8,500 candidates on waiting list for beach cabin in Knokke-Heist

The coastal municipality therefore closes the waiting list. They are looking at how they can allocate the 3,400 available cabins differently in the future. Now a pitch for a season is dirt cheap, perhaps that will change. Mayor Piet De Groote: “There are agreements that the beach can only be occupied for a maximum of 50 percent. And that can be occupied by beach operators, sports clubs and beach cabins that are placed. There must always be 50 percent accessible to the public. There can be really no more.”

Almost every coastal municipality works with a waiting list for beach cabins: In Zeebrugge, for example, there are 135 people in line, in Blankenberge there are 335. But 8,500 people are waiting, that no longer makes sense, they think in Knokke-Heist. “Before corona we had 150 to 200 cancellations per year. Then we could regularly supplement that. But since corona we no longer have cancellations. A maximum of one to two people who cancel their beach cabin. That means that we cannot reduce that waiting list. On the contrary, more are coming in. That’s why we say stop.”

Still cabins via bath cart holders, but much more expensive

If you want to rent a pitch on the beach without a cabin, the price varies from 54 euros per year in De Panne to 230 euros in Knokke-Heist. You can then set up your own cabin on it. It’s those places that are so highly overcrowded. Renting a cabin through a beach bar concessionaire is still possible, but it is more expensive, up to 2,600 euros per season. And there, too, demand is beginning to exceed supply.

Knokke-Heist wants to devise a different system anyway. Giving all cabins in concession to such a bath cart holder is an option. But that would make everything a lot more expensive.