We are all aware that the number of visitors from the Netherlands to Curacao is down 21.0% so far this year, falling from 107,754 visitors through the first five months of 2022, to 85,105 in the first five months of this year.
But Curacao isn’t the only long haul destination which has seen a drop in visitors from the Netherlands so far this year. Aruba has seen a 22.3% drop in tourists from the Netherlands through the first five months of 2023 while the number of Dutch visitors to the Dominican Republic is down 15.3%, also through the first five months of 2023. Mexico has seen a 9.1% drop in visitors from the Netherlands so far through April 2023, compared with the same four months of 2022.
However, that doesn’t mean the Dutch have stopped traveling. The number of visitors to Greece from the Netherlands more than doubled in the first three months of 2023 compared with the same three months of 2022, while the number traveling to Spain grew by 3.2%, from 1.329 million in the first five months of 2022 to 1.371 million in the same five months of 2023.
And two niche long haul destinations have seen a growth in Dutch traffic so far this year with the number of visitors to Costa Rica from the Netherlands up 24.7% through the first five months of 2023 compared with the same five months of 2022 and the number of Dutch travelers to the Maldives up 11.8% also through the first five months, albeit with relatively small numbers.
