Enjoyment is looking forward. It is summer 2024 and New Kijkduin ('NKD') is finished. There are seven apartment buildings designed by top architects (including Jan des Bouvrie), with names of cool winds like Poniente and Levante. The new, partly covered centre contains quality shops and restaurants, and there is an elevated promenade overlooking the sea. An underground entrance leads to the extensive car park and bicycle storage under Delta Square.

As a gesture to the past, the merry-go-round has been returned.

As a gesture to the past, the merry-go-round, the playboat and the lighthouse have been put back. There is money and ambition; events are taking place again. The family seaside resort, which has remained small and easily accessible for both local residents and foreign visitors, shines and is now '365 days of stimulating the senses'. The renovated Atlantic Hotel from the early 1960s will be completed in 2025, with 145 rooms, a wellness, three residential towers with 145 flats and five short-stay homes. Also below, a large car park.

Metamorphosis

Forgotten then are the years of inconvenience, after the first construction fences since the 1960s and 1970s were erected around Deltaplein in early 2020. Halfway through the huge metamorphosis in Kijkduin, we meet a very satisfied Sander Hanenberg (53) in the World Trade Center. He has been head of marketing & customer care at The Hague & Partners since 2017 and knows he can proudly go to market with New Kijkduin. "We have a municipal remit to promote all of The Hague, but we pay extra attention to Scheveningen, Kijkduin and the city centre, as they attract the most people. Scheveningen and Kijkduin complement each other. You have a choice as a visitor, and in between is the Zuiderstrand."

How do you promote two seaside towns? "The Hague has over 11 kilometres of coast. And that coast is very varied. Scheveningen has a promenade, lots of beach and the Pier, and has quite a few events. And in the evening there is a lot of entertainment at the many beach pavilions," Hanenberg points out. "Surely the Zuiderstrand is more frequented by locals and regional visitors, and has a relatively quieter beach with an adjacent beautiful nature reserve. If you then see what has been put up in Kijkduin, a deep bow, mind you. It is also unique that, like FRED Developers, you can take care of an entire seaside resort. So you can design it in an ideal way. They succeeded super well in this.

'Being able to take care of an entire seaside resort is unique'

New Kijkduin is future-proof. The architecture, the promenade and the offer, all hang together. If that's right, you also attract a different kind of entrepreneur and therefore a different kind of visitor. Since three or four years, we have been focusing much more on quality visitors, because they provide a higher economic impulse, i.e. more employment. Remember: before corona, ten per cent of people in The Hague were employed in tourism. And overnight visitors are now more important than day visitors, after all, that's what hotels, retail and museums benefit from."

Hanenberg dismisses criticism that too many hotels are being built in The Hague. "This summer, in July, on the coast, from Kijkduin to Scheveningen, there was a period with an average hotel occupancy rate of 93 per cent. That basically means you are constantly full. And that included the new hotels."

Visiting Hanenberg, whose marketing team comprises some 20 of The Hague & Partners' 70 people, is, as so often, Peter Boelhouwer. As director of DB Events, he is involved in many large and small events in The Hague, and certainly recently in Kijkduin again. "Together with the entrepreneurs, we were allowed to organise the first edition of the 'Zinderend Zilt Festival' in the summer," Boelhouwer says passionately. "I am happy that Kijkduin has a new look, you saw it pauperising.

Hans Klok

Also, the fact that illusionist Hans Klok chose Kijkduin beach for his latest tour show proves that the seaside resort is on the right track, getting ready for the new generation. And the new generation, those are my children. And they have recently started living on Kijkduin. My son regularly has a cup of coffee there before going to work.

That new generation really needs New Kijkduin. All I try to do from my job is to connect the successes of the past with the new ambitions. For me as an entrepreneur and visitor to Kijkduin, too, it is important to keep looking ahead and seize the opportunities that arise to promote Kijkduin and offer visitors a hospitable stay."

Culinary tastings

Beach and promenade entrepreneurs work very well together in New Kijkduin, Boelhouwer observes. Both on the beach and on the land, you get culinary surprises. He says it would be nice to hold joint culinary tastings, for instance. "You can now choose in Kijkduin from great shops in and around food court Daily Taste: meat, fish, wine, cheese, coffee, fashion, home furnishings."

Foodcourt Daily Taste.

Faithful Kijkduin visitors already know them well: the Coop, Vleeschmeester Kijkduin, Seafood Kijkduin, Taste of Kijkduin, Bakkerij van Kempen, De Sushimeisjes, Warungmini, the Zuivelhoeve, Barista Company, Bella's Ice & Candy Store, Crafthouse, Chase Concept Store, Breeze boutique. And restaurants like The Wine House, Pavarotti and Wagamama. Boelhouwer does realise that much remains to be done - 'that whole entrance to Kijkduin, for example, still needs to be addressed - but in his mind, he is already in 2024. Enjoyment is looking ahead. "Hang in there for a while longer."

Magnificent nature

The entire NKD project, surrounded by beautiful nature, will be "leading in sustainability": gas-free where possible, with solar panels, ground energy and green roofs. Worthy of a modern family seaside resort. And New Kijkduin will remain accessible during the development. For all generations.

www.denhaag.com and www.nieuwkijkduin.nl