Mum's Monday: The changes to holidays over the years

With the film set in the USA, Dirty Dancing, and the TV series set in the UK, Hi-De-Hi

At the end of the film, Dirty Dancing, Max Kellerman (Jack Weston), and when Hi-De-Hi is coming to an end and the camp is closing, Ted Bovis (Paul Shane), both mention almost the exact same thing: holidays are changing, people want to travel further, and explore places like Europe. They don’t want dance lessons; they want to see and do more.

Holidays in the past were closer to home and the activities were all mapped out for you if you wanted to take part. Holiday parks offered accommodation, food and activities on the site. People didn’t have as much knowledge or the means to get elsewhere, so opted for a one stop shop as it were. Not many people had their own cars so they were only limited to getting to the camps via trains and buses/coaches.

We still have holiday camps like Butlins, although not so many as before, Centre Parks and Potters Resorts, where activities and entertainment are available as before but modernised. However, as holidaymakers go further abroad, theme parks have grown in popularity, especially the two most well-known, Disney Land and LEGOLAND. Although the activities are different there is still rides and entertainment for the whole family, including hotels on site.

With cheaper flights, cruise ships that can take you to a different destination almost every day of your holiday, the world as the whole is getting smaller. Most people now have more disposable income and with a more understanding of what is out there in the world. You can still go on holidays via trains and coach tours, but some are further afield: coach trips around Europe and a train trip across the Canadian Rookies.

It is easy to see – with the appeal of great value holidays abroad and the draw of sun, sea and sand – why holiday camps lost some of their appeal. With people wanting to go further and get more for their money, however, whilst the sun isn’t always guaranteed when going to different countries it does increase your chances. A scene in Dirty Dancing when it rained it poured, the sun wasn’t guaranteed.

Dirty Dancing (Starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey) came out in 1987 but was set in 1963. The Houseman family is having their holiday at the Kellerman’s mountain house in the Catskills mountains, in the state of New York. A Catskills Resort where holidaymakers have the opportunity to have dance lessons, enter competitions or take part in the “Hair Raising Wig Show”. We also see Mr and Mrs Houseman playing a round of golf on a course which is also available at the resort. This film is set in the US and instead of being an enclosed camp, this is set in a wider resort, so the holidaymakers could take advantage of this and the more extensive activities on offer. People in the US were also more likely to have their own car as we see the Houseman family have, so they can travel to a more remote location and enjoy a holiday of that time.

Hi-De-Hi (Starring Jeffrey Holland and Paul Shane) ran from 1980 to 1988 and was set in 1959 through to the early 60s. The show is about an English Holiday camp called Maplins and the people who work there who are called yellow coats named after the colour of the jackets they wore and oversee the activities that are available to the holiday makers. Some competitions, activities and entertainment such as “Guess who’s backside it is”, riding and dance lessons are available. There is also a children’s entertainer at the camp to oversee the children’s activities. The pool plays a big part in the show as it seems as most of the activities take place around it, with someone ending up being thrown in the pool for the purpose of entertaining the holiday makers. The camp is an enclosed camp with limited space and the location, this had to be near a railway station so holiday makers could travel easily to the camp.

Wherever people go on holiday there will always be something to cater for all tastes and budgets. And we haven’t seen the end of holiday camps yet.