Dutch hospitality bankruptcies ease from last year's peak
CBS data show hospitality bankruptcies fell fastest of any sector in the Netherlands this summer, even as restaurant sales outrun hotels hit by a new VAT rate.
Dutch hospitality bankruptcies stayed the highest of any sector in August, but the rate has nearly halved from a year earlier, national statistics agency CBS reports.
CBS counted 304 company bankruptcies across the Netherlands in August 2026, nine percent more than a year earlier. Hospitality bankruptcies ran at 21.0 per 100,000 businesses, still the highest rate of any sector tracked.
That is down sharply from August 2025, when hospitality bankruptcies stood at 30.8 per 100,000 businesses. Industry followed at 20.1, then construction at 16.5 and business services at 15.8. CBS says the sectoral figures are not adjusted for the number of court sitting days each month.
Hospitality bankruptcies fell fastest of any sector, yet still ranked worst nationwide.
Hospitality bankruptcies drop fastest
The improvement builds on July, when the rate fell to 17.9 per 100,000 businesses from 35.1 a year earlier, CBS data show. No other sector moved as far in either month. A similar pattern surfaced in the UK last month, where hospitality insolvencies fell 24% in August too.
CBS calls it the "largest development" in its bankruptcy tracking, even as hospitality keeps its place at the bottom of the ranking. The national rate, now 8.1 per 100,000 businesses, has drifted down slowly since late 2024, after a run-up from a record low of 3.4 hit in August 2021.
Restaurant sales outrun hotels
Revenue tells a matching story. Food and beverage outlets grew turnover 3.5 percent in the second quarter of 2026 from a year earlier, CBS says. Canteens and catering led at 4.1 percent; restaurants and cafés both added 3.2 percent.
Hotels moved the other way, down 2 percent, after the VAT rate on short stays rose from 9 to 21 percent on January 1. Other lodging, including campsites and holiday parks, still grew 1.5 percent. Overall hospitality turnover rose 2.2 percent, matching the first quarter.
Dutch hospitality prices are on track to rise about 5 percent this year, bank ING forecasts. Restaurants and cafés served 1.6 percent fewer dishes and drinks in the first half of 2026, even as revenue grew almost 3 percent, all of it from higher prices, ING says.
Confidence among hospitality owners climbed from -30.1 in the second quarter to -19.5 in the third, the sharpest jump since July 2021, CBS notes. Sentiment stays negative. The next bankruptcy count, covering September, is due in mid-October.
