The research, which will be published on Thursday, is bad news for hotels, tourist attractions and other travel entrepreneurs who focus on the Dutch market. “We are going from one crisis to another. You heard a lot of positive things in February and you saw that reflected in the spending of private clients of ABN AMRO,” says sector economist Gerarda Westerhuis of the bank.
However, the recovery is already taking a hit and will mainly take place step by step. “This year we will see that the neighboring countries manage to find us again. For example, we see that many Germans book during the Easter weekend and in May. Europe will follow later, then intercontinental,” says Westerhuis. But on the other hand, the Dutch who discovered their own country during corona are now looking across the border again. For example, holiday home giant Belvilla sees that last year three quarters of the Dutch booked a holiday home in their own country at Easter, now that is only half. Germans are jumping into that hole.
Pain unfairly distributed
Westerhuis emphasizes that the pain caused by the new crisis is unfairly distributed. For example, holiday parks in green areas often performed very well during corona, while the hotel sector in particular in the Amsterdam region is still facing a difficult time. ABN AMRO is counting on more bankruptcies, especially now that the support measures have been stopped. “You see a lot of debts with the tax authorities at hotels, restaurants and other catering establishments. The question is how much fat they have on the bones,” said Westerhuis.
The Netherlands Bureau for Congresses and Tourism (NBTC) recently told De Telegraaf that the recovery of the tourism sector in the Netherlands is fragile. Director Jos Vranken warns that the Dutch are going abroad more often, while the influx of foreign tourists is not compensating for this. This is partly due to corona restrictions in other countries, but the war in Ukraine also forms a barrier for intercontinental travelers in particular. “People see a crisis in Europe and that causes caution,” said a spokeswoman.
Moreover, inflation and rising energy costs create an additional problem. The Dutch mainly focus on their own country during ‘extra trips’ in addition to the summer holidays. In other words; the summer holidays do go abroad, but with an extra weekend or midweek away we stay in our own country. But because of the increasing entries in the household book, those extra trips are especially endangered.
Far trip too expensive
The NBTC does expect the consumer market to recover faster than the business market. This is particularly bad news for hotels, especially in large cities. At the same time, the shrinking purchasing power and the rising prices of holidays in the high season also give hope for the Dutch market. If a long journey becomes too expensive, some Dutch people will again opt for a domestic stay, according to Vranken.
But here too, prices for holidays can rise, warn both Vranken and Westerhuis. Here too, entrepreneurs are faced with higher costs. “The question is to what extent they will pass this on in the prices. That is difficult to estimate, but it will certainly happen,” says Westerhuis.