Netherlands: Immigrants on vacation

A Turkish or Moroccan family is still an exception on the really Dutch beach of Egmond aan Zee. But along the costs of Brittany and Croatia, or in a subtropic swimming pool in Center Parcs they're not any more, and certainly not in a burkini. Immigrant youth in particular are taken over more and more typical Dutch vacation customs, although it's still a challenge for the recreation sector to play in on it, says Apeldoorn student Cindy Gelderman, employed by the Overijssel Bureau for Tourism.

Gelderman studies the recreational behavior of immigrant families, including Turks, Moroccans, Surinamese and Antillians, during her studies at Saxion Hogescholen. It appears that it's not still obvious that Turks and Moroccans travel back with their families to their homeland during the summer.

Gelderman says that they mostly go for a (short) vacation in their parent's homeland, but after their family visit they go out to pretty places or to the beach. In recent years they've also been going to beaches in other countries. The condition being: it must be guaranteed to be warm. That is apparently the reason why you don't yet see so many Dutch immigrants in Zandvoort but you do see more and more in Spain, France and other Mediterranean areas.

Many immigrants, just as most other Dutch, also like to go to attraction parks in their free time, shopping or going to movies. This is not to say that the traditional way of spending one's free time doesn't exist by the immigrants. The first and second generations barbecue and picnic out in the open air. What the first generation didn't do at all, the second barely does: cycling as a recreational activity. Camping is also not (yet) popular. Going to bungalow parks, on the other hand, is quite popular, since you can easily stay there with a large family.

Gelderman expects that in the near future non-Western immigration will go less and less to their homeland during the summer vacation, and will therefore undertake more and more vacations in the Netherlands.

She stresses in her study, that this would only happen if there are such offerings. She says that the recreational sector often thinks too 'white'. You could offer Turkish food or create a Caribbean atmosphere in a bungalow park for Antillians or Surinamese.

Even the 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants don't always know about the tourist offers in the Netherlands, Gelderman discovered. This is because the first generation don't know about it.

Immigrant interest organization can contribute to having internal vacations and recreation possibilities becoming more well known, especially in the Turkish community, the largest and most important target group. The recreation section might also consider advertising in Turkish newspapers, or to publish Turkish brochures and flyers to hang in Turkish cafes for the first generation.

Source: De Stentor (Dutch)