School's out for summer in northern Netherlands on Friday and that means crowded airports and busy roads. Friday is a peak day for both departures and arrivals at Schiphol, and the airport is therefore expected to be very busy. Sunday is another peak day for departures, according to the airport.
After Friday, the arrivals at Schiphol will taper off somewhat. Saturday's departures is also expected to be very busy.
In four of the five most popular holiday destinations for Dutch tourists, food is more expensive than in the Netherlands. Only in Spain will Dutch pay less for groceries than at home, Statistics Netherlands reported on Thursday.
Every year hundreds of Dutch children are left abroad by their parents. With the summer vacation around the corner, a majority in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, is calling on the government to make it punishable to leave your children in a foreign country, RTL Nieuws reports.
28 percent of Dutch are not going on holiday this summer, compared to 25 percent last year. The vast majority of them say that vacation is simply too expensive, according to Nibud's annual survey on how Dutch spend their holiday pay, NU.nl reports.
Dutch are increasingly using their holiday pay to catch up on arrears or to pay off debts. Four years ago, 12 percent of Dutch spent their holiday pay in this way. Now that is 18 percent.
With schools reopening in the central region of the Netherlands on Monday, and schools in the south already open after summer vacation, NS expects that trains will again be extra crowded during the coming weeks, RTL Nieuws reports.
As schools reopen after the summer holidays, Dutch safe traffic association VVN is calling on trucks to stay away from schools, especially when schools start and get out. This can help prevent serious accidents involving children, the association said to AD.
"They could ride a quarter of an hour earlier or later, or take a different route", VVN spokesperson Rob Stomphorst said to the newspaper.
The warm and dry weather in the Netherlands resulted in fewer Dutch going on summer holiday abroad. In June 8 percent and July 5.5 percent fewer people booked a holiday through a travel agency, compared to the same months last year, sector organization ANVR said, NOS reports.
Monday will be the busiest day of the year so far for Schiphol. The airport expects 233 thousand people, 3 thousand more than its busiest day last year. Extra personnel were deployed to help manage the mass of passengers, but longer waiting times are still expected, NOS reports.
Travelers are urged to arrive at the airport on time.
This summer vacation Schiphol is processing a total of 12.7 million passengers, an increase of 2.4 percent compared to last year.
A quarter of Dutch people will not be going on summer vacation this year, according to the annual Vacation Survey by Nibud. The main reason for staying at home is money, according to the researchers, RTL Nieuws reports.
Around 54 percent of Dutch skipping summer vacation this year, said that they couldn't afford it. Last year 42 percent of those who stayed at home gave expenses as a reason.
This year 36 children did not return from summer vacation because they were abducted by one of their parents, according to international child abduction center IKO. This number has been increasing steadily over the past years. In 2014 a total of 19 kids were abducted by a parent during summer vacation, last year it was 34, RTL Nieuws reports.
According to IKO, these kind of abductions happen after a divorce, for example. Or if the parents can't agree in which country their children should be raised. Summer vacation is then used to force the decision.
A total of 11 million Dutch are going on summer vacation this year, 3 percent more than last year, according to research by NBTC-Nipo. That means that about 7 in 10 Dutch will be going away on vacation this year, NOS reports.
Most people are going abroad for vacation - nearly 8 million. Like last year France is the most popular destination for Dutch vacationers, with 1.3 million visitors. Spain follows in second place. Greece took a massive leap in popularity and can expect 50 percent more Dutch visitors this summer than last year.
More Dutch are choosing to stay in the Netherlands for their summer vacation, according to a survey done by the Dutch board of tourism and conventions NBTC-NIPO
The number of Dutch people with summer vacation plans has increased for the first time since 2011. About 10.7 million Dutch people will be going on vacation this summer, an increase of 1.5 percent compared to last year.
