Dutch opt for sun close by in autumn holidays

Zoover Holiday Monitor: Turkey most popular in autumn, 4 per cent more air holidays in summer, Schiphol the biggest again

Although prices have risen sharply, the Dutch book plenty of flights to the sun in the coming autumn holidays. They mainly choose destinations close by, such as Turkey, the Spanish islands and Egypt. During the past high season, the Dutch booked 4 percent more holidays by plane than last year. Remarkable: most travellers preferred Schiphol to Düsseldorf again this summer.

This is according to the Zoover Holiday Monitor. Based on 30 million annual visitors, over 3.9 million reviews, an offer of 1 million accommodations and 12,000 package holidays of all providers, the review and booking site can make an accurate analysis of the search and booking behaviour of Dutch holidaymakers.

This summer, most Dutch people booked their holidays last minute, i.e. six weeks or less before departure. Perhaps an after-effect of corona crisis, when many early booked trips were cancelled. This trend also continues in bookings for the autumn holidays. "That means the big wave is still coming," says Zoover's Reinoud Koot. Nevertheless, he already sees that Turkey is by far the most popular with 42 per cent of bookings, followed by Spain (22 per cent). Egypt has surpassed Greece (9 per cent) with a 19 per cent share. ''That can be explained because the autumn holidays are late this year, only at the end of October. Then you are not always guaranteed sunshine in Greece or northern Spain, but in countries like Turkey and Egypt you still do," says Koot.

He also sees the Dutch opting for relatively short-haul sun destinations. For intercontinental winter sun destinations, such as Mexico, bookings are lagging behind, while countries such as Tunisia, Cyprus and Morocco are more in demand than in 2023.

The average travel sum paid by holidaymakers rises this autumn holiday from 2186 to 2317 euros per booking, an increase of 6 per cent. During the summer holidays - the expensive high season - that average travel sum was 3261 euros per booking, up 5.3 per cent from 3094 euros for the whole of 2023. Still, 4 per cent more flight holidays were booked this summer than last year. ''Last year we still had some after-effects of corona. I see this year as another normal high season," said Koot.

As ever, the most popular holiday country among the Dutch was France, followed by a holiday at home. Among flight holidays, Spain was by far the most popular. Here, 35 per cent of bookers opted for it, compared to 30 per cent last year. Sun destinations such as Turkey (22 per cent), Greece (16 per cent) and Italy (14 per cent) saw their share decline.

After high prices and problems with security checks and baggage handling drove travellers to other airports last year, Schiphol was again the most popular this summer. 35 per cent of holidaymakers chose Amsterdam (27 per cent last year), while 32 per cent chose Düsseldorf (45 per cent last year). Next autumn holiday, Schiphol (25 per cent) must already cede the lead position to Düsseldorf (32 per cent). ,,Flying from German airports is a few hundred euros cheaper per trip. For families, this is reason to drive two or three hours to Germany," Koot explains. ,,Schiphol had its business well in hand this summer, so that was nice for customers."