In the third quarter of this year, hotels, campsites, cottage sites and group accommodations had 14.6 million guests, according to figures published Friday by Statistics Netherlands (CBS). A record, just like the almost 50 million overnight stays that domestic and foreign tourists booked together.
The number of foreign tourists is returning to pre-coronavirus levels, while the number of Dutch tourists booking overnight stays remains relatively high. From July to September, accommodations received 9.2 million Dutch guests. That is still considerably higher than the 8 million from the same period in 2019.
“Depending on the origin of the tourists, certain destinations are more popular than others,” says CBS researcher Maarten Bloem. “Brits, who have been coming to the Netherlands a lot more since the corona crisis, mainly go to hotels in Amsterdam. Belgian tourists traditionally visit the sandy and heath areas in Brabant and Gelderland, and Germans often go to the North Sea coast.”
Too many tourists
The question is whether the Netherlands can handle all those tourists, says Machiel Lamers, associate professor of environmental policy at Wageningen University. “Cities were already struggling with an excess of tourists before the corona crisis, and national parks are not waiting for them at all. There is already too much recreation.”
Lamers offers a few possible explanations for the tourism record. For example, holidaymakers may now make up for trips that they were unable to make during the corona crisis. “For example, many international events are planned.” In addition, it is also possible that the Dutch have permanently discovered their own country as a destination, and go on holiday more often both at home and abroad. CBS researcher Bloem can say little about the considerations of domestic tourists. “We’ll get numbers on that later.”
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