More than 100,000 people have poured into Splash Planet since it opened on November 16, making this one of its busiest seasons to date.

With three days left to go, the month of January has already topped previous records for attendance, with 58,700 visitors so far, up on the previous highest figure for the month of January, with 55,000 visitors.

Aquatics manager Peran Hutchings said that anecdotally this year’s numbers included more people from out of town than usual, but the majority had been locals.

Across the board, many were visiting the facility for the first time.

“It’s not usually until Waitangi Day that we reach 100,000 visitors, and the activity hasn’t only been at the weekends, it’s been weekdays as well, including this week with its hot temperatures.”

Hastings mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said she was very excited the attraction was proving so popular.

“It wasn’t that many months ago that councillors were wondering if we could open the facility with the uncertainty around COVID-19.

“We chose to go ahead with opening it as we didn’t want to lose the facility for our community and visitors and here we are on track to having one of the busiest seasons ever.

“This is testament to the ongoing popularity of Splash Planet for those who live in Hawke’s Bay as well as New Zealanders heeding the call to get out and explore the country.”

It’s not only been busy at Splash Planet, numbers at the district’s other outdoor pools are also up.

At Havelock North Village Pool as of January 27 there had been 11,709 people through the doors since opening, up on the 7481 that used the facility last year.

At Frimley Pool, 5624 people had visited since opening to January 17, up on 5099 the previous year.

Splash Planet is open seven days a week from 10am to 5.30pm until February 8.

From February 13, Splash Planet will be open weekends only (including Easter weekend), 10am to 5.30pm, until the season ends on April 5.

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