The Dutch are a travel-loving people, in the new year people want to go abroad en masse, with Bangkok high on the wish list.
More than 80% of the Dutch indicate that they will visit a European destination in the coming year. Within Europe, London is number 1, according to research by Vliegtickets.nl.
In addition, it appears that two thirds of all people have plans for a trip outside Europe, with New York and Bangkok being the most popular.
Top three Europe
The following destinations are mentioned the most:
- London – 15,7%
- Barcelona/Rome – 12,9%
- Lisbon – 11,7%
The most common reason for a visit within Europe is the short travel time (19,9%). In addition, family visits are also a reason for many people to cross the Dutch border in the coming year (17,2%).
Top three distant destinations
Two-thirds of all respondents plan to visit a country outside Europe in 2017. The following three distant destinations are the most popular for a visit in 2017:
- New York–10,1%
- Bangkok – 7%
- Bali/Denpasar – 5,7%
The main reason for going to a country outside Europe is to visit family (24,2%). In addition, many people like that it is nice and far away (12,8%).
Men versus women
Nearly 1500 people participated in the study. It is striking that especially men have plans to visit a distant country; more than 70% of men compared to about 64% of women. The men have a clear preference for Bangkok (11,3%). Women, on the other hand, have the greatest preference for a city close by, namely London (17,3%).
Visible in booking behaviour
The fact that it is not just about planning can already be seen in the booking behavior at Vliegtickets.nl. At the moment, 38,7% more bookings have already been made with a departure in 2017 than last year with a departure in 2016. The ticket provider sees the largest increase in the number of bookings already made for the departure months of September 2017 (+54,5%) and October 2017 (+97,8%).
In the 90s I was an employee of a research agency that focused exclusively on the tourism sector. One of the large-scale studies concerned the holiday behavior of the Dutch, including their plans. Because it involved a continuous panel of several thousand Dutch people, we were able to link plans (around the turn of the year to March) and actual holiday behavior (from April to December) at an individual level.
In no year were we able to link actual holiday behavior to the plans made months before. The conclusion must therefore be that plans are often dreams that - as Marco Borsato already said
sang – are mostly cheating. If the plans really gave a 1 to 1 reliable picture of reality, airlines, hotels, resorts, bus companies, etc. would not have so many empty seats.