The Vakantiebeurs is, in its own words, a ‘resounding success’. May I express my serious doubts about that? First of all, logically, several fingers are now going up in the air. ‘Yes, but your employer Travel Media will compete in 2026, as a partner of the new Holiday Festival in Den Bosch. Your opinion is biased .’ I can’t argue much against that reasoning, other than that I do my job now as a journalist/columnist and simply ask you to read my argumentation and judge for yourself. Having said that, competition is vital for the Dutch market economy and consumers usually benefit from it. Textbook 1 Economics. Good luck? Ok, on to Vakantiebeurs 2025. Was it a resounding success? My personal observation is that the event is already seriously in the doldrums post-Covid. Especially if you compare it to one or two decades ago. At that time, the Vakantiebeurs was a crown jewel of the Dutch travel industry, which no entrepreneur wanted to compete with. With the best will in the world, it can no longer be called a crown jewel. But here too, put your own observation next to mine. In fact, we can say that many large parties have dropped out much earlier than TUI and Corendon, among others, this year. Ditto a lot of audience and that terrible word: ‘experience’. The countless live music performances, the conviviality, the great diversity of eateries, the much larger global coverage of destinations. It was indeed an experience… ever. But the Royal Jaarbeurs has let things go to waste, with a quasi-innovative step forward each time, but unfortunately also two steps back. What a pity. I certainly always loved the trade day, a kind of Queen’s Day for work. It is no longer so. Everyone sees it and knows it, especially off the record. Except for the Royal Jaarbeurs. Criticism? It would have been commendable if the Jaarbeurs had acknowledged the decline and taken the constructive criticism of the travel industry to heart. And that’s what actually bothers me the most. Because what are they doing in Utrecht? They go off the field cheering like FC Kop in het Zand… The press release speaks of a ‘resounding success’ and ‘great satisfaction among exhibitors at the well-attended Vakantiebeurs. Together with more than 900 exhibitors, the organization has inspired more than 71,000 visitors with travel information.” How enthusiastically they bring it! Everyone champagne. On the Facebook page of the Jaarbeurs, it was a lot less festive in the comments of visitors. But yes, vox popoli on socials, don’t start. Not illustrative. At most indicative. So back to the success of the hard and beautiful numbers. More than 71,000 visitors, a success. Doubt But is that really the case? I have my doubts about the numbers. More than 71,000 visitors for five days, one of which is only for trade visitors: an average of 14,200 visitors per day *. This over, according to the Telegraph, 46,000 square meters. Can someone explain this to me? The successful Huishoudbeurs in the RAI, the largest consumer fair in the Netherlands, attracted more than 100,000 high-quality (whatever that may be) visitors in 8 days last year. An average of 12,500 per day. And all this spread over all twelve halls of the RAI, more than 112,000 square meters. Am I correctly concluding that the Vakantiebeurs in 2025 will again be significantly more successful than the Huishoudbeurs? Both in average number of visitors per day and visitors per square meter. Is this correct RAI? Is this Jaarbeurs correct? My kingdom for an accountant. I could not find out the number of exhibitors mentioned of more than 900 either. On the website of the Vakantiebeurs itself, about 790 are mentioned, including the well-known exhibitors with a ‘non-travel product’. Cat A cornered cat makes strange jumps. Is that it? Is that also the reason for the ever-changing ‘vision’. Now all of a sudden, Vakantiebeurs research shows that visitors don’t want to book but get inspired. In 2023 it was still ‘We have heard from many exhibitors that their stands were well attended and many trips were booked’. Large, now absent, parties such as TUI and Corendon were still praised in communication last year, now there is ‘understanding’ that these are not there because… On RTV Utrecht, 7 January: ‘Most people come to the fair to get inspiration or to get to know new cultures…‘ They are also more common for specialist providers than large companies. ‘ They seek experts who know the details about certain regions or countries. They come for the gems, the hidden areas ‘, according to the exhibition manager. Because the larger companies don’t know them? Again that lack of self-reflection. So it was not the fault of the Vakantiebeurs that larger travel parties dropped out. It was already the wish of the visitors. It will be, yes. Bread Somewhere it stops. I would have sincerely understood if the Royal Jaarbeurs had put its own house in order in recent years and had done something with the feedback and indeed circulating criticism from exhibitor and visitor. They didn’t do that well. Arrogance of the monopolist? The historic event can/could count on a lot of sympathy, but you don’t buy bread for that. In recent years, the Vakantiebeurs has really opened its doors wide for competition, consumers who are running away and exhibitors dropping out. Harsh, but true. Tijn Kramer *(Note: There is still the complicating factor of ‘trade visitors’. There were 8,150 last year (still unknown). If again the same, we are talking about 62,850 consumer visitors over four days, an average of 15,712 trade fair visitors per consumer day).
