What's Up In Zeeland: Save Zeeland from its own success

Normally in our newsletter local/provincial politics in Brabant and Zeeland the spotlight. But this time it's Zeeland and Spain. Indeed, Sal van den Berg & Bart Leloux have written a piece on tourism in Zeeland, and our board member Aitana has written a great piece on the floods in Valencia, where she is from.

This is Sal & Bart's article, Aitana's article is also on our site, check it out here!

Save Zeeland from its own success

by Bart Leloux and Sal van den Berg

It might be a bit biased for two Zeelanders to call Zeeland beautiful, but we also think it's ordinary. Zeeland is unique; dykes criss-cross the landscape in memory of the reclamations, each region has its own costume and when you hear the older generation talking you discover different Zeeland accents. What makes Zeeland even more unique is its 650 kilometres of beaches where you can enjoy the sun and the sea. Do you feel like coming to Zeeland for a day? You are far from the only one. Every year, Zeeland is flooded with more than 30 million tourists. At the expense of the liveability of this beautiful province.

Holiday economy

Zeeland and tourism are inseparable. Noord-Beveland municipality, for instance, is the birthplace of the multinational Roompot. Since its establishment in 1965, this company has grown from 12 pitches to over 500 holiday parks. A look into the report of Knowledge centre for coastal tourism from Hogeschool Zeeland shows us that this growth is symbolic of the entire tourism industry in Zeeland. For instance, the 7,943 residents of the just-mentioned Noord-Beveland share their island with some 33,294 sleeping places for tourists. A shockingly lopsided ratio that is unfortunately not only found here. In the seaside resort of Domburg, with some 1,660 inhabitants, 5 million overnight stays by tourists take place every year. The small coastal town of Burgh-Haamstede, with its 4,255 inhabitants, is surrounded by 29,144 tourist sleeping places. During a car trip through the village, you silently drive out of the built-up area and enter a twice as large connecting holiday park.

Let's look at Zeeland broadly. Our province, with a population of 391,124, has room for 348,599 tourists. If these places to sleep were only in holiday parks, the problem would be manageable. But many villages and towns in Zeeland are now snowed under with hotels, second homes for tourists and Bed & Breakfasts. The buy-up of properties for second homes in coastal regions between 2009 and 2020 increased by 110% increased. As a result, tourist stays have penetrated the capillaries of every community in Zeeland.  Entire streets that used to have shops for the village's permanent residents have been turned into shopping streets for tourists with Zeeland trinkets, ice cream parlours and beach shops.

Yet with the rising number of tourists, there are months when Zeeland's villages are deserted. According to the Knowledge Centre for Coastal Tourism, there were around 21.7 million (!) overnight stays by tourists in 2023. These mainly take place in the high season, which is reflected with an average occupancy rate of 17%. This means that, on average, a sleeping place is only used 17% of the year. The rest of the time, it stands empty. This creates ghost villages on the Zeeland coast; you can walk around at night in autumn or winter and see lights on in entire streets at only 1 or 2 houses. The result of this vacancy is that life has become unaffordable and uncomfortable for residents in coastal regions.

Impact of tourism

The aforementioned Knowledge Centre for Coastal Tourism has conducted research into the impact of tourism on Zeelanders and how they themselves view tourism. The results of these studies speak volumes. Although tourism brings money to the region, this money mainly ends up with the owners of holiday parks, land and retail chains. The burden, on the other hand, falls on the shoulders of residents.

Thus, the PZC in August 2023 about a small terraced house in Cadzand, where half of the houses are owned by tourists, which was for sale for €890,000, according to a village council census. Three years earlier, in 2020, the WOZ value of this house was only €157,000. Although 36% of the surveyed Cadzand residents say tourism helps pay their bills, gives 73% indicated that life in their municipality has become more expensive due to tourism. The crowds in summer also disrupt the tranquillity of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen residents. The N57 near Vrouwenpolder 122% busier in summer than in January. Grijpskerke also suffers from the amount of tourists. 85% of residents surveyed experience problems due to the hustle and bustle of tourism.

