Winnipeg Eco Water World Parks Inc. has further researched the reliability of the Feasibility Study.

In August 2004 Ralf Klenke of Winnipeg Eco Water World Parks visited the H2Oasis Indoor Waterpark in Anchorage, AK. The H2Oasis is a 40,000sqft indoor waterpark which opened in spring 2003. The waterpark has a lazy river, a wave pool, a body slide, a Master Blaster Watercoaster and a children’s play structure.

H2Oasis is a unique waterpark for it is the only one in North America that actually has many similarities to the proposed water park project. They are as follows:

·         Market is geographically isolated – most visitors live within 50 miles of the park

·         Tourists will account for only a small percentage

·         Project was privately funded and built

·         Water park offers similar attractions

·         Independent waterpark for the citizens of Anchorage - no hotel attached to the park

However there are also striking differences:

·         Waterpark only – limited target group ( families with children under 18 yrs)

·         Uninviting pre-engineered steel building with metal cladding 

·         Change areas are uninviting, even appalling

·         Everything is build “cheap”

We were very exited to be able to visit this park and be able to spend time with Dennis Prendeville, the owner of H2Oasis . This waterpark allowed us to check the findings of our Feasibility Study against actual market conditions and confirms the predictions presented in our feasibility study. We also had the chance to study the feasibility study for the Alaska Waterpark, which was conducted prior to the commencement of the project and we compared the projected numbers to the actual numbers.

Feasibility Study for H2Oasis.

The feasibility study for Anchorage was conducted by a consulting company in Texas. The study stated that attendance is the key to the success of any waterpark. If the attendance can be forecasted accurately, the planning of the project can also be done more accurately and the risk is minimized. The consulting company in Texas utilized the same “Distance Decay Factor” approach the BDC used to determining the attendance to the park. The interesting part is that we now know what the actual attendance was and how it compares to the forecasted attendance. The following tables are compiled from the Feasibility study for H2Oasis and show the attendance forecast for H2Oasin in Anchorage:

Population Anchorage Market

As per feasibility study it was expected that the attendance would be higher in the first year of operation due to the “newness” factor. Many visitors who are not considered target group were expected to visit in the first year, just to see what the facility is like. After the first year the visitor number will stabilize at a lower level and remain stable at that level unless the market conditions change drastically .

The actual visitor number in Anchorage in its first year of operation was 173,000. At the time of the visit the park was on track for a total visitor number of 150,000 for the second year of operations.

This shows that the applied approach of proven decay factors is predictable and quite accurate and has only a small margin of error.

The feasibility study which was conducted by the BDC utilized the same method to determine attendance for this project in the Winnipeg Market. We are confident that the visitor prognosis for the Water Park is predicted accurately.