Dutch consumers kept spending in high street shops through April, but the country’s cafés, restaurants and hotels recorded their weakest quarterly growth in five years, according to figures released by national statistics agency CBS.
Retail turnover was 3.4% higher in April than a year earlier. Sales of food rose 3.2% and non-food 3.5%, while online spending was almost 6% higher than in April 2025.
Hospitality also grew, but only slightly. Turnover in the sector rose 2.2% in the first quarter of 2026 – the 20th consecutive quarter of year-on-year growth, but the smallest increase in five years.
A two-speed sector
The slowdown was sharpest at the more expensive end. Hotel turnover was almost flat, up just 0.4%, with most of the sector’s growth coming from campsites and holiday parks, up 5.5%, and from fast-food outlets, up 3.8%.
Restaurants and cafés managed rises of 1.6% and 1.3% respectively.
Business confidence in hospitality fell from -12.0 to -30.1 going into the second quarter – the steepest drop in the sector’s sentiment since the start of 2022, when pandemic restrictions were still in force.
