Nearly one in five Dutch did not go on vacation last year

Nearly one in five Netherlands residents did not go on vacation last year, reported Statistics Netherlands (CBS). The number of Dutch people aged 15 or older who stayed home decreased slightly again. In 2022, just over a fifth of Netherlands residents didn’t go on holiday.

In 2020, the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, almost a third stayed at home, partly due to travel restrictions. The number of people who didn’t go on holiday started falling again from 2021, but it is still above the pre-pandemic level of 18.5 percent in 2019.

A third of those who stayed home last year said it was because they don’t like going on holiday. Health, couldn’t afford it, and lack of time due to work, study, or family obligations were also common reasons. Staying home for safety reasons was the least frequently mentioned reason for not going on vacation.

Older people did not go on vacation more often than younger people. 44 percent of people over 75 said they didn’t go on holiday last year, compared to 12 percent of 15 to 25-year-olds. Health is the main reason for older people to stay at home.

Income also plays a role. Of the people in the lowest income group, 38 percent didn’t go on holiday, compared to 8 percent in the highest income group. People from single-person households or single-parent families were also less likely to go on holiday than people from other types of households.

In 2023, Netherlands residents aged 15 or older went on holiday 2.5 times on average. That’s a total of 37.6 million vacations.