Business travel has continued to grow in Benelux. In February, the AirPlus Business Travel Index revealed that business travel spending in the Netherlands had increased by 8.1 per cent in 2024 over the previous year.

The number of business trips made by Belgian residents remained steady at 1,424,000 in 2024 compared to 1,432,000 in 2023. Figures from the Netherlands have not yet been made public.

The Benelux economies continue in step with the wider growth in the eurozone. The Dutch economy grew by 0.9 per cent in 2024, an improvement on growth of 0.1 per cent in 2023. The main contributor to economic growth was public consumption. Exports grew by 0.4 per cent during the year. The IMF expects growth to accelerate to 1.4 per cent in 2025, as long as trade tensions do not escalate.

*Estimated

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Public consumption also helped the economy grow in Belgium by 1 per cent in 2024, with this forecast to fall to 0.8 per cent in 2025. Luxembourg also saw 1 per cent economic growth in 2024 and this is expected to rise to 1.6 per cent this year.

In 2024, Amsterdam's Schiphol airport reported traffic of 66.8 million passengers for the year. While this was 8 per cent higher than 2023, it was still below pre-Covid levels in 2019 when the airport served 71.7 million passengers.

KLM reported revenues of €12.7 billion for the year, up 5.2 per cent on the previous year. Profit for the year dropped to €70 million, from €714 million the year before. The airline continued installing its new World Business Class seats. KLM also finished installing Premium Comfort class on its entire Boeing 777 and 787 fleets. In addition, the first A321neo entered into service at KLM in 2024. The airline said it had increased SAF consumption from 1.2 per cent to 1.7 per cent during the year.

There are questions in the region about whether the Dutch flight tax is affecting air traffic. Currently, there is a flat tax of €29.40 per passenger per flight but the government is consulting on plans to raise a further €248 million with a new regime in 2027. The Netherlands already has the highest flight tax in Europe for short distances.

Frank Radstake, director of the ANVR, says, ¡°We are against the planned distance-dependent flight tax in its current form. This is because it is being introduced unilaterally, only in the Netherlands, as part of the 2023 outline agreement. However, the international business climate has changed completely since then.¡±

Hotel rates moderated in 2024 after 2023¡¯s increases. According to CBRE, the average room rate fell by almost 2 per cent and by 3 per cent in cities such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague.

Dutch rail company NS reports that international rail travel from the Netherlands continued to grow, up 10 per cent on 2023 which was already 15 per cent higher than 2022. This growth came despite the suspension of Eurostar services to London after the terminal at Amsterdam Centraal was closed due to substantial refurbishment works. During the year, Dutch rail passengers heading to Germany also benefited from the delivery of more modern trains on ICE routes to Frankfurt.

In the TMC sector, the past year has seen the disappearance of the VCK Travel name. The company was founded in 1947 and has been rebranded as Gray Dawes Travel following its 2024 acquisition by the UK-headquartered company.