This is evidenced by research conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

“This 52 billion euros is equivalent to tourist spending in 2010, the first year we’ve measured this,” says chief economist Peter Heine van Mulligen of Statistics Netherlands. “We already knew the blow was tough, but this is really huge.”

The tourism sector contributes much less to the Dutch economy than before. The share of tourism in the Dutch economy has fallen to 2.4% of GDP, compared to 4.4% in 2019.

Spending by foreign tourists (-58%) and Dutch (-35%) decreased because overnight stays were less often. “The Dutch often went away for a day in their own country, but often without an overnight stay. They also spent less than foreign tourists,” says van Mulligen.

Less booked

In 2020, fewer foreign tourists booked accommodation or airline tickets with Dutch companies. Some of these tourists don’t actually travel to Holland, but Dutch companies earn from these bookings.

This concerns, for example, Booking.com or specialized travel agencies, where you can book a trip abroad. They actually sounded the alarm last week. There are support measures, but not every travel agency is qualified, eg for lack of an offshore office.

applause to fly

In 2020, the added value of the tourism sector amounted to 17.0 billion euros. This represents a 47 percent decrease compared to 2019.

In relative terms, airlines, travel agencies and the brokerage industry took the biggest hit with a 68 percent drop. The share of these companies in the added value of tourism decreased from 24 percent in 2019 to 14 percent in 2020.