Easter to bring a million foreign tourists to Netherlands

About 950 thousand foreign tourists will spend Easter weekend in the Netherlands, according to calculations by NBTC Holland Marketing. "It is expected to be very busy", a spokesperson said to NOS. "In comparison with last year, we expect 100 thousand more tourists."

Most foreign visitors come from Germany, about 600 thousand. And over 200 thousand Belgians are expected to visit this weekend. In both countries spring break coincided with the Easter weekend. Some 300 thousand Dutch will also spend Easter in the Netherlands.

The number of foreign tourists visiting the Netherlands has been increasing since 2009, according to NOS. Last year 15.8 million foreigners visited our country. This can partly be attributed to the recovering economy in Europe and America. And due to the weak euro, it is relatively cheap for non-euro countries to visit the Netherlands on holiday. The threat of terrorist attacks in European cities such as Paris and Brussels also resulted in tourists changing their travel behavior and the Netherlands is benefiting from that.

NBTC expects the number of foreign tourists in the Netherlands to continue to increase to 17 million in 2020.

Tourists are expected to spend a total of 800 million euros in the Netherlands during Easter this year. Dutch will account for the biggest proportion of that amount. Foreign visitors are expected to spend around 300 million euros this weekend.