OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2024

Netherlands

Tourism in the economy and outlook 

Tourism is an important contributor to the Dutch economy and has recovered towards pre-pandemic levels. In 2022, tourism contributed for EUR 31.7 billion in nominal terms, or 3.7% of total GVA of the Netherlands. This remains lower than in 2019 (4.4% of total GDP) but is a significant increase from the pandemic-low of 2.3% in 2020. The tourism sector provided 452 000 jobs in 2022 (or 5.5% of total employment), which is still below 2019 levels (496 000 jobs and 6.4% of total employment). Travel exports represented 8.1% of total service exports in 2022 and have thus recovered above the pre-pandemic level of 7.2% in 2019.

In 2022, the Netherlands welcomed 16.6 million international tourists in commercial accommodation establishments, which is equivalent to 82% of the pre-pandemic levels. The top international source markets were Germany (37%), Belgium (14%) and the United States (10%).

The contribution of domestic tourists increased following the COVID-19 pandemic, with a record high of 29.4 million domestic tourists in commercial accommodation establishments in 2022, a 14% increase on 2019 levels. Domestic tourism expenditure amounted to EUR 57.7 million in nominal terms, or 62.6% of total tourism expenditure.

Tourism governance 

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy is responsible for tourism at national level and acts as a first contact point within government for tourism industry associations and stakeholders.

The Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions is the national destination management organisation and works on the country’s tourism positioning, development, and marketing, in close collaboration with public and private sector stakeholders. Their aim is to turn the Netherlands into a liveable, popular, and valuable destination for residents, visitors and businesses.

Regional and local authorities are responsible for tourism policy at their respective levels, often with their own strategy or a joint strategy with other municipalities. They receive and distribute funding locally and are responsible for marketing nationally and internationally and undertaking product development.

Destination Nederland, founded in 2022, is a network and industry organisation of local destination and city marketing organisations in the Netherlands. The network aims to strengthen destination management and marketing, through knowledge, and increase the Netherlands appeal as a destination to visit and stay, for residents, visitors and companies.

During the COVID-19 crisis, the national government, together with stakeholders in the sector, created a national Taskforce on Leisure and Tourism. The purpose of this taskforce is to strengthen co-operation between the various parties in the tourism sector. Currently an evaluation of the taskforce is underway to determine if the governance structure can be reorganised for greater effectiveness. Tourism significantly impacts diverse policy areas, for which other ministries and government levels share responsibility. These areas include spatial planning, agriculture, infrastructure, and culture. Research is being conducted into a new form of governance that requires more commitment from various departments. A renewed taskforce is expected to be set up in 2024. The Centre of Expertise Leisure, Tourism & Hospitality is a collaboration between universities of applied sciences in the field of tourism. The aim is to stimulate public-private partnerships in knowledge and research to encourage collaboration between education, industry and government.

The Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions is partially funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. In 2023, a total of EUR 10.1 million was allocated by the Ministry to the Board, in addition to third-party funding for specific projects. There is no budget allocated for tourism at the national level.

The Netherlands: Organisational chart of tourism bodies

Source: OECD, adapted from Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate, 2024

Tourism policies and programmes

Tourism in the Netherlands is guided by the long-term strategy Perspective 2030. The Strategy was developed in 2019 with the objective that every Dutch citizen should be able to benefit from tourism. Achieving the ambition of Perspective 2030 requires a switch from promoting destinations to developing destinations and making visitor flows more manageable. The Strategy is based on five strategic pillars: 

• Creating more benefits than burdens from tourism. 

• Making the Netherlands attractive by positioning different attractive destinations. 

• Promoting accessibility and reachable tourist destinations. 

• Enhancing sustainable tourism with less waste and pollution. 

• Building a hospitable experience for visitors. 

The Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, and the provinces created a taskforce to review and update the Action Plan for tourism. Current work focuses on destination management, sustainability, spatial planning and tourism, and tourism workforce issues. The updated Action Plan is expected to be released by mid-2024.

The three main policy goals of the Ministry are still:

• Supporting sustainable development of tourism.

• Enhancing co-operation across and between different levels of government.

• Supporting the tourism sector by focusing on opportunities for sustainability, entrepreneurship, innovation and digitisation.

The Netherlands has begun to pay more attention to the sustainable development and climate change as the strong growth in tourism number has led to increasingly negative impacts. The new Action Plan will focus on climate adaptation and addressing climate and sustainability challenges. This will move the focus away from simply promoting the Netherlands as a tourism destination.

Nationwide public and private sector co-operation is also a priority for the Netherlands. The Ministry, together with the Board of Tourism and Conventions and the provinces, organised three editions of the National Tourism Summit, an event that brought together a broad group of representatives of the business community, tourist organisations and government bodies from all parts of the country. The objective was to work on a joint approach to enable cities, towns and regions to benefit from tourism and facilitate peer learning. Due to its success, the Summit will now be held annually.

To foster balanced tourism that incorporates the interests of residents, businesses, and visitors, the Centre of Expertise Leisure, Tourism & Hospitality, the Board of Tourism and Conventions, and the statistical office have conducted a review of existing methodologies worldwide and provided insights into tourism balance. All destinations in the Netherlands are encouraged to select the method that best suits their specific needs.

Additionally, new guidelines were developed by the Centre of Expertise Leisure, Tourism and Hospitality on Space for Recreation and Tourism. The guidelines provide regional and local policymakers with actions to integrate tourism and recreation into spatial planning, creating multifunctional landscapes that serve both residents and tourists amidst growing recreational pressure and limited space (see box below).

