As of: February 3, 2024, 6:00 a.m
By: Hans Moritz
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Warm water, warm weather – at Therme Erding this is no longer a contradiction.
On the contrary: the summer months are now busiest, also because of the outdoor events.
© Therme Erding
Hardly any public institution was put into the Corona lockdown for as long as the pools.
The Erding thermal baths were either not allowed to open at all for almost two and a half years or were only allowed to open under strict conditions.
The race to catch up is all the more brilliant:
Erding - In 2023, the first completely normal year since the start of the pandemic, the thermal spa recorded 1.9 million visitors - a new record in the 25-year history of the wellness area.
Owner Jörg Wund and authorized representative Marcus Maier made this assessment in an interview with our newspaper.
“This is really a great result, we would have said that 1.6 or 1.7 million would have been a great result,” says Wund.
A comparison with similar establishments shows what this number is worth: the Rulantica at the Rust amusement park and the Tropical Islands near Berlin only had 1.2 million guests each.
Curiously, the hottest month of the year was also the most successful for the Erdinger Therme - August with almost 210,000 visitors.
According to Maier, the big parties in particular are strong crowd pullers.
Up to 9,000 day guests were counted at La Brass Banda's performance.
Wund and Maier admit: “These are numbers that can also have a deterrent effect.
“We were able to significantly ease the situation,” assures Wund, “through our voluntary reservation system.”
Maier adds: “We used to have to wait up to two hours during the Christmas holidays until a locker was free, but today it’s a maximum of 30 percent.”
But more and more people are confronting the thermal baths with the problem: Where should they all be located?
The new features in 2023 included the palm lounges in the wave pool, where guests lie several meters above the ground directly under the palm leaves.
“It’s been very well received,” assures Maier, who is already thinking one step further: a second level, as it already exists in the wave pool and sauna hall, should also be implemented in the outdoor area, next to the large outdoor pool.
Owner Jörg Wund and authorized representative Markus Maier (r) are very satisfied with the visit of 1.9 million guests in 2023.
© Therme Erding
According to Wund, the thermal baths have also responded to the change, “that more and more people don’t want to have a clothing-free sauna, especially younger people.”
The textile-free area has therefore been reduced and the vital oasis between the thermal dome and sauna hall is now one of the most popular places in the complex.
1.4 of the 1.9 million visitors visited the textile area, while half a million were lured into the saunas - unclothed.
And how is the thermal spa dealing with the increased energy prices?
Wund had a good nose for gas when he signed a long-term supply contract with Stadtwerke Erding in 2019 until 2025.
“We benefit enormously from this.” As is well known, after the start of the Ukraine war, Wund had a 50,000 liter oil tank installed – as a reserve.
“It’s empty, we haven’t needed it yet,” says the owner.
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However, he has to buy the electricity on the spot market, at significantly higher prices than before 2022. “At least we are down on price increases by up to 400 percent,” says the owner.
However, he is also convinced: “It will probably remain the case that electricity is 30 to 50 percent more expensive than before Putin’s attack.”
This makes him push ahead with plans to become self-sufficient in electricity all the faster.
He has already covered the first roofs with photovoltaic systems, and this year the biggest project is coming up: a glass PV system above the parking garage.
It should then deliver 1000 KW.
The thermal baths are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year with a million dollar lottery ticket.
Each guest receives a ticket, the main prize is a Fiat 500. There are also thermal spa vouchers and trips.
The celebration will take place on the 23rd/24th.
August with the Brass Pool Party, where La Brass Banda is expected again.
“They were the big magnet,” says Maier.
The anniversary is a good time for the Wund family of entrepreneurs to bring the third generation on board.
Marc Boye is 18 years old and graduated from high school last year.
Most recently he worked intensively at the Erding and Bad Wörishofen thermal baths.
“He enjoys it,” says his father, who describes it as a stroke of luck that after Josef and Jörg Wund the third generation is now ready to take on responsibility.
However, the father announces that he still has to study pool management.
As far as the pandemic is already behind the world's largest thermal baths, Wund still has one consequence to nibble on: "We had to pay back over 600,000 euros in Corona aid, even if it was never agreed upon in advance."