Netherlands residents booked record number of trips abroad

Netherlands residents massively booked holidays abroad in January. Travel industry association ANVR reported over 3 million people booking a holiday across the border - a new record.

The number of bookings via a travel agency affiliated with the ANVR increased by 50 percent compared to last year, when coronavirus measures still restricted travel. But also compared to 2019 - the last year before the pandemic - the number of bookings increased by 13 percent, the ANVR said based on a survey of over 40,000 consumers by market researcher GfK.

Holidaymakers mainly booked trips to destinations within Europe (83 percent). Compared to 2019, Belgium, in particular, saw a rise in popularity, with an increase of 76 percent. Trips to popular sun destinations like Spain, Greece, and Turkey were slightly more popular than just before the pandemic hit Europe in February 2020.

Asia is popular among long-distance travel enthusiasts. The continent showed the strongest increase in bookings compared to last year. Africa is also a popular destination, although it mainly concerns North African countries like Egypt and Morocco.

Africa is the only continent that also scored well compared to 2019 when it comes to the number of bookings from the Netherlands, with an increase of 35 percent. Other distant holiday destinations are still somewhat behind, especially North America. There, the number of bookings fell by almost a third compared to 2019.