Gelderland again popular with holidaymakers

VisitVeluwe - By Rick van Zadelhoff

The number of overnight stays by Dutch holidaymakers in Gelderland increased by 4% in 2018. Dutch people are going on holiday for longer. In Gelderland, this accounted for 17 million overnight stays. The number of overnight stays by foreign tourists increased by 14.4% in the first 9 months of 2018.

Fewer domestic holidays, more overnight stays
These figures are special because the total number of domestic holidays decreased slightly, by about 2.4%. In Gelderland, 2.1% fewer holidays were booked in 2018. Nevertheless, the figures are positive because the holidays booked lasted longer and therefore resulted in more overnight stays. This is according to the annual Continuous Holiday Survey.

Gelderland the most popular holiday province in the Netherlands
As in recent years, Gelderland remains the most popular holiday province in the Netherlands. In 2018, Dutch people spent almost 1.9 million holidays on the Veluwe and the Veluwerand. In 2017, the Veluwe still ranked 1 in the ranking of popular domestic holiday regions. The region now ranks third, after the North Sea seaside resorts and the Groningen, Frisian and Drenthe sands. Due to the beautiful summer of 2018, the wetlands may have benefited more from this.

More spending in Gelderland
Dutch people took almost 2.9 million holidays in our province in 2018. Apart from the Veluwe, the other regions of Gelderland were also well visited. Visitors spent €495 million in the process, some €5 million more than in 2017.

More foreign tourists to Gelderland
Figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) show that foreign tourists are also increasingly able to find Gelderland. The number of overnight stays by foreign tourists and business visitors rose by 14.4% to almost 1.5 million in the first nine months of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017. Dutch growth in that period was almost half (7.6%).