Revenues in the Dutch hotel sector are expected to rise by 3% in 2017 partly due to higher room rates, according to a report released by ABN Amro bank on Thursday. The government statistics office CBS said hotel room prices in the city rose by 13% over the past two years.

The sharp increase in tourist numbers is sparking interest in the construction of new hotels, with German and Middle Eastern investors now weighing plans, centring on Amsterdam, the report said. Investors in the Middle East are branching out into other sectors as oil income dries up.

The sharpest rise ever in the number of overnight stays was registered in 2016: in 2012 there were 21 million overnight stays, rising by 23% to nearly 26 million last year. Nearly half of the guests came from abroad. There were more travellers from Germany and the US and the popularity of city breaks in Europe contibuted to the growth, the bank said.

Amsterdam scored the best with a 27% increase in hotel guests, pushing the average occupancy rate to 82% compared to 58% for the country as a whole. The bank’s report said some seven million guests stayed in Amsterdam’s 30,000 hotel rooms in 2016.

Amsterdam city council has placed restrictions on the building of new hotels in the centre in order to protect its livability. But ABN Amro thinks room numbers will increase because of licences already granted.