Tourist numbers rose 7% last year to almost 15 million
Almost 15 million foreign tourists came to the Netherlands last year, a rise of 7% on 2014, the tourist board NBTC said on Tuesday.
Most came from Germany (4.2 million), a rise of 10% on 2014. Almost two million Belgians spent one or more days in the Netherlands, overtaking the Brits who are now in third place.
Almost 80% of the tourist stream came from Europe. The sharpest growth was recorded in the number of Chinese visitors, up 21% at 300,000. There was also a rise in the number of American tourists, whose number topped one million for the first time since 2006.
The number of Russian visitors fell by 24% and there were 15% fewer Japanese.
The NBTC expects growth this year to be more modest at around 3%. The Netherlands itself has a population of 17 million.
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