Local business and Blacktown Council are awaiting the opening in what they see as a significant boost to regional tourism.
A spokesperson for Blacktown City Council told WSBA the city faced strong competition for the tourist and the completion of Wet’n’Wild will provide the city with an opportunity to grow its visitation revenue from the current $130m PA.
“Council’s Tourism Marketing and Promotion Action Plan has a strong focus on visitation to the City,” said the spsokesperson.
“Data from the Tourism Research Australia; National Visitor Survey and International Survey indicates that Blacktown does experience both domestic overnight visitors, domestic day visitors, with domestic day visitations currently for Blacktown at 471,000 per year.”
The first of 42 slides and attractions have been put in place and more 220 workers are on site undertaking a range of activities to ensure the park opens for visitors before Christmas 2013.
Convoys of trucks have collected shipping containers from Port Botany for the final leg of the journey to the 25 hectare Prospect site.
Wet`n’Wild Sydney’s 43 slides and attractions promise to be among the best in Australia and will rival world class theme parks.
The attractions have been sourced by Village Roadshow Theme Parks from Australia and around the world. Among the attractions:
• Largest wave pool in Australia and one of the largest in the world.
• World first rides including the first combination Aqua loop and mat racer.
• Double SkyCoaster - the World’s Tallest, and :
• Beach with no rips and no sharks!
Developers claim more than 300 jobs will be created in the construction and operations phase. More than 1,000,000 visitors annually from across New South Wales, interstate and overseas are expected to visit the attraction.
General Manager of the nearby Chifley Hotel Eastern Creek, Tonty Tantaro said that while the success of the park remains an “unknown quantity” the Chifley would be engaging in targeted marketing campaign to reach the “drier areas” of NSW.
“We will be launching a campaign starting over the next few months,” said Tantaro.
“We will be targeting certain drier areas over the next few months with a campaign that offers packages to spend a day at Wet’nWild and a night at the Chifley. Areas such as Canberra, Orange and Tamworth are the ideal markets for us.”
Tantaro said the domestic leisure market was flat with many “people getting more value from going overseas to Bali and places like that rather than holidaying in Australia.”
Chifley Eastern Creek is undertaking its own redevelopment. But Tantaro says the facelift is not designed to coincide with the opening of Wet'n'Wild but is a response to the growth in business parks in the region.
The facelift will be complete by June 2014 and will see the hotel increased its room capacity from 104 to 164 rooms.
Wet`n’Wild Sydney is expected to generate more than $500 million in local economic activity over the first 10 years of operation.
Park general manager Chris Warhurst said Sydney residents had embraced the vision for the water park and were eagerly anticipating the opening in time for summer 2013.
The park is being developed by Village Roadshow Limited, Australia’s largest ASX listed theme park and entertainment company.
Blacktown City Council is keen to water down claims the opening of the new park will cause the closure of council-run aquatic centres.
“The Wet ‘n’ Wild facility will complement Council’s suite of aquatic, leisure and recreation centres available in the city that Council have been operating for, in some cases, over 50 years,” said the council spokesperson.
“Blacktown City Council recently considered a report on the Function and Strategic Direction of Council’s Aquatic and Leisure Centres.
“The report recognised that the new Wet'n'Wild facility is an exciting new addition to Blacktown City’s suite of aquatic and leisure centres and will complement the services offered at these centres.
“Council has resolved to close Mount Druitt Swimming Pool. This decision was not made in response to the forecast opening of Wet'n'Wild but rather given the unviable nature of its operation in terms of patronage and income to offset costs.
“Council officers will commence the rezoning process for this site and options for the Mount Druitt Swimming Centre site will be presented to Council in the future.
“In addition, Council is looking at the strategic direction and future of Blacktown Aquatic Centre.
“The theme park will be a large contributor to local employment. In conjunction with the Commonwealth Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and Wet'n'Wild, Council was proactive in ensuring employment opportunities were made available to local people.”
“Council worked closely with the developer throughout the consent process. During negotiations it was determined that the developer would absorb the costs associated with the upgrade the road, while Council agreed to fund and place a priority on the construction of a cycleway from the Prospect Highway, along Reservoir Road, to the main entrance of the theme park.”
