management - TourismInsights

WATER RIDES
cost $500,000 (£452,000, $754,000). ATV’s
Rainer Klimaschewski believes there’s a
great deal of potential for standing waves,
as they give the opportunity of an authentic
surfi ng experience with less investment
than big wave pools. An installation was
recently completed at the Alpincenter in
Bottrop, Germany, and more are lined up
for 2010. The product is also available as a
mobile construction.
The Belgian company AFP Technology
only started marketing the Wavesurfer
within the last few months, although the
founders have been in the industry much
longer. Wavesurfer is a wave pool, with a
travelling wave that has speeds of up to 70
km per hour. According to technical sport
and training academy director, Bart Van
Kralingen, the best feature of the system
is that it’s modular and easily relocatable.
The smallest size is 4m (13ft)-wide, suitable
for one surfer or two body boarders,
but more can be added to create double
or triple pools. Another selling point is that
the strength of the waves and the slippier
base mean it’s easier to ride. It’s made of
soft materials so can be installed anywhere
and doesn’t need to sit in a concrete pit. It
costs from 350,000 (£317,000, $527,000)
WORLD WATERPARK ASSOCIATION
Following a tough year for operators, and
with association trade shows suffering from
dropping attendances, the World Waterpark
Association worked especially hard to get
new faces and increase first time attendees
to its 29th Symposium and Trade Show at
Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort at the
end of October 2009.
As a result, attendance matched last
year’s show in Las Vegas and reports suggest
there was a lot of purchase planning
on the floor, showing that projects are still
developing and there are active plans for
park expansions and new projects.
to 2m (£1.8m, $3m). Two have been
installed in Belgium and more are underway
in other western European countries.
MOBILE OPTION
Another newcomer, only having been in
the market for a year, is The Wave Booster,
from Belgium. The USP is its mobility – it
can be ready for use within four hours and
can be moved again a few hours after use.
It can be used indoors and outdoors and
The Wave aims to replicate Munich River’s wave and can be adjusted to suit all levels
“This past year was a particularly
challenging one for our operators and
this year’s educational programme was
designed to address those challenges by
offering new and innovative ideas and solutions,”
said Aleatha Ezra, director of park
member development at WWA.
As well as 50 breakout sessions, including
30 new topics, attendees had the
chance to experience workshops facilitated
by Disney, which looked at the core principles
of Disney’s organisational strength and
took attendees behind the scenes of some
of the company’s most innovative areas.
placed on any surface, with no construction
work needed. The permanent product
is also easy to install. Any board without
a fi n can be used, including a wave board
and a wakeboard and it’s suitable for all
levels, including children. It has one pump,
which runs between 30 and 50km/hr and
prices range from 400,000 (£362,000,
$600,000) to 1m (£900,000, $1.5m).
Scottish wave supplier, Murphys Waves,
has been in the business for 16 years
and has around 100 installations, including
a Point Break Surf ride at Tenerife’s
new waterpark, Siam Park, which is a
large wave pool with a travelling wave.
The company has also just created a new
surf system using a static wave, called
BoardRider. The price and technology varies
according to the product.
Like the sport itself, the artifi cial surfi ng
market looks set to be very competitive,
but Meistrell thinks the market has a huge
amount of untapped potential: “The surfing
culture has been admired for many
years and people all over the world wear
surf brand clothing, even though they don’t
surf. I’ve seen many people experience
surfi ng for the fi rst time and get the stoke
[surf-speak for ‘get a buzz from it’]. There
is truly nothing else like riding a surfboard.
I believe we’re on the cusp of an explosion
of the surfi ng experience.”
If these products can create the thrill of
surfi ng, while making this diffi cult sport
easier to learn, there could well be room in
the market for all the players. ●
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