Landal GreenParks retains its market position and is continuing its European expansion

Despite the corona crisis, Landal GreenParks has held up well in 2020 and managed to successfully retain its position as market leader, in part thanks to a strong summer with high occupancy rates and substantial investments in marketing and at the parks. The excellent summer performance however does not make up for the entire year. Landal closed 2020 with a turnover of 405 million euro, 35% less than in 2019.The holiday park provider expects more people will continue to go on holiday in their own country in the coming years. Last year, the subsidiary company Landal Makelaardij sold 40% more holiday homes to private investors and last year, Landal GreenParks intensified its expansion ambitions and announced 17 new holiday parks in the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Great Britain. This year, Landal GreenParks wants to expand further with a comparable number of new and existing parks at European destinations.

A stay close by
Despite the fact the strong summer revenues (up 22% compared to 2019) could not compensate for the other three quarters, Landal GreenParks grew 11% more than its competitors, according to comparisons by sector association RECRON. The Netherlands performed better than the foreign markets. They faced many park closures and closed borders, while a number of Dutch parks could remain open during the lockdowns. That meant that Landal could meet those guests needs for a stay close by, with peace and quiet and space, amid nature. Many families could combine their stay at the park with working from home and/or home schooling, the so-called ‘workcation’.

Major marketing efforts
The growth figures were realised by great flexibility in the operations in changing circumstances and through major marketing efforts including incisive revenue management, improvements to the website and user-friendly booking options for mobile devices.

75 new webshops
Due to the closure of hospitality, we have committed ourselves to continually provide our guests with a surprising range of food and drink at the holiday parks. In a short time, Landal GreenParks made the switch to a range of food boxes and freshly prepared meals that guest could order online via the free Landal app and to consume in their bungalow. We built 75 new webshops for this purpose. The range was also expanded with baking and cooking workshops for in the holiday home. At the start of this month, Landal GreenParks was awarded the Foodserice Award 2021 in the category of Leisure for its efforts in the field. This is a wonderful acknowledgement for the over 20 million euros the company has invested in new restaurant concepts in recent years.

Accelerated growth
The combined forces between Landal Makelaardij and Vakantiemakelaar provided an accelerated the growth of Landal GreenParks’ portfolio in terms of newbuild projects. Moreover, the company can help homeowners with the purchase and sales of recreational accommodation. There are also significant international growth opportunities. This year, 17 new parks have been announced that will operate under the exclusive Landal brand, and which has attracted strong interest from private investors and those investing in a second home. Landal GreenParks' international growth ambition aligns perfectly with the trend of spending holidays close to home, a trend which is expected to continue in the coming years.‘Besides peace and quiet amid nature, our guests are increasingly choosing for luxury. We are responding to that with a selective growth with new, high-quality parks close to beautiful nature. The emphasis for the growth is partly on new and partly on existing destinations in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain’, according to Dirk Anbeek, General Director of Landal GreenParks.

Investments in recreational property are growing rapidly
The demand for holiday homes has grown considerably this year. Due to the corona crisis, people see that the world around them has changed drastically within a few months and they want to be assured they have their own, nice spot, combined with an investment. Larger, detached holiday homes on large plots are most popular. Landal Makelaardij noticed this too. The sales of holiday homes increased by over 40% in 2020. Growth is also expected in 2021, including through the sale of newbuild accommodation at new Landal GreenParks’ destinations.

Vakantiemakelaar
There are also greater expectations of the aggregation with sector peer Vakantiemakelaar, which Landal took over at the end of last year.Selling approximately 700 residences per year, Vakantiemakelaar is the largest provider in recreational property, Landal Makelaardij annually mediates a large number of residences at the Landal parks.The combination of both providers creates the largest recreational property broker in the Netherlands. The expectation is that the market will continue to grow in the coming years and both recreational brokers have the ambition to further expand the large market scope they have together. In the past year, the two organisations have already worked together on a number of real estate projects. The Vakantiemakelaar and Landal Makelaardij brands will continue to operate side by side on the market.