Statistics Netherlands (CBS) has released figures showing that lodgings in the Netherlands hosted more tourists in 2019 than the previous year.

46,3 million tourists stayed overnight

A report from CBS has revealed that 46,3 million guests stayed in Dutch accommodation in 2019, which amounts to an increase of about 5 percent on the previous year. 26 million of these guests were from the Netherlands, an increase of about 3 percent from last year. The remaining 20,3 million guests were foreigners, 8 percent up from 2018.

While the Netherlands as a whole received more guests, certain provinces actually recorded a decrease in the number of guests they received in 2019. Groningen, Friesland, Flevoland and Overijssel all received fewer visitors. The cause of this decrease? A reduction in the number of Dutch tourists.

On the flip side of the coin, the provinces of North-Holland and North Brabant saw the biggest increase in the number of guests. North-Holland comes out on top when it comes to hosting the most tourists staying overnight; the province hosted around 15 million visitors.

The most visited cities in the Netherlands

It will come as no surprise that, with more than 9 million guests, Amsterdam remained the biggest city for tourism in the Netherlands. Following Amsterdam by some distance is Rotterdam with 1,2 million tourists, The Hague with 1 million and Utrecht with 451.000. The ratio of Dutch to foreign tourists remains the same in these cities.

The city of Rotterdam actually recorded a slight decrease in the number of tourists (a decrease of 4 percent in visitors and 2,3 percent overnight stays) after a spike in 2018. Similarly, The Hague also saw fewer tourists staying in the city in 2019, with about 4,1 percent fewer visitors and 4,5 percent fewer overnight stays.