Are there too many tourists coming to the Netherlands? Overtourism in the Netherlands has been a problem for a while now. According to figures released by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), there were 10 million foreign tourists who visited the country in July and August in 2019.
That is 4.4% more than people who visited the Netherlands last year in 2018. But while there’s an increase in foreign tourists, there has been a decrease in domestic tourists. While the total share of foreign tourists was 39% five years ago, it is 44% this year.
Domestic tourists who do travel around love to go to Gelderland. However, foreign tourists like to go to Zeeland, South Holland, and North Holland.
With July and August being the busiest months, NOS says that tourism has been increasing in the last nine years. 2014 saw 8 million tourists, 2017 saw 9 million tourists and now we have 10 million tourists roaming around the Netherlands.
What do tourists like to do in the Netherlands?
The number of overnight stays has also increased to 35 million (by 7.6%). But where exactly do they go and what do they do?
According to RTL Z, holiday parks, hotels, guesthouses, youth hostels, and campsites have grown in popularity. Dutch tourists, 1.2 million of them to be exact, went to stay in bungalow park. With the frequent heatwaves in 2018 and 2019, campsites saw a good influx of people.
We all love the Netherlands, and everyone seems to want to get a piece of the action. But the Netherlands is drowning with the influx of all of these tourists, where a lot of them go to tourist destinations like Amsterdam and Giethoorn. There have been efforts being made to distribute them across the country so that these places don’t have to deal with the brunt of this every year.
Were you ever a tourist in the Netherlands? Or do you live here and avoid some places only because it would be too crowded with too many tourists? Let us know in the comments below!
