For Peter Gillis, 2024 was an intense year, both business and private. Parks were closed, lawsuits were pending and penalty payments continued to arrive. “The Netherlands is ready for me, I’m going to look across the border,” Gillis concludes. Looking back on 2024, however, he mainly thinks of his son Mark, who was in a coma for weeks: “We had already said goodbye to him.”
From a business perspective, 2024 was anything but a good year for Peter Gillis. He had to kick the permanent residents of the Prinsenmeer holiday park, he was forced to quit as boss of Oostappen Group Holiday Parks, permits were withdrawn and penalty payments poured in. Things weren’t much better privately: Gillis’ chalet burned down and his son Mark was in hospital for two months.
“Then Mark was in intensive care, two rooms next to his mother.”
It is the end of June when Mark goes to the hospital to see his mother. “It didn’t go well, she was put into a coma,” Gillis recalls. “When the doctor saw Mark, he said: ‘but you’re not well either’. Within half an hour he was also in intensive care. Two rooms next to his mother.”
The next evening, Mark is put into a coma, which will ultimately last three weeks. He is fighting for his life due to severe pneumonia. “The doctors tried to keep him alive, but things were going really badly. We had already said goodbye to Mark.” For example, burial and cremation were discussed.
“Mark was already gone,” his father describes. “But he fought and fought and eventually he woke up from his coma. It’s a miracle, he really has a guardian angel. We didn’t think we would be able to celebrate Christmas with Mark this year.”
“Mark had to learn to walk again and learn to eat.”
At the end of August, Gillis drives out of the hospital with Mark in a wheelchair. “Here it is,” he shouts to the press present. “That was the most beautiful day. But a lot preceded that. After his coma he couldn’t do anything, he was like a baby. He had to learn to walk again and learn to eat.” Four months later, Mark is completely back to his old self. “He is stronger than ever. He has lost thirty kilos, eats healthier, no longer smokes and exercises three times a week.”
In the meantime, Gillis is also worried about Prinsenmeer. The holiday park should be completely empty by mid-September, but the permanent residents will remain there. “It was just a bad year: parks closed, the government chasing after me,” sighs Gillis. “It was quite a struggle this year; Not a day went by without a letter from a bailiff, the tax authorities or a penalty.”
Gillis talks about it very lightly, but it concerns millions of euros: “Prinsenmeer has already saved me ten million euros this year. But I am going to hold the municipality and the State accountable, things will come to light that did not go according to the book.”
Not working by the book is precisely something Gillis is accused of. From money laundering to tax fraud, but he doesn’t blame himself at all: “I think every entrepreneur pushes the boundaries sometimes. But I have no criminal record. I have once cut down a tree that was not allowed or drove too fast.”
Gillis started in Asten, on Prinsenmeer, in 1986. “I bought the park from the municipality for 4.25 million guilders. That was the money machine, we grew up with it. Thanks to Prinsenmeer I was able to grow very quickly.”
That is why the closure of the park in September is also emotional for him: “Peter just has a heart, but in business you have to act tough. Otherwise you won’t continue to exist.” And so in September, dozens of residents are without gas, water and electricity, the park is closed and a lawsuit is filed. The last residents will eventually leave before October 1.
Gillis blames the last residents for bringing things to a head. According to him, they knew for a long time that they had to leave. Still, he says it’s bad for them, but he no longer has contact with the residents: “I don’t think that’s necessary. No one has asked how Peter is doing.”
“We are orienting ourselves towards Croatia and looking at Spain and Portugal.”
Because the residents refused to leave, Gillis now has to pay 150,000 euros to the municipality of Asten. “I am grateful to them for that,” he says cynically. “But Petertje isn’t going to pay for that. We are now in the objection phase.” This year one thing has become clear to him: “I am ready in the Netherlands, but doing business here is made impossible for me. It would be best if I just sold everything. That is better for everyone: Peter away, happy for the government.”
But Gillis is not done with holiday parks yet. “We are orientating ourselves towards Croatia. And we are also looking at Spain and Portugal. I’ll start again somewhere. Just mass and cash register again, lots and lots.”
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