With bookings soaring and a new holiday village announced, one of Nottinghamshire's biggest companies is looking to hit the ground running after lockdown restrictions ease
Center Parcs, which has its headquarters in Ollerton, has announced the positive news of a new holiday village in West Sussex and the company's CEO believes it could reinforce operations here in Nottinghamshire.
In fact, a sixth holiday village could mean more jobs for the company which already employees 8,000 people across the country - the same number of employees it had before the pandemic.
Despite the impacts of Covid-19, a £400m investment means a new site will be added to those in Sherwood Forest, Elveden Forest, Longleat Forest, Whinfell Forest and Woburn Forest. Center Parcs CEO Martin Dalby is feeling positive about the future.
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Speaking to Nottinghamshire Live, he said: "We have been looking for a new site for three or four years now so it's great to have that now down in West Sussex.
"This doesn't change things in Nottinghamshire at all with our headquarters in Ollerton. It will help us support the head office because we do a lot of things centrally so its only a positive thing for Notts.
"It's too early to say what's happening up here, but it certainly won't mean less jobs. An extra village means more phone calls so potentially more call agents, but it's very early to know these things for certain.
"We have been closed for many months since last March so the last 15-18 months has been a real challenge. We had to furlough 95 percent of our staff.
"Hopefully the latest Government decisions on restrictions are positive for the industry. We've all heard of the 'staycation' and that is what we are seeing this year which is healthy for us."
With a backlog of bookings from the pandemic, bookings at Center Parcs villages are hard to come by this summer with most sites all but fully booked.
Following an extensive search, 553-acres of woodland has been identified as a suitable site due to its location to the south of London and its excellent transport links.
The company has secured an agreement to acquire privately-owned woodland at Oldhouse Warren off Balcombe Road, Worth, Crawley, West Sussex.
Mr Dalby added: "There is some availability at our sites later in the year but things are selling out quickly.
"We operate a flexible approach to our pricing and we are no different to other companies in that. Our pricing reflects the demand.
"We're proud to be a Nottinghamsire -based company that is investing £400m into a new holiday village. This should make people in the business confident because of the hard time we've had.
"We'd really like to thank everyone for sticking with us and following the guidance. Now we are back at work, our staff are delivering a fantastic experience for our guests."
