In 2022, the Dutch economy experienced a significant increase in tourism spending, reaching almost €96 billion, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) has recently revealed.
According to CBS, fiscal spending by domestic and international tourists significantly increased last year, as their expenses exceeded the previous year by €36.5 billion.
The data provided by CBS also shows that compared to the figures in 2019, the increase was mainly visible among tourists from within the country.
“In 2022, foreign tourists spent €34.5 billion. This represents an increase of more than 90 per cent relative to 2021 when there were still COVID-19 measures in place. Foreign tourism accounted for approximately one-third of total tourism expenditure,” the report reads.
Further, CBS shows that the year we left behind saw an increase of over 66 per cent in the gross added value of the tourism sector compared to 2021. Thus, this increase made the sector’s value reach nearly €32 billion. Despite this positive trend, the added value in the tourism sector remained below the levels observed in 2019.
In 2022, the importance of tourism in strengthening the Dutch economy became even more notable, accounting for 3.7 per cent of its total production, also marking an increase from the contribution of 2.5 per cent.
During the same period, there was a significant increase in employment related to tourism compared to the previous year. Cumulative years of work within the tourism sector have experienced a significant increase, reaching 452,000, marking a growth of nearly 20 per cent.
As these data showed, the percentage of total employment attributable to tourism reached 5.5 per cent that year, marking an increase from the 4.8 per cent observed in 2019. This increase in employment was evident across all segments of the tourism industry, especially the aviation sector. Travel agencies and services showed the most significant increase in employment.
Furthermore, the number of employed people and available job opportunities grew in 2022. In this regard, the tourism sector often sees a larger increase in part-time employment, which means that the number of jobs offered in this sector exceeds the current number of employed people.
Previous figures by CBS also revealed that the Netherlands experienced a 40 per cent increase in the number of visitors in 2022, thus welcoming a total of 44 million guests.
In addition, travellers who stayed in accommodation within the Netherlands last year accumulated a collective number of 127.8 million nights.
