The registrations of holiday parks that want to excel are pouring in to the Vital Recreational Parks Programme. At the same time, there is no speed in tackling parks that have no future as recreational parks.
Jan Wibiër, manager of Programma Vitale Vakantieparken Drenthe, looks back on a successful 2022. Changes are taking place at thirty parks and a total of 1.5 million euros in excellence subsidy was paid out.
That is exactly the purpose of the track of excellence, says Wibiër. “We get a lot of registrations for this track. It’s quite an intensive process, because as a holiday park you have to come up with a good plan yourself. In addition, as a recreation entrepreneur you enter into an agreement that you also invest €300,000 in your company.”
In 2022, according to Wibiër, the program has ‘shifted a few accents’, he says. “The excellence track is mainly aimed at the top, but we have focused more on the ‘middle side’. With the excellence track, we hope to allow companies that are already doing reasonably well to perform even better. From a 6 to an 8, that is.”
Other parks are being ‘revitalised’. “Parks that do have a recreational future but do not function really well can be given an incentive in this way. So that they do not fall below the lower limit,” says Wibiër.
Transforming parks that are not doing well is still not progressing at the desired pace. Parks that do not have a recreational future can be given a different purpose. But it doesn’t go very smoothly. “We want faster, but we have to deal with landowners and municipalities,” says Wibiër.
“And municipalities have much more on their plate than just holiday parks. Then you can want to go faster, but that is sometimes just not possible. It is a complicated process.”
Wibiër advocates continuing with the program after 2024. “It would be a shame to lose the expertise and knowledge you have now acquired.”
Ultimately, it is the province of Drenthe that has to make a decision about a possible new extension of the project. “Most of the money for the program comes from the province. We currently do not yet know what the provincial government will look like, so it remains to be seen what will happen after 2024.”
There is also discussion about the program. For example, when residents of a park want to get a permanent residential destination. “But that is not the goal of the Vital Holiday Parks Program,” says Wibiër. “Our goal is to vitalize the tourism-recreational sector. That sometimes contradicts each other.”
Wibiër is proud of the ‘Naober’ track in the programme. “This is mainly aimed at combating less desirable activities at holiday parks. We focus on tackling social problems.”
The manager points to camping Panda Rosa in Steenbergen. The residents of that campsite were all told to leave when a new owner came who has other plans for the park. “We looked at a suitable solution for all residents,” says Wibiër. “No one in Steenbergen just left without replacement housing.”