Disappointing season for camp sites

Dutch camp sites and holiday cottage parks have had a difficult season this year. The number of holidaymakers staying in this category of accommodation in the third quarter of 2004 was considerably smaller than in the same period last year. The number of visitors staying in hotels and conference centres rose, while turnover in these establishments remained at about the same level.

Turnover for hotels, camp sites and holiday cottage parks

Profit margins under pressure

fewer people stayed at camp sites, holiday cottage parks and group accommodation in the summer of 2004 than in previous years. The number of people camping or renting a holiday home in the Netherlands was 6.3 percent lower in the third quarter of 2004 than in the same period twelve months previously.

The number of foreign visitors, in particular, was substantially smaller (-12 percent), but fewer Dutch guests too (- 5 percent) spent their holidays in this category of accommodation. As the average number nights per person did increase, the total number of overnight stays by tourists in this category was only 2 percent lower than in the third quarter of 2003.

With a 9 percent fall in turnover, it is apparent that the average income per tourist per night has fallen considerably. The second quarter showed a similar picture.

Turnover for hotels, boarding houses, conference centres, camp sites and holiday cottage parks

Competition for hotels and conference centres

The situation was different for hotels and conference centres, among other things because many business visitors stay in these types of accommodation. The number of guests and the number of nights they spent was higher than twelve months previously in all three quarters of 2004. The average number of nights spent in hotels and conference centres was lower than in the same quarter one year previously, however.

Guests and number of nights spent

In the third quarter of 2004, 9 percent more guests from both inside and outside the Netherlands stayed in Dutch hotels. The number of nights they spent there rose by 4 percent. In this branch too, though, the margins are under pressure. Turnover was the same as in the third quarter last year, in spite of the fact that more nights were spent in this category of accommodation.

Cees Maas and Vincent van Polanen Petel