Limburg is narrowly ahead of Drenthe and Gelderland as the most popular province for holiday park stays. Poorly cleaned bungalows are annoyance number one.
This is according to research among 2,519 Dutch people by holiday park platform Parkvakanties. As many as 40 per cent of those surveyed said they had been on holiday in Limburg in one of the past years. Regardless, holiday parks in the Netherlands are by far (almost 75 per cent) the favourite place to stay. Germany and Belgium are next most popular bungalow park destinations.
Laurens Taekema, owner of Parkvakanties, sees the number of holiday parks in the Netherlands growing steadily: "We Dutch invented holiday parks and they are still hugely popular. The growth is particularly in the small-scale resorts. Nowadays, we are looking for more and more luxury and want above all to enjoy nature and activities on or around the park."
Compared to the same survey in 2022, the average rating for a stay at a holiday park rose to 8.1, compared to 7.9 two years ago. For one in three Dutch holidaymakers, the stay was even above expectations. Only two per cent of Dutch people gave an inadequate rating. An indoor swimming pool, a restaurant and a park shop are the facilities we prefer to see on a holiday park.
Despite the good figures, annoyances always remain. The top five have not changed compared to 2022. A dirty cottage is still number one, followed at a distance by bad beds and no free or poor Wi-Fi. Holiday home cleaning was under extra pressure last year due to staff shortages and budget cuts. "When people leave a negative review on our website, 90 per cent of the complaints are about the cleaning," says Taekema.
Almost two-thirds of those surveyed plan to go on holiday in the Netherlands more often. Taekema: "We go on holiday more often and for shorter periods on average. Average spending also rises as a result, as people who stay at a park for a shorter time often spend more per day." From the survey, conducted in cooperation with Pleisureworld, Landal GreenParks emerged as the favourite holiday park provider, followed by Center Parcs and Roompot.