The fortnight from Christmas and New Year's Day is normally one of the busiest of the year for Tamworth pools, however both of the town's splash zones saw visitor numbers take a massive dive.
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In the period from December 21 to January 3, attendance was down more than 50 per cent compared to the same holiday period last year - even with Tamworth's city pool closed.
The pools, and others across the Tamworth region, experienced what Tamworth Regional Council is calling a "dip" in attendance following the uncommonly cool weather and the overcast skies haunting the area.
Council's sport and recreation manager Paul Kelly said the attendance numbers across the pools have been down compared to the Christmas period last year.
"Across the two Tamworth pools we had a little under 2000 people through the gates in the last fortnight compared to over 4000 in the same period last year," Mr Kelly said.
Mr Kelly said the holiday period is usually a busy time, however said as always, the patronage of the pools is very dependent on the weather.
On a troubling note, when visitor numbers are low, Mr Kelly said there was a resulting "reduction" in the number of staff at the pools "to manage the cost of providing this valuable community service within existing budgets."
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With school holidays still in swing until the end of January, there is hope that the sun will come out to create a few perfect swimming days, enticing people to get out and take a dip.
"It would be nice to get some warm weather so that patrons can maximise the use of these facilities over the coming months and during the school holiday period," Mr Kelly concluded.
