Australia, United States and Japan top Dutchmen's bucket list

Ask the Dutch about their ultimate travel destination outside Europe and Australia comes out on top. According to A survey by Evisumservice, for which 1,250 Dutch people were asked which country they would like to visit someday. In second place is the United States, shortly followed by Japan.

According to the survey, more than one in 10 Dutch people have Australia as their dream destination. The United States follows with 8.6%, and Japan closes the top three with 6.8%. New Zealand, Canada, Indonesia/Bali and South Africa are also in the top 10. But for a sizeable proportion of Dutch people, a dream trip does not have to be far from home at all, as shown by the fact that Norway, Italy and Spain together form the ultimate dream destination for over one in nine respondents.

Japan booming

“Australia and the United States have long been among the most popular bucket list destinations. These are countries that many people see as ‘once in a lifetime’ trips,” says Mattijs Wijnmalen of Evisumservice. “More strikingly, Japan has gained tremendous popularity in a short period of time. We see the number of visa applications increasing rapidly, especially this year. The combination of culture, nature and the low exchange rate of the Japanese yen is appealing to more and more travellers.”

Increasingly outside Europe

CBS figures show that after the corona period, Dutch people are more likely to travel outside Europe again. In 2021 - when travel restrictions still applied - only 1% to 2% of the Dutch made a holiday to Asia, Africa or North America. Meanwhile, that share is back to pre-corona levels: in 2024, 6.7% went on holiday to Asia, 4.8% to Africa and 2.4% to North America.

Evisumservice's survey shows that almost two in three Dutch people have now been on holiday outside Europe at some point. North America (32%) is the most popular continent in this respect, followed by Africa and Asia (both 30%). And although Australia and New Zealand are high on our bucket lists, only one in thirteen Dutch people have visited Oceania before.

United States still in demand

“The fact that more and more Dutch people are travelling outside Europe is also reflected in the number of visa applications,” said Wijnmalen of Evisumservice.nl. “For countries like Japan, Australia and the US, you need a visa or travel authorisation, so travel trends we always notice immediately in our customer base. For instance, we had taken into account that Trump's taking office early this year might have a negative impact on the number of America trips. But in the data, we see that the number of ESTA applications for the US actually increased slightly compared to 2023 and 2024.”