Half as many Dutch holidaymakers in March 2020

© Hollandse Hoogte / Robin Utrecht
The number of Dutch holiday travellers in March 2020 was down by 1.7 million relative to the same month last year. This represents a decrease of more than 50 percent. The year-on-year decline over the entire first quarter of this year amounts to 18 percent and is seen in both international and domestic holiday travel. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this based on newly released figures from its Holiday Survey.

The number of Dutch people taking a holiday of at least one day was still up year-on-year during the first two months of 2020: in January, by 8.6 percent (2.2 million holidaymakers) and in February by 2.3 percent (2.6 million). It subsequently fell to 1.5 million over March, representing a decline of 1.1 million on the previous month. On 31 March, only 45 thousand Dutch residents were on holiday; this is over 90 percent less than on the same day last year.

Sharp drop in both foreign and domestic holiday travel

In March 2020, there was a substantial year-on-year decline in both domestic and international holiday travel: by 50 and 56 percent, respectively. Altogether 534 thousand fewer people took a domestic holiday during Q1 2020 relative to Q1 2019, a decline of 19 percent. In addition, the number of Dutch holidaymakers travelling abroad during this period plummeted by 580 thousand or 17 percent. During the first two months of 2020, both domestic and cross-border tourism among the population still showed a slight increase.

Holiday expenditure halved in March

During the first three months of 2020, Dutch holiday spending amounted to a total of 2.8 billion euros on holidays, 15 percent less compared to the same period in 2019 (3.3 billion euros). This decline is entirely attributable to the month of March, in which holiday expenditure declined by half to 0.6 billion euros, versus 1.2 billion euros in March 2019. Holiday spending was slightly up in January and February relative to one year previously.