More Visitors Rotterdam

Last year, more people have visited the city of Rotterdam than the year before. The number of hotel guests increased, in 2012, with 78,000 to 740,000. Also the number of overnight stays increased in 2012 with 2%. This is shown by preliminary figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), reported Rotterdam Marketing on Tuesday. “It is good that these figures show a rise again, however, the room rates are still under pressure. This results in a 20 percent lower income, compared to the top year 2008,” says Jan Rutgers, chairman of the Rotterdam Hotel Combination. The airport, ‘Rotterdam The Hague Airport, seems to profit from the increasing number of visitors. Last year 502,000 arrived at the airport and this is an increase of 11.8 percent. The number of visitors to museums in Rotterdam has increased, slightly, with 0.5 percent. “Also the yearly events attracted in 2012 more visitors. The number of  these visitors increased 2.6 percent compared to 2011,” according to Rotterdam Marketing. The zoo in Rotterdam, Diergaarde Blijdorp, was with last year’s 1.3 million visitors, the most popular attraction of the city en the ABN AMRO Marathon was with 925,000 visitors the most popular event.