Utrecht, 5 January 2023 - Dutch people focused on holidays more often in 2022 than in 2019. Themes such as camping, all-inclusive and road trip are particularly popular. There is also an explosive growth in online searches for holidays to Curacao. So says research commissioned by Vakantiebeurs into consumers' online search behaviour around holidays. Marleen Rompen, Vakantiebeurs exhibition manager: "This research shows interesting results of a travel sector that is developing rapidly. An interesting development, for example, is that the theme of a holiday has become much more important than the destination. And in terms of destinations, we see that the Caribbean is on the rise. These trends can all be found at the 52nd edition of Vakantiebeurs, which takes place from Thursday 12 to Sunday 15 January at Royal Jaarbeurs in Utrecht."
Theme holidays popular in 2022
Consumers are increasingly choosing their holidays based on theme such as adults-only, all-inclusive or road trip. In this, the destination of the holiday has become less important. Even after corona, camping remains as popular as ever and the search behaviour around terms like 'camping' and 'camping' has increased fivefold. It is also striking that the Dutch search for all-inclusive holidays online one and a half times as often. Other popular themes are taking a road trip with a 52% growth and booking an adults-only holiday which has grown by a third compared to 2019. Last-minute holidays have also become more popular with a growth of 43%.
The Vakantiebeurs also sees that capitalising on holiday themes is a good idea. Marleen Rompen: "We are extremely happy that after two years we can again organise an inspiring fair for holidaymakers. During a visit to Vakantiebeurs, you can go around the world in one day to get plenty of inspiration for your next trip. For each theme, there are several exhibitors present whether you want to go on an all-inclusive holiday or take a round trip."
Explosive growth in searches for Curaçao
A surprising destination in the top 5 most popular holiday destinations is Curaçao in position 4. With a growth in search volume of almost 400% compared to 2019, Curaçao can rightly be called popular. Curaçao was seen as a safe choice for a holiday by the Dutch during the corona period, which could explain the growth in popularity compared to 2019. Interest in Croatia is also high with a growth of more than 60% compared to 2019. With this, Croatia closes the top five most popular destinations in fifth place. Other well-known holiday destinations in the top 5 are Spain (place 1), Greece (place 2) and Turkey (place 3).
Albania, Costa Rica and Hurghada are fastest rising holiday destinations
The fastest rising holiday destination of 2022 is Albania. Marleen Rompen: "Last year, Albania was the destination of the TV programme 'Who is the Mole'. This could explain the emerging popularity of this country." Costa Rica and Hurghada in Egypt complete the top three. The biggest growth is for Lake Como in Italy. Again, popular holiday themes seem to be decisive in choosing a destination. For instance, Egypt is a popular all-inclusive destination and Lake Como is a quiet destination for a camping holiday. So research shows. The research was conducted by Red Online Marketing on behalf of Vakantiebeurs. The data from this research was gathered by comparing the 2022 online search behaviour with the 2019 search behaviour and comparing the 2022 search behaviour trends with 2021 for the Dutch market.
