Foreign tourists still avoiding the Netherlands

In the second quarter of this year, over 8 million tourists spent the night in the Netherlands - more than double the same quarter last year, when most accommodations were closed due to Covid-19 lockdown, but still 39 percent less than pre-pandemic 2019. "Foreign tourists in particular have not yet found their way to Dutch accommodations," Statistics Netherlands said on Tuesday.

7.3 million Dutch tourists spent the night in Dutch accommodations in the second quarter, about the same as in the second quarter of 2019. Dutch accommodations welcomed 900 thousand foreign tourists in the second quarter, about 5 million less than in 2019 and only about 100 thousand more than in the same quarter of 2020.

Compared to last year, the number of guests increased in all types of accommodations, though the numbers are still lagging behind when compared to 2019. This is especially true for hotels, which saw 52 percent fewer guests than in 2019. This is mainly due to the absence of foreign tourists, whose number of hotel stays decreased by 86 percent compared to 2019.

Noord-Holland is traditionally the Dutch province that receives the most tourists, and this was also true in the second quarter of 2021 with almost 1.4 million guests. This is mainly due to Amsterdam being in the province. The Dutch capital usually attracts large numbers of foreign tourists. Which means that the decline in tourists compared to 2019 is particularly noticeable in Noord-Holland at 68 percent.

Compared to 2019, Friesland and Zeeland saw the lowest decline in tourists at 10 and 12 percent respectively. This is due to more Dutch people spending their holidays in those provinces. In Zeeland, the number of Dutch tourists increased by 71 percent compared to 2019, and in Friesland by 10 percent.