Hot tub and swim spa specialists are being asked to take part in the 2020 Wet Leisure Survey along with their pool market counterparts that will help to assess the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
After launching the Wet Leisure Survey in 2011, and then publishing the inaugural results and analysis during SPATEX 2012, this will be the tenth time that Barnstaple-based Golden Coast has conducted the in-depth process to gain industry feedback from the British specialists in the various wet leisure sectors.
With full support of the BSPF, BISHTA, SPATA, and ISPE, the 2020 Wet Leisure Survey is now available at www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/DW2W8HL for those within the various hot tub, swim spa, pool and sauna markets of the wet leisure industry to provide their responses and views of the current state and future prospects of the market.
There are 19 sections of the survey for respondents to fill in, where they feel it is appropriate to do so. It has been designed so that the survey is not time consuming and can be completed quickly and efficiently in less than ten minutes. Additional comments from respondents can be included as required and if it is necessary to provide clarification or highlight certain aspects that are appropriate to the sector that the respondent is representing.
All responses are anonymous, and no questions require answers. The results will be available to download in February and will also be online at wetleisure.com where details of all of the previous Wet Leisure Surveys are stored, including the 2019 survey that provides a stark contrast to the first one.
The inaugural Wet Leisure Survey, for example, highlighted that 2011 was a ‘difficult year’ for the wet leisure industry, and indeed, the whole UK economy…businesses in the wet leisure sector who had enjoyed reasonable prosperity in 2010 and 20122 were suddenly revising their outlook and considering a difficult future’.
It was also reported that the industry say the internet as ‘threatening it’s livelihood with e-commerce suppliers undercutting showroom owners at every opportunity’ and that ‘public awareness and perception of the wet leisure industry may not be as high or as positive as it should be’.
In the 2016 survey results it was highlighted that Brexit would be a ‘sad, surreal, and exhausting process’ but there was positive news on the internet as one respondent divulged: ‘Less competition from the internet as customers are seeking a good local supplier to look after their pools and spas long term, not necessarily looking for the cheapest option above customer service’.
Another respondent in the 2016 survey, which highlighted a ‘good year for the wet leisure industry’ declared: “Some of the really low margin based companies selling on the Internet will die out over the next few years or at the very least will not be able to increase in size’.
Two years later, in the 2018 survey, it was reported that despite Brexit remaining ‘the biggest question mark on the horizon’ almost 90 per cent of respondents expected 2019 to be ‘at least OK and possibly extremely good’.
The 2018 survey also highlighted that: ‘The number of businesses involved in the service and maintenance of spas in the holiday sector is growing and growing. Although HSG282 provides guidelines for the work, it’s not clear that most spa owners see the benefit of a spa professional maintaining the water quality’.
A year before the global Covid-19 pandemic, the 2019 Wet Leisure Survey revealed that the industry, in the main, enjoyed a ‘good year’, and highlighted the continuing ‘political turmoil and the uncertainty of BREXIT was yet to be resolved’.
Like his wet leisure counterparts, Golden Coast Managing Director Jamie Adams has never experienced a year like this one and he admits that 2020 will have produced success stories as well as examples of businesses struggling to cope with the ‘new normal’ during the pandemic, which forced hot tub showrooms to be closed during the national lockdown period earlier this year.
“This has been a year like no other,” declared Jamie; “From a business perspective the events of the year have delivered winners and losers. It will be fascinating to discover where our industry stands.
“It is the people who respond to the survey who make the whole thing possible.”
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