Better integrating tourism into spatial planning in the Netherlands

The 12 Dutch provinces commissioned new Space for Recreation and Tourism guidelines, which were released by the Centre of Expertise Leisure, Tourism and Hospitality in 2023. The guidelines provide insights for those working on tourism policy at the regional and local level as to the actions that can be taken in the recreation and tourism sectors to create local landscapes to best serve both residents and tourists. Thinking in terms of leisure landscapes is essential because the population is growing, and recreational pressure is increasing, so every landscape is potentially also a leisure landscape, whether it concerns the urban landscape, the rural environment, or the areas in between.

The green recreational space has decreased, and domestic and international visitors have increased, which is expected to continue. To address this, both recreation and tourism have been integrated into planning and spatial policy. The Netherlands faces the dual challenge of scarce physical space and limited budgets, so smart planning is needed to optimise investments and to create multifunctional places that are of value to residents and visitors.

Statistical Profile

Netherlands: Domestic, inbound and outbound tourism

	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
TOURISM FLOWS, THOUSAND
Domestic tourism
Total domestic trips	..	..	..	..	..
Overnight visitors (tourists)	18 341	17 989	16 958	21 664	16 498
Same-day visitors (excursionists)	864 762	..	..	49 199	..
Nights in all types of accommodation	101 873	88 237	88 665	99 654	73 401
Hotels and similar establishments	12 573	11 579	12 687	15 064	13 339
Other collective establishments	58 137	57 255	57 978	73 092	53 087
Private accommodation	31 163	19 403	18 000	11 497	6 975
Inbound tourism
Total international arrivals	..	..	..	..	..
Overnight visitors (tourists)	18 780	20 129	7 265	6 248	16 582
Same-day visitors (excursionists)	..	..	..	..	..
Top markets
Germany	5 689	6 175	3 283	2 471	6 143
Belgium	2 398	2 507	1 102	1 100	2 251
United Kingdom	2 212	2 402	595	209	1 429
United States	2 072	2 181	384	350	1 618
Asia	1 360	1 473	253	240	731
Nights in all types of accommodation	47 002	51 750	21 372	18 615	48 160
Hotels and similar establishments	41 721	45 848	17 990	15 657	41 654
Other collective establishments	5 282	5 902	3 383	2 958	6 506
Private accommodation	..	..	..	..	..
Outbound tourism
Total international departures	..	..	..	..
Overnight visitors (tourists)	22 277	22 925	11 719	10 670	19 435
Same-day visitors (excursionists)	13 791	12 709	5 038	3 940	7 981
Top destinations
Germany	3 789	3 734	2 570	1 574	2 857
France	2 876	2 692	1 517	2 032	2 912
Spain	2 621	2 583	993	1 096	2 028
Belgium	1 579	1 787	1 030	1 113	1 956
Italy	1 440	1 322	533	970	1 511
TOURISM RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURE, MILLION EUR
Inbound tourism
Total international receipts	22 529	23 962	10 847	13 070	28 359
International travel receipts	16 236	17 624	8 729	10 714	22 844
International passenger transport receipts	6 293	6 339	2 118	2 357	5 515
Outbound tourism
Total international expenditure	22 188	23 553	8 185	8 691	20 066
International travel expenditure	19 287	20 656	7 281	8 006	17 874
International passenger transport expenditure	2 901	2 898	904	686	2 192

.. Not available

Source: OECD Tourism Statistics (Database).

Statlink

Netherlands: Enterprises and employment in tourism

	Number of establishments	Number of persons employed
	2022 p	2018	2019	2020 p	2021 p	2022 p
Total	..	479 000	496 000	419 000	401 000	452 000
Tourism industries	217 600	..	..	..	..	..
Accommodation services for visitors	10 710	..	..	..	..	..
Hotels and similar establishments	5 800	..	..	..	..	..
Food and beverage serving industry	57 885	..	..	..	..	..
Passenger transport	13 665	..	..	..	..	..
Air passenger transport	335	..	..	..	..	..
Railways passenger transport	20	..	..	..	..	..
Road passenger transport	12 030	..	..	..	..	..
Water passenger transport	1 280	..	..	..	..	..
Passenger transport supporting services	6 550	..	..	..	..	..
Transport equipment rental	1 230	..	..	..	..	..
Travel agencies and other reservation services industry	6 065	..	..	..	..	..
Cultural industry	97 600	..	..	..	..	..
Sports and recreation industry	23 895	..	..	..	..	..
Retail trade of country-specific tourism characteristic goods	..	..	..	..	..	..
Other country-specific tourism industries	..	..	..	..	..	..
Other industries	..	..	..	..	..	..

.. Not available; p Provisional data

Source: OECD Tourism Statistics (Database).

Statlink

Netherlands: Internal tourism consumption

Million EUR

	2022
	Domestic tourism expenditure	Inbound tourism expenditure	Internal tourism consumption
Total	57 665	34 474	95 835
Consumption products	..	..	..
Tourism characteristic products	..	..	..
Accommodation services for visitors	..	..	..
Food and beverage serving services	..	..	..
Passenger transport services	..	..	..
Air passenger transport services	..	..	..
Railways passenger transport services	..	..	..
Road passenger transport services	..	..	..
Water passenger transport services	..	..	..
Passenger transport supporting services	..	..	..
Transport equipment rental services	..	..	..
Travel agencies and other reservation services industry	..	..	..
Cultural services	..	..	..
Sports and recreation services	..	..	..
Country-specific tourism characteristic goods	..	..	..
Country-specific tourism characteristic services	..	..	..
Other consumption products	..	..	..
Tourism connected products	..	..	..
Non-tourism related consumption products	..	..	..
Non-consumption products	..	..	..

.. Not available

Source: OECD Tourism Statistics (Database).

Statlink