Spain leads the ranking for holiday bookings in the Netherlands
MADRID – Although the average travel sum of holidays has increased by an average of 18.6 percent since the pre-corona year 2019, the Dutch have started booking their holidays en masse in the last week of December and the first week of January. In that period, 2.5 times as many holidays were booked as the average in the past year. Spain is the most popular with a share of 32.3%, with Gran Canaria and Mallorca in the top 10 most popular regions.
This is evident from the Zoover Holiday Monitor. The review and booking site can make an accurate analysis of the search and booking behavior of Dutch holidaymakers on the basis of 30 million annual visitors, more than 3.8 million reviews and 15,000 package holidays of all kinds.
Zoover signals an increase of 249% in the booking season that has just started compared to the average number of bookings in the period from March 1 to December 26, 2022. “Next year will probably be the first real holiday season after corona without travel restrictions. We notice that people are really looking forward to a holiday again. They discussed where they want to go during the holidays and have started booking en masse”, Sterre Hoek van Zoover encloses the boom.
The site sees that a third of the people who have now booked the May holiday, have booked one in five summer holidays and one in seven spring holidays. In the half weeks, partly around and after the annual Vakantiebeurs, from 12 to 15 January in the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht, more summer holidays will be booked, Zoover expects.
For the May holidays, an all-inclusive trip to Turkey is traditionally the most popular. Looking at all bookings, Spain has a share of 32.3%, followed by Greece (23.5%), Turkey (22.2%) and Egypt (14.2%).
Why Spain?
As a result of the reviews that travelers leave on the site, Zoover can well argue why those countries are so popular. Spain for example, has 300 days of sunshine, 5,000 kilometers of coastline, lots of culture and good food and receives high ratings. Gran Canaria and Mallorca are in the top 10 most popular regions where holidaymakers go.
Turkey is especially popular with families, due to its entertainment and all-inclusive resorts, so travelers know exactly how much they are spending. Greece is in the top 10 most popular regions, along with Crete, Kos and Rhodes. According to travelers, the islands with their reliable beaches, sea and ancient cities are not affordable. Egypt often means an active holiday for travelers with snorkeling and diving, although it is just too hot in the summer.
The average travel sum that people spend on their holidays has increased over the past three years for those who started, from 1647.20 euros in 2019 to 1954.18 euros in the current booking season (+18.6%). Between 2021 and 2022, the increase was 6.5%. Among the top 4 most booked destinations, the average price increased between 2019 and 2022 for Spain from 1543.30 to 1796.08 euros, for Greece from 1606.16 to 1923.52 euros, for Turkey from 1765.77 to 2107.15 euros and for Egypt from 1675.74 to 1990.07 euros. Travel to the United States, Morocco and Curaçao also increased in price. “But prices have hardly been sold since the end of last year,” says Hoek.
Source: Zoover via AP