Fewer Dutch people planning vacations this year than in the last two years

Slightly fewer Dutch people are planning on going on vacation this year, according to a study from ANWB. Just over 85 percent indicated that they would like to go on vacation, whereas nine in ten people said they had plans to do so in 2023 and 2024.

The costs of a vacation are the reason that some people will not go on vacation this year, according to the study. People are either choosing to stay home for this reason or they do not have the money to go on vacation, said a spokesperson for ANWB. Some people also said that they are staying home for health reasons.

Vacations have become more expensive as a result of inflation, said the ANWB. This has led to one in three vacationers altering their plans. People are going on fewer vacations, they often go outside of the vacation seasons, and they are going to less expensive destinations. People are expecting to spend 38 percent more on a vacation in 2025 than they did in 2024 due to the higher prices.

Over a quarter of the people surveyed said that they had already booked a vacation for 2025. That is a little more than at the beginning of 2023, which is the last time that ANWB asked about this.

More and more vacationers are booking their vacations early, and around a quarter of the people also feel pressure to do so because of this, said the ANWB.

A trip within the Netherlands or to other European countries like Spain and Germany are the most popular destinations. The ANWB has seen a rise in the amount of people traveling to Asia.

Countries in North and Middle America were often the most popular vacation destinations after European countries in the past, but ANWB has said that Generation Z wants to travel by plane to their destinations more often this year, especially to Thailand and Japan. Over 2,400 Dutch people took part in the study.