Visitor shortfalls at The Wave prompt blistering attack from local councillor

Coventry City Council’s opposition leader Gary Ridley has launched a blistering attack on the city’s Wave waterpark, saying that the attraction is closed far too often and is ‘too expensive’.

The Conservative councillor’s comments come after the waterpark failed to meet its annual target of 1.3 million visitors by around 800,000 people last year.

Open only three days a week, The Wave has been criticised for its limited opening hours and high entry prices.

How can The Wave ever hope to achieve the visitor numbers required based on the business model when its opening hours are demonstrably too low for a major regional attraction?

Gary Ridley, Coventry City Councillor

Opened in 2019, The Wave is among the largest and newest waterparks in the country, complete with six waterslides, a lazy river and wave pool.

Costing £36.7 million, the attraction was visited by 979,000 people in its first year of operation, but that number has since fallen to only 455,000 visitors.

Cllr Ridley submitted a request to see the breakdown of visitor numbers along with revenue to analyse the effectiveness of the development.

Ridley pointed to the £56 cost for a family of four to visit, asking: “How can The Wave ever hope to achieve the visitor numbers required based on the business model when its opening hours are demonstrably too low for a major regional attraction?”

The waterpark operators, CV Life, have defended the centre, hailing it as a ‘tremendous asset’ for the city

Labour Councillor Kamran Caan, Cabinet Member for Public Health and Sport, defended the financial costs of The Wave, and added that a family session at the AT7 centre was a more affordable £15, allowing families on a tighter budget to also enjoy Coventry’s leisure centres.

Cllr Caan also added there were no financial obligations that had gone unmet, and that The Wave had no ongoing financial issues.

The waterpark operators, CV Life, have also defended the centre, hailing it as a ‘tremendous asset’ for the city, exceeding budget expectations despite the impacts of Covid-19 lockdowns and of the cost-of-living crisis.

Coventry City Council has full ownership of the building, developing the leisure centre between 2014 and 2019 in hopes of increasing the number of visitors.

The predecessor to The Wave, the Fairfax Street sports centre, held the only 50m swimming pool in the West Midlands at the time, which saw 800,000 visitors a year, nearly double that of The Wave’s current footfall.