Overnight stays by tourists down 30 percent in 2020

Compared to the year prior, the number of overnight stays in accommodations decreased by 30 percent in 2020, data from Statistics Netherlands showed.

During the second quarter of last year, when the first coronavirus wave hit the country, tourism was hit hardest with overnight stays decreasing by over 71 percent.

In the third quarter, stays picked up again, largely due to more Dutch opting for a domestic holiday due to restrictions on travel abroad. Camping sites in the Netherlands only saw a four percent decrease in overnight stays, partly thanks to a sunny summer. Among domestic tourists, Groningen, Friesland and Zeeland were particularly popular destinations with these regions even seeing a slight increase in overnight stays.

Travel and flight restrictions heavily complicated mobility in the past year causing a decrease of 65 percent in foreign guests visiting the Netherlands. Hotels and group accommodations, therefore, felt the impact of the pandemic especially hard with a decrease in overnight stays of 47 and 55 percent respectively.

When people did go on vacation last year, they tended to avoid metropolitan areas. Hotels in Amsterdam, for example, had 72 percent fewer bookings. Among large cities, Den Haag was least affected with overnight stays from foreign visitors only falling by 39 percent.