Some 1.7 million stayed in Dutch Airbnb locations; Half in Amsterdam

Last year a total of 1.7 million people rented accommodation in the Netherlands through Airbnb, compared to 1.4 million in 2016 and only 75 thousand in 2012, the company announced. Almost half of the rentals were in Amsterdam, NOS reports.

The number of rentals listed on the house sharing site also increased, from 31 thousand in 2016 to 36 thousand last year. Around 19 percent of Airbnb guests came from the Netherlands itself, the rest were foreign visitors.

Amsterdam accounts for more than half of the listed accommodations with 19 thousand, and hosted almost half of the visitors, around 800 thousand. Yet the strongest growth could be seen outside the large Dutch cities. Airbnb tourism in places like Valkenburg in Limburg, Scharendijke in Zeeland, Augustinusga in Friesland and Tynaarlo in Drenthe more than doubled over the past year.

Airbnb revealed these figures in a letter to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament. The Kamer is discussing the spread of tourism in the Netherlands on Wednesday. According to Airbnb, the company is contributing to this spread.