Dutch residents went on 37.6 million holidays in 2023. Just over 20.9 million of them went abroad. Per capita, that’s 2.5 trips, showing how vacation time matters here.
Most people drove. Cars were used for 63% of trips, planes for 20%, and trains for 9%. Thousands of GPS traces reveal the main corridors. Traffic concentrates heading east into Germany or south through Belgium toward France. You can see the patterns clearly when you map all those routes together.
Germany attracted 3.6 million Dutch visitors. Proximity helps, plus there’s variety from peaceful river areas to active city centers. France pulled in 2.9 million, Spain got 2.1 million. Looking at Germany specifically, about 1 million trips involved couples without children. Families accounted for 875,000 trips but typically returned a day sooner.
Trips abroad averaged 10.8 days. Domestic holidays were shorter at 5.5 days. Not everyone planned ahead either. Around 3.6 million holidays skipped advance bookings for lodging and ran roughly nine days. Germany received 256,000 of these unplanned trips.
The season mattered too. Summer meant more driving, winter meant more flights and train rides. Those GPS maps really do show how much people still prefer the car when the destination isn’t too far.
