Sales of swimming pool products quadruple as expats on Spain’s Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca plan for a summer at home

Sales of swimming pool products have quadrupled, claims a leading Spanish supermarket chain as expats on Spain’s Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca ‘change consumer habits’ and plan for a summer at home.

WITH beaches off limits for sunbathing and the association representing residential community administrators warning that many of the country’s communal pools will not to be able to reopen for the time being, shoppers are investing in their own private pools and even buying inflatable alternatives.

In a statement today, Mercadona said: “(the chain) has increased the sales of swimming pool water treatment products by 400 per cent, due to changes in consumer habits.

“The sales of these products has risen during these times because the customer is rethinking how they are going to spend the summer, and buying small pools or fixing up the one they already have, when in other years they have not.

“The products being purchased are designed to solve both the start and end of the swimming pool season, as well as pool maintenance.”

This may be the only way to enjoy a dip this summer, for those fortunate to have a private pool or space for a bought version, as councils continue to draw up safety protocols for beaches, which may include social distancing panels.

And the Property Administration General Council has pointed out that 30 per cent capacity and prior appointment restrictions means “an awful lot of residential communities” will be unable to open as “many don’t have anyone in charge of the facilities who would be able to control the number of people using the pool at any one time.”

“It is not possible to manage prior appointments without personnel, or a telephone at least, and the immense majority of the communities of owners lack both resources,” the association stressed.