Bring Me Sunshine
There are some winners during a recession and the UK holiday centre business – and those working in the light entertainment sector within it – has been one of the success stories. Mark Ritchie reports
The dire prognostications and glum outlook brought about by a global credit crunch seemed such bad news for everyone. But prior experience of past downturns in the economy should have taught us that there are winners, even in times of recession. Recession and fear of redundancy are one thing, but people with children still want holidays, albeit shorter ones, around our own, often neglected, shores.
The winners during the summer of 2009 were UK holiday parks, as up to 12 million ‘staycation’ Brits spent around £27 billion in UK resorts. Online searches for holiday centre breaks were up by three quarters, with bookings at the six Pontin’s centres, for example, being up 25% on the previous year. Pontin’s has even announced a large-scale investment programme in its holiday centre sites, although it has been announced that its Blackpool site is to close. Despite the Blackpool setback, its overall workforce is set to triple over the next three years.
Butlins too is investing £20 million in a new holiday hotel at Bognor Regis and Haven Holidays, which like Butlins trades under the Bourne Leisure banner, also reported a brisk rise in short break holidays during the summer. The 35 Haven sites were up by 30% during Easter alone and were soon actively recruiting additional entertainment staff to cope with the demand.
Park Resorts runs 37 British sites and it has announced that 3,000 seasonal jobs will be created for summer 2010, although it didn’t specify how many of those would be dealing directly with entertainment. Right across the board the UK holiday centre scene seems vibrant and resurgent, with cabaret acts in some regions finding nights off difficult to come by during the summer, with reports of agents constantly calling to offer work. All of which is great news for entertainers and musicians, with many sites increasing their entertainment staffing plans for 2010, with a number seizing on the reported success of parks which offer some form of adult-only facility.
One leading north east-based holiday centre supply company ,Devil Management, is now selling more bands into the holiday centre sector. The number of live bands and resident bands in domestic holiday centres has seen a steady decline in recent years. However, some agents have also reported many cabaret bookings have been made at the 11th hour, as holiday centre operators ascertain how busy they are going to be and what level of entertainment they may require on a week by week basis.
The tightening of regulations on taking children out of school outside school holidays has reportedly diminished visitor numbers within the UK holiday business during June and September, since greater restrictions were introduced in recent years. But one agent revealed that in one giant holiday park, which normally offered overnight accommodation for visiting cabaret acts, the management was instructing entertainers to drive off the site after their performances during the month of September, because there were no spare caravans.
So-called holiday homeowner sites, in which owners buy their caravans outright and pay site rents to the holiday park operators, have also seen increased visitor numbers this summer. Interestingly it seems many people are putting a toe in the water and are trying holiday caravan ownership by acquiring older, second-hand holiday homes. The new caravans aren’t selling in anything like the numbers that second-hand holiday homes are, so the school of thought is that families are testing out this type of holiday.
Within this sprawling sector of light entertainment, visiting cabaret numbers are slightly up. The continued contraction within the club market has made the summer holiday park work more crucial to the fortunes of a declining number of full-time, professional cabaret acts. The numbers of working speciality acts has decreased beyond all recognition, compared to what was out there two decades ago. Some agents claim semi-pro acts by their very definition diminish professionalism and performance standards.
However, the in-house production team numbers have seen the real upsurge, as eager young singers and dancers take their first tentative steps on to the showbusiness ladder. Even smaller, independent sites are finding the demand for youth-orientated team shows is on the increase. The shows certainly vary hugely in terms of quality, sophistication and levels of choreography. Yet, this is the way the wind is blowing in the age of The X Factor generation.
The smarter sites are dealing with the business reality that by being eclectic in the general approach to their guests, they stand more chance of getting people to spend more money. Making provision for guests who don’t want to continually be around children and want to be entertained in an adult-only environment is a major plus and quite a few sites are moving in this direction. Facilities for the disabled and the more secure feeling of a visible security presence are among other factors which could explain the recent appeal of UK holiday parks.
A period of consolidation and investment could secure the level of recent new job opportunities within the UK holiday centre sector for many years to come. And all of this despite whatever the British weather can throw at us.
Pontin's roadshow performers Gary O'Reilly, Justin Perks, Lucy Jackson, Alana Stevens and Alison Whitworth