Aquaparks are today an indispensable segment in the development of tourist infrastructure, especially in destinations that target family tourism.
Such facilities not only increase the competitiveness and added value of the beach, but also contribute to increased income, longer retention of guests and better overall satisfaction. However, one of the most important challenges behind aquaparks, which is often overlooked, is the issue of safety.
Safety in aquaparks does not only mean quality infrastructure and proper maintenance of the contents, but also compliance with strict European safety standards. Parents are increasingly valuing destinations that offer a safe environment for their children, which places a responsibility on aquaparks to be not only fun, but also completely reliable.
Precisely in terms of safety, the European Safety Certificate becomes an obligation for all aquaparks in the EU. The focus is on security as the most important segment, which unfortunately in practice until now had a large loophole in the law regarding certification.
In a conversation with Ernest Kiseljak, the owner of the company AB original doo which is the official regional distributor for American AQUAGLIDE aquaparks inflatable since 2009, we talked about the new strict controls introduced by the EU from next year. Considering the changes and new rules of the European Union in 2025, the new regulation should bring an increase in safety to the aquapark market, which is the focus of everyone who buys or plans to invest in an inflatable aquapark - from destinations, campsites to hotel resorts.
"Practice in Europe has shown that certain Chinese manufacturers manipulate the safety certificates that they can obtain in China. Namely, some brands certified one simple element from their range and then copied that certificate to the rest of the offer, i.e. to all elements of the aquapark. have noticed inspections and in recent years have been dealing with this at the EU level. Now all aquaparks that are sold and installed in the EU will have to have valid European quality certificates, namely the possession of European quality certificates valid proof that these are products that are made of materials that are not harmful to children's health and that they are constructed in a safe way." emphasizes Ernest Kiseljak.
When asked what the control will look like in practice, i.e. who will control the validity of the new TUV certificate, Kiseljak notes that this is a question for the Customs Administration, because they are the ones who implement such things.
"According to information from EU member states where the new rules have already been implemented, there are several levels of control. The first level is at import itself, where customs demand complete documentation, including TUV certificates, for every element that enters the EU. The second level of control is after the aquaparks are placed on the water surface. In Greece, this part of the control was carried out already this summer by the Port Authority in cooperation with customs. Basically, the Port Authority regularly visited all locations under the concession and took pictures of all the elements and the numbers of the printed certificates, then they set a deadline of 48 hours for the owners to present the TUV certificate for each individual element. If the owner of the aquapark did not comply, he would receive a fine, an immediate work ban and a deadline for the immediate removal of such a structure from the sea. In the Netherlands, the owners of aquaparks state that this summer they checked the possession of TUV certificates. This is extremely important because without control it can happen that our children end up, not only in a structurally unsafe park, but also on elements that have been finished with chemically toxic or even carcinogenic materials or paints.", points out and adds that AQUAGLIDE is an American aquapark brand, which in the world of inflatable aquaparks is synonymous with quality, attractiveness, ease of use, safety and profitability.
Safety is a top priority, so in addition to the certificates required in America or Australia, they also have a European TUV certificate for each of the 115 elements. Attractiveness is the next big advantage of AQUAGLIDE aquaparks.
"If your aquapark has real attractions such as a slide 5 or 6 meters high, even if that slide has irrigation, next to that slide put an 8-meter-high swing equipped with a circus trapeze, which child will resist it. Attractive aquaparks attract more users and enable charging a higher values for the same unit of time. Forget the boring parks where the trampoline is the biggest attraction. An attractive aquapark will attract more visitors than an ordinary one aquapark. For the same reason, both children and parents will return to AQUAGLIDE. Our experience shows that our attractiveness provides on average 50% more income than classic ones." emphasizes Kiseljak. Ease of use is perhaps the most important advantage of AQUAGLIDE aquaparks. Our interlocutor answers that the ease of use is directly related to how much time the children will spend in the aquapark, but also to the safety of the aquapark itself.