Dutch villages, small cities look to attract more Chinese visitors

Giethoorn is nicknamed the Venice of the Netherlands. [Photo/IC]

Chinese as big spender

More and more Chinese visitors are expected in the coming years. By 2020, China will rise to the sixth country of origin for tourists to the Netherlands, according to the Dutch ministry of economic affairs. Today, it stands at the ninth place.

The number of Chinese visitors increased by 15 percent to around 250,000 arrivals over the previous year, twice as many as in 2010. For 2015, a growth of some 18 percent is expected, bringing the number of Chinese visitors to almost 300,000. By 2020, the figure will reach 810,000.

What's more, Chinese visitors' spending power is almost twice as high as other international tourists. While visitors spent on average some 700 euros per person last year, the Chinese spending average was well over 1,250 euros per visit. Total expenditure of Chinese tourists in the Netherlands reached 314 million euros last year.