Wadden Sea islands very popular with Netherlands residents

By Janene Pieters on August 2, 2016 - 12:00
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The marina on the Dutch island of Schiermonnikoog, looking south towards the Wadden Sea (Photo: Jvhertum/Wikimedia Commons). (The marina on the Dutch island of Schiermonnikoog, looking south towards the Wadden Sea (Photo: Jvhertum/Wikimedia Commons))

The Wadden Sea islands are a very popular holiday destination, especially among the Dutch themselves. Last year 1.3 million tourists found their way to the islands, 80 percent of whom were from the Netherlands, according to figures Statistics Netherlands released on Tuesday.

Of the Dutch vacationers on the islands, over half come from one of the northern provinces. The  islands are less popular among Dutch holidaymakers from the southern provinces, most of which go to the North Sea Coast - Noord-Holland to Zeeland.

A relatively high number of Dutch visitors to the Wadden Islands are single - 12 percent last year. Of the Dutch who visited the North Sea coast, only 6 percent were without a partner.

The North Sea coast is slightly more popular than the Wadden islands. The number of vacationers who wen to Noord-Holland last year was also 1.3 million, Zuid-Holland got 1.6 million visitors and Zeeland got 1.7 million.

The popularity of the Wadden Islands has been relatively stable for years. In 1990 a total of 5.6 percent of Dutch vacationers went to the islands, last year it was 5.7 percent.

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