While the COVID-19 pandemic may have forced the temporary closure of aquatic centres and pools across parts of the country, Eventbrite data shows demand for swim sessions and classes at re-opened pools has increased by 5X since the start of 2020, with thousands of sessions listed on Eventbrite throughout the months of June to October.

The pandemic has also prompted aquatic and recreation centres to re-examine the technology they employ to capture patron data for contact tracing, and how they manage swim session capacity in order to adhere to COVID-safe planning requirements. To that end, Eventbrite’s suite of safe event tools, including data capture for contact tracing, timed entry and contactless check-in have proven a great fit for aquatic centres across Australia – including the City of Stonnington’s Prahran Aquatic Centre, which engaged Eventbrite to support their safe re-opening following Victoria’s extended lockdown. Since its successful implementation in October, the council has also transitioned Harold Holt Swim Centre onto the Eventbrite platform.

“City of Stonnington chose to engage Eventbrite to manage our aquatic bookings in October 2020. This followed a need to not only track attendees to our facility but also limit the number of swimmers per session to ensure we complied with State Government requirements,” said Simon Beqir, Acting Manager – Active Communities at City of Stonnington.

“Since introducing Eventbrite we have been inundated with booking requests. At the peak of our return to swimming hysteria we had over 2500 people logging into the Eventbrite platform every day vying for 300 available swims. The Eventbrite platform provided us the flexibility we needed to monitor trends and make changes quickly in response to our customers’ needs.”

Eventbrite General Manager Asia Pacific, Josh McNicol, said an increasing number of businesses and organisations across the country are turning to multi-faceted technology partners like Eventbrite to help them re-open safely, and in accordance with government requirements.

“The pandemic has prompted almost every Australian business to re-think the way they operate, and ensure they are equipped with the right tools to help them safely reopen. The City of Stonnington is a great example of an organisation that moved quickly to adopt new tools and technology to help bring swimmers back to their beloved local pool after lockdown,” McNicol said.

“With features like timed entry for social distancing, contactless ticket scanning, and contact tracing built in, the Eventbrite platform has proved to be a great fit for the City of Stonnington’s Prahran and Harold Holt Pools, and we’re delighted to play a role in powering their safe re-opening to the community.”