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The Netherlands

Market Overview

The Dutch economy has emerged from recession alongside its European neighbours, but consumers are still showing caution with spend particularly on air travel. There has been a marked shift away from long-haul travel to short-haul and domestic. Despite this, New Zealand is selling well, particularly at the budget end of the market.


The Dutch love to travel, making around 16.7 million overseas trips every year. Visitors from The Netherlands are one of New Zealand’s longest-staying and highest-spending markets.

The Dutch are very independent travellers. A high proportion of them travel using rental cars and campervans, and they tend to research their destination in-depth prior to travel. Along with visitors from the UK, Germany and Canada they are also the visitors most likely to travel outside of the main tourism centres.

There were almost 25,000 visitors to New Zealand from the Netherlands in the year ending September 2009. This makes the country the third-largest source of visitors from Europe, behind the United Kingdom and Germany.

While a smaller market if judged simply on arrivals into New Zealand, their length of stay, correspondingly higher-than-average expenditure per visit, and propensity to travel to smaller regions, makes them a valuable market for the New Zealand tourism industry

The resilience of the backpacker and youth sector presents opportunities for New Zealand in the Dutch market. Recent success out of Germany, where Tourism New Zealand last year moved to promoting New Zealand in targeted cities rather than taking a countrywide approach, is being trialled in Amsterdam.

Fast Facts:

Visitors Arrivals year to date
(Total Arrivals)
24,692 (YE Sep 2009) -3.2%
Median length of stay
(Holiday Arrivals)
28 days (YE Jun 2009)
Average Expenditure per visit
(Holiday Arrivals)
NZ$4,623 (YE Jun 2009) +24%
Total Expenditure
(Total Arrivals)
NZ$81,967,934 (YE Jun 2009) -23.4%
Forecast average growth in travel to
New Zealand 2009-2015
2.9% per annum (For Europe outside of the UK and Germany)
Population 16,715,999 (by Jul 2009 est.)
Key Regions/cities Amsterdam
Direct Routes to New Zealand None
Leave Entitlement 4 weeks
Currency Euro (€)
Exchange rate

NZ$1 = € 0.48 (22 Sep 2009)

GDP Growth

-4.5% in 2009
-0.3% in 2010

(Jun 2009 est.)
Per capita GDP (PPP) US$40,779 (2008)

This information was last updated on 21 October 2009.
Visit our sources for further information:

Ministry of Tourism: www.tourismresearch.govt.nz
The Economist: www.economist.com The Netherlands Country Briefing
Reuters: www.reuters.com Exchange Rates
CIA: www.cia.gov World Factbook
IVA and IVS: www.tourismresearch.govt.nz/Data--Analysis/International-tourism/
Forecasts 2009-2015: http://www.tourismresearch.govt.nz/Data--Analysis/Forecasts/2009---2015-Forecasts---National-Arrivals/Forecasts-Key-Data/