More holiday bookings are expected in 2024 than any year since Covid pandemic

Going on holiday will be more popular for the first time this year than before the coronavirus pandemic. According to travel operator trade association ANVR, this is partly because Dutch people want to go abroad after months of bad weather. It is expected that higher prices will not hold them back.

Travel operators are expecting to earn their highest revenue ever in 2024 due to price increases of around five percent. Last year, turnover in the sector was estimated to have been 5 to 10 percent higher than in 2022, helped by significant price increases of at least 10 to 15 percent.

In the run-up to the Vakantiebeurs travel trade show ending on Sunday, the ANVR looked back on a positive 2023. Since May, the number of bookings has been above the 2019 level.

Work-related trips were also more common last year. The recovery of that will continue to pick up pace this year. “Virtual meetings cannot replace a large part of business trips,” the ANVR states.

Holiday platform Zoover also saw bookings return to a level of before the coronavirus crisis. “We see that the tendencies are back to how they were before Covid,” operational director Reinoud Koot explained.

“Families spent Christmas and New Year's discussing where they want to go, and then started booking their summer holidays shortly after that. We also see people booking the same hotels, apartments, and other accommodations as before Covid.”

France is still the most popular destination for Dutch people, according to Zoover’s search results. The highest number of bookings on the site is for Spain, where a third of holidaymakers go. Turkey and Greece are also popular. People are now mainly booking for the May holidays.

According to Zoover, holidays became, on average, more than 12 percent more expensive last year. Only Egypt became cheaper by more than 12 percent. This is due to the war between neighboring Israel and Hamas.