Public facilities under pressure

Another effect of these large numbers of tourists is the pressure on public facilities. Organisations such as the Zeeland Cleaning Service (ZRD), the Scheldestromen water board and the Zeeland Safety Region receive money based on the number of inhabitants living in their areas. Tourists therefore do not contribute directly to these facilities, but they do make extensive use of them.  For instance, the ZRD has to deal with more and different waste streams due to tourism. The Safety Region, think of the fire brigade, has to do more safety checks due to the growing number of accommodations, has longer response times due to tourist crowds and has had to buy special vehicles to reach accommodations on beaches.

In addition, healthcare is also coming under great pressure due to the numbers of tourists in Zeeland. The Zeeuwse Huisartsen Coöperatie has started the Vakantiedokter initiative with the aim of attracting GPs during the summer period to reduce the pressure on regular GPs. This while the GP post in Oostburg is due to close in autumn 2025 due to a shortage of GPs, making Terneuzen the last GP post in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. This is in line with the large shortage we are already seeing in Zeeland; hospitals are sounding the alarm that they cannot cope with the summer rush. Foreign tourists put a relatively heavier stamp on the use of care in Zeeland as they are more likely to call 112 or drive to the emergency room.

Village life is also under pressure. Partly because tourists or holiday companies are buying up properties in villages Must close primary schools as fewer children are growing up in villages. Local associations are seeing their memberships die out and 30s returning to the province cannot find affordable housing in the villages they come from. All this has led to a negative spiral in places accelerating the downfall to a ghost village where life can be found in the villages only during the summer months.

Who really earns from this?

Despite all the problems posed by mass tourism, Zeeland is making a lot of money from tourism. Only, Zeelanders themselves get the crumbs from this while the big money flows to the tourism industry. Let's take a Roompot park as an example. Roompot has 24 parks in Zeeland and is originally a Zeeland company headquartered in Goes. However, Roompot merged with Landal Greenparks in 2024. This resulted in the headquarters being moved to Amsterdam and most of the Goes staff losing their jobs. Despite the fact that a youngster from Zeeland can earn his money behind the till, the real profits flow to the Randstad and the pockets of multinationals. Change the name Roompot to Europarcs, Center Parcs, Flechter Hotels or Van der Valk and you have the same story.

In this, there is a battle for housing in villages and towns in Zeeland. As we had discussed earlier, many properties in Zeeland's villages and towns have been bought up by foreign tourists or holiday companies in recent years. When these houses are rented out, the money is not reinvested in the village, but disappears back out of the province with the tourist. While buying up houses has caused the average house price in Zeeland to rise, the Zeeland villager sees no benefit from it.

How could it be otherwise?

The solution to these problems is certainly not to demolish all holiday parks, build a big wall near the A58 and chase tourists away. For many Zeelanders, the tourism industry is something to be proud of and many in the province earn their living from it. In addition, for north-western Europeans, Zeeland is a beach holiday destination nearby so they do not have to fly to faraway places. Still, a spearhead will be to reduce the number of tourists coming annually.

For these reasons, policies should be put in place to ensure that Zeelanders get a fairer share of  get the big money made in our province.A classic proposal is to increase the tourist tax, paid by tourists directly at the municipal level. The extra revenue can then be directly invested in local amenities to make village life flourish.

To get a grip on housing within villages, villagers themselves should have a say in deciding which parts of the village are and are not for sale to tourists. Rentals by large international holiday companies should be severely restricted to prevent them from hijacking the properties. Therefore, the number of tourist houses within villages will be significantly reduced to provide space for those who want to live there.

A far-reaching possibility that sometimes comes along is the collectivisation of holiday parks. This involves the municipality or province buying (part of) a holiday park or building the holiday parks itself. The revenue from those holiday parks then goes to the collective pot instead of business.

There are many opportunities to share the joys of tourism in Zeeland more fairly, counter the burdens and reduce the number of tourists. These steps require willpower from politicians. But politics must be motivated by the people. The responsibility for a fair province also lies with the people of Zeeland themselves. Municipal elections are coming up again in 2026. Before then, take a critical look at what the parties in your municipality have done around tourism. By combining the power of politics and society and focusing on the well-being of Zeeland's residents, we can save Zeeland's beauty from itself. Then we will succeed in making Zeeland's tourism work for Zeelanders instead of Zeelanders for tourism.