Campsites benefiting from Dutch holidaying in NL; Hotels missing foreign tourists

After seeing a massive 93 percent decrease in overnight stays in April 2020, Dutch accommodations booked a record number of stays in July and August 2020 - even more than in the record year of 2019. This is mainly due to Dutch not vacationing abroad, but going camping in the Netherlands. Hotels are still struggling without foreign tourists, Statistics Netherlands reported on Monday.

After the upset of the first coronavirus lockdown in the spring, the third quarter of 2020 ended relatively well for overnight accommodations in the Netherlands. The number of guests was still 12 percent lower than the same quarter last year, but the number of overnight says was 74 thousand higher.

The Dutch accommodations benefited from Netherlands residents opting for vacation in their own country this year, as a result of coronavirus travel restrictions. In the third quarter, nearly 3.5 million Dutch went on holiday abroad, 57 percent less than in the same period in 2019. By contrast, around 5.9 million Dutch people holidayed in the Netherlands in the third quarter, an increase of 24 percent

Campsites and, to a lesser extent, bungalow parks in particular saw guests and overnight stays increase in July and August, compared to the same months last year. The number of overnight stays at campsites increased 27 percent, and at bungalow parks by 7 percent in the third quarter compared to the same quarter last year.

Hotels did not benefit as much from Netherlands residents vacationing in their own country. While their domestic demand did increase with 9 percent more guests and 13 percent more overnight stays, the total overnight stays decreased by 25 percent in the third quarter, compared to the same quarter last year. Foreign demand decreased by 54 percent. 

All provinces except Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland benefited from the increased domestic demand. Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland are largely dependent on foreign tourists. Hotels in Amsterdam and Haarlemmermeer were hit particularly hard, seeing their overnight stays drop 61 percent compared to the third quarter last year.