Indoor pools crowded due to rainy weather

Indoor pools are attracting a large number of visitors due to poor summer weather, according to a survey by ANP. For example, tickets for the Aqua Mundo pools from the holiday park organization Center Parks are almost all sold out for Thursday.

Guests on holiday at a Center Parks location have free access to Aqua Mundo, which has multiple locations in the Netherlands. The more guests at the parks that want to visit the pools, the fewer tickets Center Parks makes available for day visitors, a spokesperson explained. This is despite the current “very high demand for day tickets.” Only a few tickets are available for Friday, and Center Parks advises people against hoping for tickets this weekend. "You risk driving to the park for nothing," warned the spokesperson.

Aqua Mundo has relatively small outdoor pools and large indoor pools, with an area of up to about 5000 square meters. The outdoor pools remain open in the rain, partly because the whitewater courses are also outdoors. "There's nothing more fun than being in a whitewater course when it's raining," says the spokesperson.

In contrast, the subtropical swimming paradise Mosaqua in Gulpen, Limburg, is not very happy with the poor weather. While its indoor pool has been frequently full recently, the outdoor pool is typically the main attraction. The indoor pool can handle about 800 to 900 people, a spokesperson explained. But if the outdoor pool is also open, Mosaqua can handle up to 3000 visitors. "Fortunately, we had a good spring, with many warm weekends. That has given us a nice lead."

Whether this remains the case will depend on the weather next month, she added. "Obviously, you hope for a summer that's not like this one."

For the Hoornse Vaart sports complex in Alkmaar, the poor summer weather is a happy accident. Its outdoor pool had to close due to a broken filter. "If it was open, no one would be swimming in it now," said location manager Marcel Ruitenberg. The indoor pool, however, is seeing a lot of visitors, according to Ruitenberg, mainly from campsite guests staying on the coast. "If they can't go to the beach, they come this way."

The large number of Germans stands out to him. "Last Thursday, the weather was very bad, and it was an exceptionally busy day. We looked at the license plates in the parking lot: about half were German."