to the uncertainty about the next wave of the virus, there is also the energy crisis.

The EWA represents the interests of leisure pools, thermal baths and water parks, of which a good 140 are in Germany alone. From the point of view of the industry, lower water temperatures to save costs are not a real solution. “Children and the elderly are two important groups of visitors,” said the EWA Managing Director. “If you lower the temperature in the pool, eventually they won’t come anymore.”

Water temperature and entrance fees

Where the pain threshold is for visitors cannot be answered exactly. Such austerity measures are also not planned in the Tropical Islands amusement park, with its extensive sauna and wellness facilities a good 50 kilometers south of Berlin, as a spokesman assures. And no restrictions on opening times either.

In Cologne, on the other hand, the pool companies have already lowered the temperature by at least 3 degrees in some outdoor pools, which are usually particularly warm at 30 degrees. Elsewhere, this is not so easy, as the managing director of KölnBäder GmbH, Claudia Heckmann, emphasizes.

Another adjustment screw are the entrance fees. “Of course it will be difficult with the upcoming cost increases,” said Heckmann. “We can’t pass this on to customers 1:1, but we’ll definitely think about it in the fall.”

According to EWA Managing Director Batz, companies that have already increased prices are still the exception. “We also have to take into account that the guests’ wallets are getting emptier for other reasons.”

For Claudia Heckmann, the main problem is the lack of clarity as to whether the highest level of the gas emergency plan will come or not. “That’s not certain yet.” But the risk is there. “And if we run out of gas, we won’t be able to operate the baths either.” Batz calls for state support in this case. “We then urgently need financial aid to get through the winter.”

suggestions

The pool alliance, an association of industry stakeholders, submitted a position paper to the federal government in mid-July. In it, she calls for a step-by-step reaction to energy shortages, first forgoing “high-temperature outdoor pools”, then only using the sports and teaching pools and finally reducing the temperature there to a maximum of 26 degrees.

A little later, the Berlin Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) suggested that swimming pools should be closed completely in order to save energy. However, the reactions to it were largely negative.

Municipal swimming pools are usually a subsidy business, said a spokesman for the German Association of Towns and Municipalities in Berlin – and generally very energy-intensive. If energy costs continue to rise, the question arises as to how much the subsidy should be increased. “We’ll have to take stock at some point: Can you still afford it?”