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Heat wave and corona measures: outdoor pools in large cities are quickly booked out

2021-06-21T02:40:21.099Z


Finally back to the pool, french fries, splashing around: for many city dwellers, at 30 degrees there is hardly anything better than a visit to the outdoor pool. But places are limited - and in many places they are quickly booked out.


Enlarge image

He can count himself lucky: a visit to the outdoor pool needs to be well planned in many places

Photo: StockPlanets / Getty Images

When Sascha Hoffmann is asked to describe his work, he gets in a good mood: "It's just fun at the moment," says the Hamburg pool attendant and laughs.

Since the beginning of June, the 44-year-old has been allowed to stand on the edge of the pool again.

Finally, says Hoffmann: The Hamburg baths were closed for almost eight months due to the corona pandemic.

At the current record temperatures, the rush is now all the greater.

Everyone who comes to the outdoor pool at the moment is just happy, says Hoffmann - about the sun, the heat, the water.

And above all about the fact that he managed to get hold of a ticket.

"Our servers were initially overloaded"

Whether Berlin, Munich, Hamburg: The number of available outdoor pool tickets is still greatly reduced due to the fight against corona - and many pools are quickly booked out.

In Hamburg it is possible to book two days in advance; the new appointments will be activated at 12 noon. "When the hot days were announced, our servers were initially overloaded," says Michael Dietel, press spokesman for the Bäderland Group. The company operates the majority of Hamburg's bathing establishments, 20 are currently open. In the meantime, the server performance has been increased. But that doesn't change the actual problem: within a few hours there are no more places available in the popular bathrooms.

On a hot summer day, around 9,000 people usually visit the Kaifu-Bad in Hamburg's Eimsbüttel district.

Now, however, a maximum of 1700 are allowed in, spread over several time windows.

"If only around 20 percent of the average number of guests is allowed into the baths, the demand clearly exceeds the supply," says Dietel.

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Meanwhile, the indoor pools have also reopened, a clear increase in capacity.

But that can't really help either.

Because the indoor pools have been occupied all summer long - with children's swimming courses that had to be canceled last year.

Around 300 courses, four times as many as normal, are intended to make up for the deficit.

"Something has built up there," says Dietel.

"The children absolutely have to learn to swim, that's top priority."

Buy tickets spontaneously - in Munich only with luck

There is also a shortage of seats in Munich.

Of course we are happy to be able to reopen at all, says Bettina Hess, spokeswoman for the Munich baths.

“But many customers who no longer get a ticket are dissatisfied.” About half as many visitors are allowed to enter the baths than in normal years - instead of the usual 30,000 a day, the figure is now a maximum of 15,300.

Even if you wanted to and should: You couldn't open more bathrooms at the moment, says Hess.

Because there is simply a lack of staff.

The seasonal workers are usually hired on May 1st, the start of the outdoor swimming pool season.

Since this year it was unclear when it would even be allowed to open, no people could be employed.

They have now looked for other jobs - and are missing in the bathrooms.

One problem leads to particular resentment in the city: The tickets for the coming days are activated in the middle of the night.

In the morning they are often gone by then.

The Munich baths are trying to resolve the conflict.

For example, by using a light barrier to measure how many visitors actually enter the bathroom.

"If someone does not come even though he has bought a ticket, we can reassign his seat," says Hess.

It is therefore worthwhile to check the website from time to time, even during the day.

With a little luck, you could still buy a ticket spontaneously.

In Berlin, outdoor pool tickets are traded like tickets for sold out concerts

Meanwhile, a new business area is opening up in the German capital: people are selling their outdoor pool tickets on sales platforms on the Internet, sometimes for more than double the original price.

One seller offers around 15 tickets for five euros each - instead of the original price of 3.80 euros.

He received too few tickets for a time slot on June 17, and now the whole group cannot go to the bathroom, according to the statement.

An angry user reported on Twitter that he was even offered a ticket for 16 euros.

A look at the booking situation of the Berlin baths reveals the reason: Depending on the bath, tickets are only sold again for Monday afternoon.

According to the weather forecast, the temperatures should then fall back to below 30 degrees.

The restrictions of the outdoor pools have one good thing: if you come in, you are not only lucky - but also have plenty of space for yourself and your towel on the sunbathing lawn.

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2021-06-21

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