Unfortunately, it’s rarely a positive story when holiday parks hit the headlines – and that’s very much the case now, with Pontin’s facing accusations of racism underpinning some the brand’s working practices.
Holiday parks operate alongside UK culture – but they rarely get the limelight. The trouble is, that means the limelight’s rarely – if ever – cast over some of the murky practices that many of you reading this will have witnessed on parks. Think for a second as you read this – can you honestly say you’ve never witnessed sexism, homophobia, racism, or age-prejudices in your time working on a park?
As wonderful places where lives are changed and dreams come true, none of these things have any place on holiday parks – but since racism’s reared its ugly head, let’s start there.
Based on our personal experiences, and the experiences of numerous unnamed others who we’ve talked to – racism has had a steady undercurrent on holiday parks.
Lets be really clear though. We’re not necessarily talking about the flag-waving white-supremacist kind of in-your-face racism here. I’m pleased to say I’ve never seen that sharp end of racism on parks – instead, it’s something more subtle, a general feeling that (and I quote) “black people don’t buy caravans” – or “caravans are a white person’s pastime”.
Now, you might be reading this and thinking “Well! The numbers don’t make the industry racist!” – but this is a kind of feeling that runs deeper than that stats.
Perhaps black people ‘don’t’ buy caravans and therefore make up a tiny minority of holiday home owners around the UK – but why is that? Is it because, when a black family picks up a brochure or turns up on a holiday park, there’s not a single other black or ethnic minority face to be seen? Or maybe it’s because salespeople enter the long sales process with preconceived notions about the people they’re sitting opposite?
These are just two possibilities – but ones that I have witnessed with my own eyes. It’s worth considering what other factors are at play that unfairly deal the cards to compound this.
We can all hold our hands up and say that we’re ‘all about equality’ – but the Pontin’s story proves that ‘we’, as an industry, are not all about equality – instead, there are some of us that are about profiling and prejudice. When you apply profiling and prejudice to a person’s skin colour or cultural background to make business decisions, that’s plain and simple proof that racism extends it’s tendrils into a company.
Let’s be clear about something though. A lot of this racism is inherited – presented as fact by people who tell you everything there is to know about holiday parks or the sales process. Although I’m sure there are exceptions to this – I believe racism is a relic of an old way of doing business. I’m not sure who introduced the list of ‘undesirable names’ that’s come to light at Pontin’s – but I’d be willing to bet it wasn’t an energised newcomer to the business who was looking to do things differently.
A lot has happened recently to turn the spotlight towards racism and racist practices in the workplace – and I think it’s time that some of us in the holiday park industry step into that light. I’m not suggesting anyone drops to their knees and publicly confesses every prejudice thought they’ve ever had while working on parks – but I am suggesting we all take time to look at what we do through a slightly different lens. Do holiday parks represent a safe and accepting place for everyone? Does your park feel like a representative cross-section of your wider community?
Honestly, right now, they probably don’t. That’s not something to be defensive about – it’s something to act on moving forwards.
Perhaps the best way to do this is to interrupt prejudice when you see it. Collide with it. If you hear, see, or think something that you don’t feel really represents the face of the industry that we want people to see, then step up and interrupt. Talk over that opinion with one that’s acceptable. It works for your own thought-processes too.
Think about it right now – have you seen an ‘undesirables’ list? Have you talked to salespeople about the ‘kind of people who buy caravans’ or how to quickly profile people as they walk around a showground? Have you go preconceived notions about who would or wouldn’t fit in on your park?
Maybe you haven’t – and fair play to you if that’s the case.
But honestly, I think most of us know that there are prejudiced ideas that hang around on holiday parks like bad smells. Would you want some of those notions on the front page of the tabloid press? Or showing on the front page of the BBC News app?
I think we can safely say the answer is ‘no’.
It’s time to get rid of the ‘undesirables lists’ and anything else filed in that part our collective holiday park consciousnesses. If you don’t get rid soon, there’s every chance someone else will decide to act on your behalf.
