Visitor numbers are rising, but margins are falling. The reason lies in an analogue management model that other European markets have already left behind.
Italy’s public swimming pool sector is facing a contradiction that is hard to overlook. The 2025 season recorded double-digit growth in visitor numbers at many facilities, driven by rising demand and the outstanding results of Italian competitive swimming. Yet during the same period, a significant share of these facilities saw their margins shrink by between 12% and 18%.
The answer does not lie in the number of swimmers. It lies in how pools are managed: phone bookings, paper registers, ticket booths staffed by hand during peak hours. These are hidden costs that never appear on a balance sheet, but steadily erode profitability.
The Invisible Cost of Analogue Management
Staff who spend their time answering calls, writing down names and handling cash cannot focus on what actually creates value: water safety, service quality and the sale of additional activities.
Long entry queues on busy summer weekends are not only frustrating for visitors — they represent lost revenue, especially when people simply give up and leave. Fragmented, traditional communication channels also make it impossible to track advance payments, leading to recurring cash shortfalls and administrative discrepancies that are difficult to resolve.
Fragmented Data, Decisions Made in the Dark
The problem goes well beyond online booking. The core issue is the inability to read data in an integrated way. The vast majority of public pools use separate, disconnected systems to manage admissions, swimming courses, children’s lessons and membership subscriptions.
As a result, a facility manager has no real-time picture of how many lanes are in use, which time slots are consistently underused, or which visitor segments are most likely to spend on additional services. Without this information, dynamic pricing is impossible, reliable budgets cannot be built, and effective loyalty campaigns cannot be designed.
The contrast with pools attached to private fitness centres is stark. These facilities have long operated with unified CRM, activity planning and access control systems, delivering higher service standards and fewer idle hours. In Germany and France, these tools already represent the minimum standard for public facilities.
The Numbers From Those Who Have Already Changed
The experience of facilities that have embraced digitalisation offers a clear benchmark. Pools that adopted digital management software during 2024 recorded on average 75% more bookings than those that kept traditional methods.
The average spend per visit among online bookers is around 34 euros per day — higher than the average ticket purchased on site. Facilities with automated access systems have also seen increased sales of ancillary services such as cafés, equipment rental and courses.
Regulatory Pressure Is Accelerating the Timeline
There is now a compliance reason that makes change urgent. A new national framework law introduces, for the first time, a uniform classification of swimming facilities across Italy, bringing management requirements in line with the European standard UNI EN 15288.
The regulation requires mandatory self-monitoring plans, certified professional roles and a system of penalties for non-compliance. Managing a facility without digital tracking and reporting tools will become progressively incompatible with these obligations.
On the energy side — another major item weighing on pool budgets — integrated management systems for filtration and heating, programmed according to actual visitor numbers rather than fixed schedules, deliver documented savings of up to 30% on annual consumption. This argument alone would make a digital investment fully justified within a single season.
Image by kjpargeter on Magnific
Sources: Spiagge.it; Wbox; Camera dei Deputati; BibLus-ACCA; Assopiscine; Inpiscina.it
