THE POPRAD-based AquaCity resort is forecasting a 15-percent increase in visitors this year. It recorded nearly 800,000 visitors in 2010, but says numbers so far this year are on course to be even higher.
“2011 is developing significantly better than last year,” AquaCity director Richard Pichonský said in early July, as quoted by the SITA newswire. He added that in June alone 38,000 pupils and students visited the water park at the end of the school year.
Slovaks make up the largest portion of visitors to AquaCity. They are followed by Poles, Czechs, Britons and, during the summer months, Germans. While the High Tatras region has registered a consistent outflow of Polish tourists over recent years, this has not been the case for AquaCity.
“It is true that in 2009 there was a significant outflow of Polish clients, but they returned in 2010,” Pichonský said.
This year AquaCity has not added any new water attractions as the company’s management has focused on a new target group – sport stays. This is closely linked with the Continental Hockey League in Poprad and a planned football training centre. Further investment in water attractions depends on the completion of technical infrastructure in the locality that is required for the planned construction of the second phase of AquaCity.
The AquaCity project, by British investor of Czech origin Jan Telensky and the city of Poprad, uses geothermal water and solar energy to heat and power the resort. It consists of outdoor and indoor pools, water attractions, a wellness and spa centre, two hotels on the AquaCity resort premises and another in the High Tatras.
