The coming holidays and winter, the Dutch mainly want to go to the sun, but also not to fly too far.
Despite the increased prices of flying holidays, the Dutch will again flock to the sun this winter, although they will stay relatively closer to home. The most popular destinations currently being booked are Egypt, the Canary Islands and the Portuguese Algarve. Last summer, most holidaymakers booked a trip to Turkey, Spain and Greece.
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 from all providers.
The coming holidays and winter, the Dutch mainly want to go to the sun, but also not to fly too far. Egypt is currently the most popular with 46 percent of bookings. That is a significant increase compared to the pre-corona year 2019, when 30 percent of the Dutch chose this destination in winter. Just like in the winter of 2019, Egypt also leads the ranking of best rated winter sun destinations with a 9,5. "Egypt is relatively cheap, has beautiful resorts, lots of sun and is relatively close by," explains Zoover's Sterre Hoek in its leading position.
The Canary Islands are in second place with 40 percent of the bookings, double compared to 2019. "Always popular with the Dutch and one of the few sunny destinations in Europe," she says. So is the Algarve. 5 percent of bookers go there, a decrease compared to 9 percent in 2019. Portugal is clearly losing market share to the other two destinations. The relative increase in the number of Dutch people going to Cape Verde this winter is striking. In terms of numbers, these are still not that many, but they are 300 percent more than in 2019. After Egypt, Turkey (8,8), Curaçao (8,7) and Greece (8,7) are the best countries in the fourth quarter so far. even though Turkey and Greece in particular are not real winter destinations.
Last summer, most Dutch people flew there. Turkey leads the ranking with 39,1 percent of bookings, followed by Spain (30,5 percent) and Greece (20,8 percent). According to Hoek, the advantages of all-inclusive holidays, the variation between beach and culture and guaranteed sun played an important role here. This year, travelers stayed relatively close to home, partly due to corona. For example, countries such as the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Indonesia have disappeared from the list of best rated destinations. They were still at the top or in the top 2019 in 6. In 2022, Egypt and European countries took over that position. According to Hoek, there are currently hardly any bookings for those far-away destinations.
The travel sums paid by holidaymakers have risen sharply since 2019, from an average of 1647 euros then to 1939 euros this year, an increase of 17,7 percent. Among the seven most booked holiday destinations, prices rose the most for Greece (+19,5 percent), followed by Turkey (+18,9 percent), Egypt (+17,9 percent) and Spain (+16,2 percent). Travel costs fell by 1,1 percent only for Italy. As in 2019, the Dutch spent the most on popular holidays, averaging 2098 euros per holiday trip. This puts Turkey in thirteenth place of the most expensive destinations that are booked. “We expect prices to rise even further next year, partly because of the flight tax, inflation and energy prices. Maybe that's why people book a little earlier this year," says Sterre Hoek van Zoover.
