Inbound tourists from Europe to the Netherlands 2019-2021, by country

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic turned the tourism industry upside down, as governments implemented travel restrictions and stay-at-home measures to face the global health crisis. In the Netherlands, due to the pandemic, the number of inbound tourists from Europe dropped sharply in 2020 over the previous year, declining from over 16 million to roughly 6.4 million. Overall, European tourists represented the vast majority of inbound tourists in the Netherlands in 2020. Looking at the forecasts for 2021, a January 2021 study analyzed different scenarios. In the best-case scenario, assuming that traveling from neighboring countries will be again permitted in April or May, European inbound tourists were forecast to reach almost 8.8 million in 2021. In the worst-case scenario, with restrictions taking place until the end of 2021, the number of inbound tourists from Europe to the Netherlands was estimated to decrease further in 2021 to around 4.2 million.

COVID-19 impact on inbound tourism in the Netherlands

On March 15, 2020, the Netherlands implemented a national lockdown to face a rise in the number of COVID-19 infections in the country. As a result of the emergency measures, the number of monthly international tourist arrivals in the Netherlands fell by roughly 98 percent in April 2020 over the previous year. As the lockdown was gradually eased in May and June, this scenario improved during the summer months. However, as the country implemented other restrictions since October due to an increase in COVID-19 infections, the number of arrivals decreased again in the following months, reaching roughly 126 thousand in December 2020.

COVID-19 impact on inbound tourism receipts in the Netherlands

As a result of the COVID-19 impact, international tourist receipts in the Netherlands also went down significantly. In the second quarter of 2020, they amounted to roughly 1.27 billion U.S. dollars, whereas they added up to around 4.8 billion in the second quarter of 2019. Inbound tourism receipts partially recovered in the third quarter of 2020, but a loss of over two billion U.S. dollars was recorded compared to the third quarter of 2019.