The number of hotel overnight stays in the Netherlands continued to rise in the first six months of 2017, the national statistics office CBS said on Friday.

The CBS said despite the growing popularity of Airbnb and similar non-hotel sites, the number of overnight stays in ‘regular’ hotels was 9% higher in the first half of 2017 compared to the year-earlier period.

The increased numbers came largely from foreign visitors.  There were 19% more overnight stays by Germans, traditionally the largest group of foreign tourists. The Germans are followed by the British, Americans and Belgians, the CBS said. The number of Russian visitors surged by 45% after several years of decline.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam accounts for about one-third of total overnight stays in the Netherlands. The number of overnight visitors in Amsterdam rose by 11% to nearly 7.6 million in the first six months of this year.

Rotterdam and The Hague took second and third places, followed by Maastricht and Utrecht. The CBS has no figures for online platforms such as Airbnb whereby homeowners rent out rooms.