PHOTO: GLOBAL SHOTS
WATERPARKS
As inland surfing destination The Wave announces plans to open six more sites, Magali Robathan goes for a surf and meets CEO Craig Stoddart to hear more about the plans
A clubhouse faces a central access spine and two large wave pools
PHOTO: IMAGECABIN
WAVES OF
CHANGE T he artificial surf park sector is fastgrowing and set to boom over the
coming years – predictions suggest that there will be around 100 surf
parks operating around the world in
the next decade. As Craig Stoddart, CEO of inland surf lake The Wave, tells me: “It’s a very blank
canvas right now – there are only five operational surf parks in the world. We intend to be one of the leading multi-site operators internationally; there will always be a few significant players in the industry, and we want to be one of them.” When I visit The Wave – just outside Bristol, UK – it’s been open for almost three years. The team has just announced an exclusivity agreement with Basque wavepool designer and manufacturer Wavegarden, and is pushing ahead with plans to open a second site in London in 2025, and a further five more sites across the UK and Ireland, while also looking at potential locations across Europe. It seems a good time to try the facility and to catch up with The Wave’s chief executive to find out more.
Wavegarden Cove technology is used to create up to 1,000 waves per hour
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attractionsmanagement.com Vol 27 / ISSUE 1
