A Waterworld at Little Lake or Lake Illawarra is an idea being floated for the local tourism industry by TAFE student Oliver Batten.
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Mr Batten was one of four Diploma in Travel and Tourism students at TAFE Illawarra Wollongong tasked with identifying new ways to boost visitation and tourism expenditure in the Illawarra.
He came up with an inflatable water park attraction he calls splasH2O.
It is based on a product developed by German company Wibit Sports that has been used by more than 7.5 million people in 60 countries.
Mr Batten saw the inflatable water park as a new piece of tourism infrastructure that would help drive growth.
Mr Batten did a survey and 88 per cent of people said they would bring family and friends to such an environmentally friendly water attraction.
Most of them were in the 15 to 24 age group which represents 47,000 people in the region.
Mr Batten initially looked at locating the splasH2O inflatable water park on Lake Illawarra but concerns about water quality also prompted him to consider the Little Lake at Barrack Heights location.
His proposal is for the installation of the Wibit Sport Park 65 product which costs around $90,000 to buy and ship to the Illawarra.
It has an action tower, monkey bars, trampoline, cliff, slide, lifeguard tower and swing and can cater for 65 people at a time.
Sections can also be disconnected and reconnected in a different part of the park making it more flexible.
"And it can be deflated in three hours and moved to a new location," Mr Batten said.
"It could be moved to Wollongong Harbour or somewhere like that to promote different locations around our region. And you can continually purchase additional products to add to it."
Mr Batten said a similar park on the Gold Coast called aquaSplash attracted 50,000 visits during its first summer.
Images of similar projects/ water parks.
He and the other students were challenged to come up with edgy solutions for boosting the local economy.
They were each introduced by TAFE Illawarra Wollongong Tourism, Travel and Events teachers Natalie Zelinsky and Sherryl Sherson to Keira MP Ryan Park, Wollongong City Councillor Leigh Colacino, Destination Wollongong general manager Mark Sleigh, Jamberoo Action Park's James Cook, Justin Norris from the University of Wollongong and the Illawarra Yacht Club's Matt O'Hara.
At the end of all four presentations from the students Mr Park described it as among the best two hours he had ever spent. ‘‘That looks fantastic,’’ Mr Park said.
Destination Wollongong general manager Mark Sleigh said such an attraction would give visitors fun new reasons to put their hands in their pocket and spend money in the local economy.
‘‘This potential attraction would be a great addition to the local product offering,’’ Mr Sleigh said.
‘‘It is not a large capital outlay to get started, and very much fits with the Wollongong ethos of being out in the sunshine and enjoying time with the family.’’