Water parks are a form of amusement park that features water-based play features, these include swimming pools, water playgrounds, water slides, and lazy rivers. Modern water parks are also more commonly equipping themselves with some sort of artificial surfing environment like flowriders or wave pools. The USA boasts to have the most waterparks with over 1,000 in operation and more opening every year. Most parks are formed under two organisations; the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) and the World Waterpark Association (WWA), which regulate the health, safety and operations of each park.
Such a large growth in the industry can be attributed to extending the seasons and making these water parks vacation destinations for tourists. Before this resorts and hotels that had indoor water parks reserved them for their guests that are staying overnight. Companies such as Kalahari Resorts have branched out of their original park to create and open other parts in other parts of the country, and they are not the only ones to do so.
Water parks are on the increase in south of the European continent also where the weather better suits an extended open season. In the Algarve region in Portugal there are 3 parks alone. The massive growth of this industry world wide has prompted other non-water focused leisure centres to install the smaller features of water parks. Slides, lazy rivers and water-based play areas are now common place in such locations. The Chelsea Hotel in Toronto features a 4-storey water slide called “The Corkscrew”