The records tumbled almost as much as the rain this year at the SPLASH! Pool & Spa Trade Show on the Gold Coast. The event reinforced its stature as the leading trade show for the wet industry in Australasia.

The very heavy rainfall ensured even greater attendance from pool builders, pool shop owners and pool technicians. The trade show attracted a record 2287 registered visitors, representing an increase of 30 per cent over buyer numbers from 2008.

A noticeable trend this year was the increase in overseas visitors, with significant increases in buyers from New Zealand, Thailand and the USA.

In addition to the record buyer attendance, other events during the week attracted greater participation. The SPLASH! Environmental Awards drew substantially more entries than in 2008, and a group of more than 170 attended the Awards dinner with guest speaker Stephen Bradbury. Bradbury’s “last man standing” auction achieved a winning bid of $9000, with proceeds going to the Hannah Foundation.

Education was at the forefront of the week. International guests Genesis 3 gave a series of workshops and seminars that received rave reviews. The Queensland branch of the Australian Leisure Facilities Association (ALFA) held its inaugural conference alongside SPLASH! and according to president Stephen Butler, there are hopes the conference will grow at future shows.

Interpoint Managing Director, Simon Cooper says that the success of the 2010 event is going to be hard to beat.
“Record exhibition and visitor attendance indicates that the pool and spa industry is emerging strongly from the GFC,” he says. “On the show floor there was a sense of cautious optimism – with strong support for the Environmental Awards and the Andrew Simons Golf Day.”
Interpoint Events also announced the launch of a new show for the Asia market, which will take place in Singapore from 4-5 May 2011.

Waterco won the award of the Environmental Product of the Year


In total, 19 winners, finalists and encouragement awards were handed out to all sectors of the industry – from pool designers and builders to pool shops, from local council pools to theme parks, from humble inventors to large international manufacturers.


The main awards were won by Waterco for their MultiCyclone pre-filter , taking out the SPLASH! Environmental Product of the Year Award; and Gosford Olympic Pool, which won the SPLASH! Environmental Project of the Year Award for its water- and energy-friendly refurbishment.


Simon Boadle presenting Bryan Goh of Waterco
 with the Product of the Year Award for the MultiCyclone

The event was hosted by world famous Olympian, Steven Bradbury – the speed skater famed for being the “last man standing” in the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. With 57 entries, it is clear the Awards are gaining substantially in popularity, and it is also clear that many great advances had been made in that time, particularly with manufacturers.

Simon Cooper, organiser of the SPLASH! Trade Shows and publisher of SPLASH! Magazine, expressed his great pleasure at the success of this edition of the Awards.

Click here for a full list of winners and finalists.