Record January numbers at Hastings' Splash Planet

More than 100,000 people have visited Splash Planet this season. Photo / Supplied

Four months after there was the question of whether Splash Planet would even open this season, the park has had record numbers of visitors.

With three days left of the month, January has had 58,000 visitors, up from the previous record monthly figure of 55,000.

The season so far as a whole has seen more than 100,000 people visit, a number usually only reached at Waitangi Day.

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.

There were also many people visiting 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."

In September 2020, when level 2 Covid-19 restrictions were in place, the council deliberated on whether to open the venue or not given the uncertainty of Covid-19.

Ultimately, the council decided to go ahead with preparing to open in November 2020.

"It wasn't that many months ago that councillors were wondering if we could open the facility with the uncertainty around Covid-19," mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said.

"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."

Numbers at other district pools have also been up.

At Havelock North Village Pool numbers are up more than 4000 people, with 11,709 through the doors since opening up on 7481.

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