Do Dutch Travellers Really Care About Sustainability? The Data Behind the 42%

Yes: 42% of Dutch travellers say sustainability is a factor in their destination choice (NBTC, 2024). That number gets quoted often, and rarely unpacked. It doesn't mean nearly half of Dutch travellers are booking based on carbon calculators. It means something more specific and more useful for accommodations: a preference for properties that can show, plainly, what they actually do.

What "sustainable" means to a Dutch traveller

In practice, the sustainability Dutch travellers respond to tends to be concrete rather than abstract. Based on the language used across Dutch travel research and traveller expectations, the recurring themes are:

• Short supply chains: local and seasonal food, sourced nearby rather than shipped in.
• Genuine resource practices: natural cleaning products, water and energy use that's visibly considered, not just claimed.
• Protecting the setting itself: a property that treats its natural surroundings (a pine forest, a coastline, a nature reserve) as something to preserve, not just a backdrop.
• Scale: smaller, locally run properties tend to read as more credible on sustainability than large chains making broad claims.

How to show sustainability credibly

The gap between properties that get credit for sustainability and those that don't usually comes down to specificity. "We care about the environment" persuades no one. "Our restaurant sources from suppliers within 50 kilometres, and our cleaning products are certified eco-label" is something a traveller can actually evaluate, and something an accommodation can back up.

• Name the practice, not the value. Say what you actually do, not that you care.
• Put it where it can be found: on the property profile, not buried in a PDF sustainability report nobody reads before booking.
• Keep claims current. A sustainability page that hasn't changed in three years reads as stale, even if the practices are still in place.
• Don't overreach. A specific, honest claim about one real practice builds more trust than a vague, sweeping one.

Does sustainability affect price sensitivity?

Not in a simple way. Sustainability functions more as a filter than a premium travellers pay extra for: it shapes which properties get shortlisted in the first place, alongside price, relaxation and weather, the other consistently top-ranked decision factors for Dutch travellers. A credible sustainability story doesn't replace competitive pricing; it earns a property a place in the consideration set to begin with.

FAQ

What percentage of Dutch travellers consider sustainability when choosing a destination? 42%, according to NBTC's 2024 research on Dutch traveller decision-making.

What kind of sustainability claims do Dutch travellers actually respond to? Specific, verifiable practices such as local sourcing, genuine resource management, and protection of the natural setting, rather than broad, unspecific claims.

Does being sustainable mean an accommodation can charge more? Not directly. Sustainability tends to influence whether a property makes it onto a traveller's shortlist at all, rather than functioning as a price premium on its own.

Show Dutch travel organisations what makes your property genuinely sustainable, not just marketed that way. See your matches free at thedutchguests.nl →

Source: NBTC (2024), Dutch traveller sustainability research.