Germany the most visited holiday destination in 2023

© ANP / Roger Dohmen Fotografie
Germany is the most popular destination among holidaymakers from the Netherlands. Collectively, we took 3.6 million holidays amongst our eastern neighbours in 2023. Other popular destinations were France (2.9 million holidays) and Spain (2.1 million). Dutch people went on holiday 2.5 times a year, on average. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this in the latest edition of The Netherlands in Numbers.

That was a total of 37.6 million holidays in 2023, of which 16.7 million were holidays in the Netherlands and 20.9 million were holidays abroad. Germany was the most popular holiday destination in both summer and winter. In 2022, France was the most popular destination for holidaymakers. Outside Europe, the USA was the most visited holiday destination.

Germany more popular among people travelling without children

The largest group of people who went on holiday in Germany in 2023 were couples travelling without children. They took a total of 1.0 million holidays there. A further 875 thousand holidays were taken there by people travelling with children, and they spent less time away, on average. People with children who went to Germany spent one day less there, on average, than couples without children. People who travelled to Germany with friends or others spent the longest on holiday.

More than 8 days away

In 2023, the average holiday lasted 8.4 days. People who went on holiday abroad stayed away nearly twice as long (10.8 days) as those who spent their holidays in the Netherlands (5.5 days). And people went away for longer in the summer than in the winter. In summer, the average holiday was 9.3 days long, and in winter it was 7.2 days long.

Travelling without reservations

A total of 3.6 million Dutch people went on holiday without booking accommodation in advance. They spent 9 days away from home, on average. In 2023, people went on holiday to Germany a total of 256 thousand times without booking in advance. Those who did arrange accommodation in Germany beforehand were most likely to have done this 1 to 3 months in advance.

Majority of people travel by car

In 2023, most people went on holiday by car (63 percent), while 20 percent travelled by air and 9 percent by train. More Dutch people go on holiday by car in the summer than in the winter, relatively speaking. Conversely, the share of holidays made by air and by rail in the winter is higher than in summer.

Sources

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