Read the most important corona news of Thursday 3 February here.
9:28 am – Fewer foreign tourists visited the Netherlands in 2021
The number of foreign tourists who visited the Netherlands last year was even lower than in the first corona year. According to the Netherlands Bureau for Tourism & Congresses (NBTC), more than 6 million international guests were welcomed. That represented a drop of 14 percent compared to 2020. Compared to 2019, the last year before corona, international tourism was 69 percent lower.
26 million visitors were counted from their own country. That is almost 30 percent more than in 2020 and equal to the level before corona. If the relaxations continue, the NBTC expects that more Dutch people will go on holiday abroad, where they more often sought entertainment in the Netherlands in the past two years. The agency therefore assumes a 7 percent decrease in the number of holidaymakers staying in their own country.
9:15 am – Coronatest.nl malfunction has been solved
The site Coronatest.nl had to contend with a malfunction on Thursday morning. This made it impossible to log in. It was also not possible to make a telephone appointment. The problems were resolved shortly after 9:00 am. “All processes are up and running again, we are now discussing the cause with the supplier,” says a spokesperson for the umbrella organization GGD GHOR. People who tried to log in with DigiD to see their test results received an error message on Thursday morning. According to the site allestoringen.nl, the problem started around 5 a.m.
8.35 am – Petition ‘Stadiums full!’ more than 27,000 signed
The petition of the Supporters’ collective Netherlands, which calls on the cabinet to fully open the football stadiums, has been signed more than 27,000 times since Friday. Stadiums are now allowed to be occupied for one third of the capacity. The Supporters’ Collective Netherlands does not think that is enough to make a fun football experience possible.