Dutch accounted for 67% of record tourism spending in the Netherlands last year

Last year, tourists spent a record amount of almost 105 billion euros in the Netherlands. Dutch tourists accounted for two-thirds of that amount, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported on Tuesday.

Last year, foreign tourists spent 34.5 billion euros in the Netherlands. Adjusted for price changes, this is over 15 percent more than in 2022 when coronavirus-related travel restrictions were still in place at the beginning of the year. Foreign tourists accounted for approximately a third of total tourist spending in the Dutch economy. “This includes spending by foreign tourists who did not travel to the Netherlands but did spend money at Dutch companies, for example, when booking hotels of or flights with a Dutch airline online,” CBS said.

Dutch tourists spent 65 billion euros in the Netherlands last year, up from 58.7 billion euros in the previous year. Total tourist spending by Dutch and foreign tourists combined increased by nearly 13 billion euros compared to 2022. So, while Dutch tourists accounted for the bulk of the spending, foreign tourists’ spending increased proportionally more.

Last year, tourism added over 9 percent more value to the Dutch economy than a year earlier, corrected for price changes. The added value amounted to 36.7 billion euros - almost the same level as in 2019, the last full year before the coronavirus pandemic. “The added value of the tourism sector increased more strongly in 2023 than the total economy, but tourism was also hit much harder by the pandemic in 2020 and 2021,” CBS said.

Tourism’s share in the Dutch economy increased from 3.5 percent in 2022 to 2.8 percent last year. All sectors within the tourism industry saw an increase in added value, but the hospitality and aviation, travel agencies, and travel mediation sectors grew the most compared to 2022.

Employment increased in all tourism sectors last year, rising the most in aviation, travel agencies, and travel mediation. The number of employed persons and jobs also increased. Last year, there were 449,000 working years in tourism, 5.6 percent more than in 2022. Tourism’s share of total employment was 5.4 percent in 2023. At its lowest point during the pandemic, that was still 4.6 percent.