Holiday participation stable in recent years

Over 80 percent of the Dutch population go on holiday at least once a year. In the period 2002–2004 this number was almost constant. In 1990 holiday participation was still 75 percent.

12.5 million holiday makers

In 2004 a total of almost 12.5 million Dutch people went on holiday. Dutch holidaymakers are going on holiday more frequently: in 1990 the average was 2.4 times, in 2004 it was 2.8.

At home and abroad

In 1990 some 48 percent of all Dutch people had their holiday in the Netherlands, in 2002 this was 53 percent. The share has been constant ever since.

The percentage of people who have their holiday abroad, shows a similar development. In 1990 half of the population spent their holiday abroad, since 2002 this is about 58 percent.

Holiday participation by destination

35 million holidays

The total number of holidays increased strongly between 1990 and 2002. Then the level stabilised at about 35 million. There was a modest increase in holidays inside the country during the period 1990– 2002, followed by a slight decrease. The number of holidays abroad increased rapidly between 1990 and 2002: from 10.8 to 16.8 million. There was only a slight increase after 2002.

Number of holidays, 1990–2004

Holiday expenditure growing faster than disposable income

In 1990 Dutch people spent almost 6.2 billion euro on holidays. In 2003 this had doubled to 12.4 billion euro. The disposable income of households increased from about 132 to 226 billion euro. In comparison with income, holiday expenditure increased only slightly, from about 5.0 percent in 1990, to about 5.5 percent in 2003.

The average expenditure on holidays increased from 549 euro per holiday in 1990 to 738 euro in 2004. Corrected for inflation the expenditure remained almost unchanged until 2000, after which there was a slight decrease.

Holiday expenditure, 1990–2004

Henk Swinkels