Locals celebrate reclaiming the outdoor pool: twice as many season tickets!

Locals celebrate reclaiming the outdoor pool: twice as many season tickets!

In July 2025, the Badi Pruntrut outdoor swimming pool in Switzerland took drastic measures to address increasing incidents of harassment and violence. The responsible places closed their doors to foreign guests, especially French tourists. From now on, only people who live, work or stay in local hotels in Switzerland had access. Loud exxpress.at There was positive feedback on the measure. Lionel Maître, the political leader for the leisure sector, explained: “The locals have reclaimed their swimming pool, now we have peace and serenity there again.”

The impact of this decision cannot be overlooked. In the summer of 2025, the outdoor pool was able to multiply the number of season subscriptions sold to 818, which corresponds to a doubling compared to the previous year. Day ticket sales also increased to 40,000, compared to only 37,000 sold last year. This shows that the measures not only led to a reduction in problems, but also renewed interest among the local population in their outdoor swimming pool bild.de reported.

Further measures are being planned

Given the success of the ban, the community association plans to examine further measures for the coming season. This could mean that season tickets will in future only be sold to people resident in Switzerland. In addition, day tickets for French visitors are only available online and full contact details must be provided. In order to increase protection, it is also stipulated that unaccompanied foreign minors will not be allowed entry.

If you compare the situation in Pruntrut with other outdoor pools in Germany, there is also a positive development. In Berlin, for example, the outdoor pools recorded a 15 percent increase in visitors in 2024. By September 15, 2024, there were around 1.9 million visits to public outdoor pools, almost the level of the record year 2018. According to tagesspiegel.de The summer season was largely peaceful compared to previous years.

However, outdoor pools in Berlin have also faced challenges, such as an increase in stay-at-home bans from 163 in 2023 to 254 in 2024. In this context, the ban in Pruntrut appears as a radical but possibly necessary measure to stabilize the situation in this location.

The developments in Pruntrut and other outdoor pools show that there is a need for safe and relaxed bathing pleasure for both locals and visitors. The season traditionally opens in May, and the coming measures could be crucial to ensuring that the outdoor pools remain a place of relaxation in the future.