In 2023, tourists in the Netherlands spent almost 105 billion euros. Dutch tourists and foreign tourists in the Netherlands together spent almost 2023 billion euros more in 13 than in 2022. Dutch tourists accounted for about half of this increase. This is reported by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) based on research for the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Tourist expenditure is the total expenditure by tourists before, during, and after the trip, and during the stay at the destination.
In 2023, foreign tourists spent 34,5 billion euros. Adjusted for price changes, this is more than 15 percent more than in 2022, when corona measures were still in place at the beginning of the year. Foreign tourists accounted for approximately one third of total tourist spending for the benefit of the Dutch economy. This includes spending by foreign tourists who do not travel to the Netherlands, but do spend money at Dutch companies, for example when booking hotels or flights online with a Dutch airline.
More than 1/3 of growth is due to inflation/price increases (added on September 4)
We asked CBS to find out what part of the growth was influenced by inflation/price increases. CBS spokesperson Peter Hein van Mulligen confirmed this to us: “Total tourist expenditure grew by 2023 billion in 13 (12,9 billion to be precise), which was an increase of 14%. Adjusted for inflation, the increase was 8,6%. This means that of the increase of 12,9 billion, a total (rounded off) of 8,3 billion came from more expenditure and 4,5 billion from higher prices.”
Tourism to grow faster than total economy in 2023
In 2023, the tourism sector added more than 9 percent more value to the Dutch economy than a year earlier (corrected for price changes). The added value amounted to 36,7 billion euros. This has almost reached the level of 2019, before the corona pandemic. The added value of the tourism sector increased more strongly in 2023 than the total economy, but tourism was also hit much harder by the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Up to and including 2019, the added value of tourism also grew faster than the entire Dutch economy.
Share of tourism in Dutch economy continues to increase
The share of tourism in the Dutch economy increased to 3,8 percent in 2023. In 2022, this was still 3,5 percent. The added value grew in all sectors within tourism. The sectors of hospitality and aviation, travel agencies and travel mediation grew the strongest in 2023 compared to 2022.
Continued recovery of employment in tourism sector
In 2023, employment in the tourism sector was higher than in 2022. In 2023, the number of working years in tourism increased by 5,6 percent to 449 thousand. This means that tourism's share of total employment in 2023 was 5,4 percent. At the lowest point during the pandemic in 2021, this was still 4,6 percent.
Employment increased in all tourism sectors. Employment increased the most in aviation, travel agencies and travel mediation. The number of employed persons and jobs also increased in 2023. In tourism, there is a relatively high proportion of part-time workers; the number of jobs is therefore greater than the number of employed persons.
Source and more information: www.cbs.nl