Tourism In Netherlands Keeps On Growing
Posted on: October 4, 2017
People Spend More On Tourism In Netherlands
Foreign tourists spent 7% more during their stay in the Netherlands in comparison to last year according to the CBS (Governmental Statistics Bureau). Tourism in Netherlands continues to grow, showing only positive numbers. Compared to the entire Dutch economy, the tourism sector has been growing faster for years. As a consequence the interests of tourism sector are also gaining in importance.
Light blue line: hospitality sector, dark blue line: Dutch GDP. 100 represents 2010, starting point. Source: CBS
Netherlands Tourism Revenue
At this time tourism in Netherlands accounts for 3,9 percent of the Dutch economy. A few years ago in 2015 this number was just 3 percent. This big increase is predominately due to the foreign tourists. When the Netherlands was in a double dip recession during the great recession and Euro crisis, tourism in Netherlands kept increasing. One could say that the foreign tourist bailed out the Dutch economy.
Foreign Tourists Go To Amsterdam
Besides the increase in euros spent the number of tourists visiting the Netherlands has also increased. This is especially the case for Amsterdam which attracts tourists from all over the world who want to stay for a couple of nights or people who are in Amsterdam for a plane change over and decide to stay for one or two days.
Other popular places in the Netherlands for international tourists are Volendam en Giethoorn.
The Dutch Themselves Are The Biggest Tourist Group In The Netherlands
In the rest of the Netherlands there are more Belgian and German tourists, but the increase in tourism for these parts of the Netherlands is predominantly due to the Dutch spending more themselves. In general, the Dutch tend to avoid Amsterdam. In total the Dutch spent around 45 billion euros on tourist activities in 2016 in their own country.
Tourism spending in the Netherlands in billions of euros, source: CBS
– Dark green: foreign tourist spending
– Light green: domestic tourist spending with internal destination
– Dark blue: domestic tourist spending with destination abroad
– Light Blue: Other
Tourism Jobs In Netherlands
With the increase in tourism and spending the number of jobs also increased with 20% in the last 6 years. A total of 542.000 people work in the hospitality sector accounting for 389.000 full time jobs. Around three quarters of the jobs in the hospitality sector consist of typical services like the hotel and catering services, amusement parks, air travel, travel- and mediation and culture and art. The remaining quarter consists of retail, public transport and taxi services.
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