This week, Marktdata.nl published the Bungalow Parks Structure Report 2025 and the Camping Companies Structure Report 2025. The two reports mention an average of around 10 major takeovers of both campsites and holiday parks in recent years. Practical expert real estate agency Van de Loosdrecht thinks that this is a fairly conservative estimate for 2024.
Structural report bungalow parks
Currently, 3.481 business establishments in the Netherlands with the main activity “Rental of holiday homes and apartments; youth hostels and holiday camps” are registered in the Trade Register of the Chambers of Commerce (SBI code 5520), of which 3.351 as a main establishment or independent establishment.
In recent years, both the number of companies and the number of establishments have shown a significant increase. The number of companies with this main activity has increased by 42,9 percent in the past five years, from 1.900 in 2019 to 2.715 in 2024. In the fourth quarter of 2024, CBS will register 2.835 companies (provisional figure). This means that the number of companies and establishments seems to be growing strongly for the time being. The number of establishments has increased by 43,5 percent in the same period, from 2.025 in 2019 to 2.905 in 2024.
The development of the number of companies and business establishments is the balance of establishments, closures, mergers and bankruptcies. Figures from Statistics Netherlands show that the various components in recent years have on average shown the following numbers per year for bungalow parks:
Bankruptcies: approximately 2 per year
Mergers/acquisitions: approximately 10 per year
Establishments: over 200 per year
Closures: more than 100 per year
In 2020, the increase in the number of companies and establishments of bungalow parks was very strong at over 10 percent, but in 2023 the sector grew even faster at over 11 percent. 95 percent of the parks are fully independent establishments. The remaining five percent are main establishments with branches. The share of fully independent establishments has therefore increased by one percent over the past three years.
The definition of a company used by Statistics Netherlands is as follows:
“The actual transactor in the production process characterized by independence with regard to decisions about that process and by offering its products to third parties. From this definition and in particular from the element of independence it follows that a company can comprise more than one establishment, but also more than one legal unit. (Legal units are understood to mean both natural and legal persons). This is the case when the individual establishments or legal units do not operate independently. Conversely, it occurs that within a legal unit different parts can be distinguished that operate independently with regard to production. On the basis of the definition, these then form just as many companies. The latter occurs mainly in larger groups with diverse activities. When a unit defined in this way extends over different countries, the Dutch part is considered as a whole company for the sake of national statistics.”
The definition of an establishment used by Statistics Netherlands is as follows:
“Any separately located space, terrain or complex of spaces or terrains, used by a company for the exercise of its activities. Every company consists of at least one establishment. Multiple locations of a company within one postcode area are considered one establishment.”
Number of camping companies
At present, 2.498 companies in the Netherlands with the main activity “camping site” (SBI code 5530) are registered in the Trade Register of the Chambers of Commerce, of which 2.406 as a main establishment or independent establishment. Of all registered camping companies, 2.473 are economically active. The above count does not include companies with the relevant SBI code as a secondary activity. 1.310 Business establishments are registered with the SBI code 5530 (camping site) as a secondary activity.
Over the past five years, both the number of companies and the number of establishments show a slight increase (after a slight decrease in previous years). The number of companies with this main activity has increased by 7,3 percent over the past five years, from 1.985 in 2019 to 2.130 in 2024. In the fourth quarter of 2024, CBS registers 2.130 camping companies. This seems to indicate stabilisation in 2024. The number of establishments has increased by 8,7 percent in the same period, from 2.120 in 2019 to 2.305 in 2024.
The development of the number of companies and business establishments is the balance of establishments, closures, mergers and bankruptcies. Figures from Statistics Netherlands show that the various components in recent years have on average shown the following numbers per year for camping companies:
Bankruptcies: approximately 1 per year
Mergers/acquisitions: approximately 10 per year
Establishments: approximately 90 per year
Closures: approximately 60 per year
In 2015, the decline in companies and establishments of camping companies was the strongest. In that year, both the number of establishments and the number of companies decreased by almost three percent. Over the past four years, we have seen a slight increase in the number of companies and establishments. 94 percent of the camping sites are fully independent establishments. The remaining six percent are main establishments with branches. The share of fully independent establishments has therefore remained the same over the past three years.
For more information see: Marktdata.nl – Structure Report Bungalow Parks – Structure Report Camping Companies
In practice, there are still a few more takeovers
We asked Recreatie Bedrijfsmakelaardij Van de Loosdrecht, one of the largest parties in this market segment, for a reaction to the figures. They informed us that the figures confirm once again that the residential recreation is still very strongly dominated by SME companies. Based on our own transactions (and a look over the fence at the largest colleagues), the estimate is that in 2024 there will have been many more than 10 mergers and acquisitions. The year 2024 has therefore been a year with a lot of activity in the market for the sale of recreational companies. An above-average number of transactions in this market is also expected for 2025.
More information: www.vandeloosdrecht.nl/recreatie/