Benelux market
Benelux Market specifics (update August 2008)
The Benelux consists of the densely populated countries:
Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg.
Some Facts and Figures
• Total square kilometres: 71,000 Km2
• Number of inhabitants
- The Netherlands: 2007: 16,197,303 inhabitants
- Belgium/Luxembourg: 10,309,725 inhabitants
- Total: 26,507,028 inhabitants
• Government type
- Netherlands: Constitutional monarchy
- Belgium: Federal parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarch
- Luxembourg: constitutional monarchy
• Languages
- The Netherlands: Dutch
- Belgium/Luxembourg: Dutch (50%), French (45%),German (5%)
• Religion
- The Netherlands: Roman-Catholic (31%), Protestant (21%), other/none (48%)
- Belgium/Luxembourg: Roman-Catholic (82%), Protestant/other (18%)
Core figures economy
2006 2007
Unemployment % 3.8% in NL 3.4% in NL
8.3% in BE 7.6% in BE
GDP 3.25% in NL 3.5% in NL
2.2% in BE 2.6% in BE
Income per capita USD. 38,000 in NL USD. 39,500 in NL
USD. 33,000 in BE USD. 34,370 in BE
Source: www.CPB.nl and www.statbel.fgov.be
Specifics concerning holiday behaviour
• Each employee has a minimum of 25 paid holidays per year.
• Percentage of travelers: 70% of inhabitants go on an anual vacation
• Main months of traveling: July-August (for long vacation abroad)
• Shorts break are popular: throughout the whole year
• Total expenditure on International tourism: 21.5 US% billion (within the world Top-5)
• Expenditure Belgians (number 1 in the world on 2007): € 908.50 p.p. for a long holiday
• Expenditure Dutch (number 2 in the world): € 812.50 in 2007 p.p. for a long holiday
• Transportation: 40% travels by car, 54% travels by air (summer 2008)
• Average stay: 13.1 days for a long vacation, 3.3 days for a short vacation
• Average amount of trips per year 3.3 per household
