Sun-starved Dutch flock to all-inclusive 'Med resort' facing the bracing North Sea
The sky is blue, beach chairs are out and the wine and beer are flowing. But despite the sound of someone playing Turkish music on their mobile phone and stuffed vine leaves on the buffet, holidaymakers at ‘Costa Holanda’ are a long way from a Greek island or the Mediterranean.
In fact, the 250 people nestled inside smart, black windbreaks at the Corendon beach club are mostly in their home country, having swapped cancelled holidays abroad for an all-inclusive break enjoying the North Sea and the changeable weather of the Netherlands.
“We were supposed to be going to Greece, but we saw with the coronavirus it wasn’t going to happen,” says 31-year-old Esther Heijdendael from Doordrecht, sunning herself on Zandvoort beach in a sparkly bikini. “We decided to change our deposit for four nights and five days here. It’s a bit different to a Greek island, they don’t serve hard liquor at the beach, and it’s sometimes long trousers because of the weather... but I needed a holiday!”
Like the other guests, she and her friend Melanie Baars are staying at the Corendon Village Hotel Amsterdam, which is in nearby Badhoevedorp but offers coach trips to Amsterdam’s museum quarter and a shuttle service to Zandvoort beach, 45 minutes away.
The 680-room hotel is completely kitted out for Covid, with a well-spaced check-in queue, reservations for its cinema, restaurants, “sky bar” and swimming pool, and hand sanitiser stations. It also has a retired KLM 747-400 in the garden, and guests can tour the hidden flight attendants’ bedroom and the cockpit: perfect if you need a whiff of aviation in your vacation.
Jelmer Schoolderman, marketing executive at Corendon Hotels & Resorts, was recently at a meeting of hoteliers, many of whom said they had filled less than 10 per cent of their rooms. “We have 50 per cent occupancy overall but the ‘plaza’ building is full,” he said. “People don’t yet trust holidays abroad yet, but they can exchange their vouchers for here. In the autumn, which isn’t always nice weather, we will keep the all-inclusive concept with days out to Amsterdam, Volendam and Zandvoort. Corendon is smart and flexible, and that’s what we need in this time.”
It certainly does, because this year holidays sold to 200,000 people have been cancelled and Corendon has issued €76m (£69m) in vouchers. But, luckily, guests at the Costa Holanda seem to be happy to swap foreign jaunts for a Dutch staycation with “Turkish elements”. Doortje, Frans and Annemie Sielbers, wife, husband and sister, had booked the Saturn Palace in Antalya for 10 days but came to Costa Holanda for five instead. “It’s not Turkish food but it’s fine, they are friendly, we have a new apartment and the coffee is good,” said Mrs Sielbers.
And the greenish sea? Ms Heijdendael wasn’t put off by the possibility of rain, sea foam or jellyfish. “We would rather have a blue sea,” she said, “but we might go for a little dip, even if it’s a bit fresh!”
