In 2023, Dutch people aged 15 or older went on holiday 2,5 times on average. That's a total of 37,6 million holidays. Not everyone went on holiday, more than 19 percent stayed at home. In 2020, the first year of the corona crisis, this was 32 percent. The number of people staying at home fell again from 2021. A third of those who did not go on holiday gave the reason for this that they preferred to stay at home. Statistics Netherlands reports this based on new figures from the CBS Holiday Survey.
Older people were more likely to not go on holiday than younger people: 44 percent of those over 75 indicated that they had not gone on holiday, compared to 12 percent of 15 to 25-year-olds. Income also plays a role: of the people in the 25 percent lowest household incomes (1st quartile group), 38 percent stayed at home, compared to 8 percent in the highest income group. People from single-person households or single-parent families were more likely to not go on holiday than people from other types of households.
1 in 3 non-holidaymakers prefer to stay at home
More than 33 percent of people over 15 who did not go on holiday in 2023 gave the reason that they do not like to go on holiday and prefer to stay at home. This was followed by arguments such as health, no money for holidays, lack of time due to work, study or family obligations. Staying at home for safety reasons was the least often mentioned reason for not going on holiday.
Health is the main reason for the elderly to stay at home
For 43 percent of those over 65 who stayed at home, health was the main reason for not going on holiday. Among 45 to 65 year olds, the desire to prefer to stay at home is the main reason for not going on holiday. Being busy at work or studying, or lack of money, is the main reason for not going on holiday, especially for people up to 45 years old. Both reasons were mentioned by 37 percent of those staying at home in this age group.
No money for vacation
Lack of money as a reason not to go on holiday mainly affects people up to the age of 45 and people in the lowest income group. Of those who stayed at home from this income group, 44 percent indicated that they did not go on holiday because of this. In the highest income group (4th quartile group) and in the middle income groups (2nd and 3rd quartile group) this share is much lower (about 20 percent).
More information: www.cbs.nl