Second Sparkx Sportainment Park Launches in Ghent

(eap) After opening its first location in Belgian Hasselt around two years ago, Sparkx has now launched a second sportainment park in Ghent. With an area of over 4,800 square meters, the new facility is about one third larger than the first park.

“Belgium has clearly found its way into sportainment. Sports for all generations through entertaining and accessible sports attractions are on the rise not only in Belgium but also abroad. Ghent is the next step in our development, but certainly not the final destination [...] We are currently evaluating further locations in Belgium, but will also be looking abroad in the coming year. In our further expansion plans, self-developed sports attractions will also play an increasingly important role,” said Mathieu Renier, CEO of Sparkx.

(f.l.t.r.): Mathieu Renier (CEO), Alexandre Velghe (park manager Ghent), Michiel Van Schaik (co-founder). In total, visitors in Ghent have access to 42 different stations where sports can be tried out in an interactive way – including 16 offerings newly added to the portfolio, such as motorsport simulations, ice hockey, or equestrian sports. For the first time, the location also offers an outdoor area of around 600 square meters, where, among other things, floorball and pickleball can be played. Inclusive sports offerings have also been integrated into the concept. For example, guests with physical disabilities can take part in “Wheelchair racing” – here, a “Wheely-X” installation from the South Korean provider Kongsters is used. Other suppliers include Attraktion!, which installed one of its “Playoke” systems.

In total, visitors can experience 42 different interactive sports stations. In addition, self-developed sports experiences by Sparkx were realized for the first time in Ghent, which according to the company will play a central role in the offering portfolio in the future. “In Hasselt, we only worked with existing sports attractions that we saw around the world and brought to Belgium. From now on, we will also build our own sports experiences. The goal of our self-developed attractions: by adding a virtual game component, to make even more sports accessible to the general public. We will first do this for our own parks, but in the future we also want to open the experiences to other leisure parks and franchises,” said Michiel Van Schaik, Brand Manager at Sparkx.

Besides individual visitors, the Sparkx offering is also aimed at groups such as companies, schools, or large events with up to 2,000 people. ■