More than 70 million visits to Victorian aquatic facilities in 12 months

A newly released report shows that more than 70 million visits were made to Victorian public access pools in the year 2018/19 and that demand for facilities will rise by an anticipated 16% between 2021 and 2033.

Providing a snapshot of key issues relating to the 560 public pools in Victoria, Aquatics & Recreation Victoria (ARV) and Life Saving Victoria (LSV) have released the second edition of their Victorian Public Pools State of the Sector Report, to provide a better understanding of the Victorian public pool landscape - which provides infrastructure and services for aquatic activities, learn-to-swim, rehabilitation and a range of economic and social benefits.

Information within the Report covers the 568 public access swimming pools in Victoria - 288 of which are council-owned - which employ 40,000 staff.

With a population of 6.3 million, 1.2 million Victorians (around 19% of the population) are pool users, with attendance providing mental health benefits, health system savings, improved educational outcomes and increased productivity.

Covering drowning issues, the Report advises that over the past 20 years there have been nine drowning deaths and that 78% of the drowning victims were male - for which there was a median age of 29 years.

It also advised that there had been 73 non-fatal drownings in the years 2014/15 to 2017/18.

Overall, the key contributing factors to fatal drowning deaths were a lack of supervision, pre-existing medical conditions and lack of swimming ability and water safety knowledge.

It also provides updates on initiatives including efforts to reduce multicultural drowning, the Public Pools Register, industry innovations and new facility while giving an update on the Guidelines for Safe Pool Operations.

Introducing the Report, LSV Chief Executive, Dr Nigel Taylor and ARV Chief Executive, Grant Connors, write "understanding and interpreting (this information) these will provide better insight to our sector’s size, performance and broader landscape (and will) also inform smarter, more confident and better public pool investments.

Insights in the report were provided by ActiveXchange and other industry partners.

Click here to view Victorian Public Pools State of the Sector Report 2018/19.