Despite excise duty reduction

Fuel tourism causes substantially lower petrol and diesel sales in the Netherlands

Published on 25-11-2025 at 10:44

De afzet van benzine en diesel is in Nederland in de periode tot en met augustus 2025 met 6,5 procent gedaald ten opzichte van dezelfde periode in 2024. — Uit de meest recente gegevens van het CBS blijkt dat van de eerste acht maanden van 2025 augustus de slechtste maand voor de Nederlandse tankstationondernemers was. Foto: Shutterstock, 2025

Petrol and diesel sales in the Netherlands fell 6.5 per cent in the period to August 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. August in particular was a bad month for both fuel types. According to industry association Nove, fuel tourism is a major cause of the drop in sales.

Figures published by Nove based on the latest data from the CBS show that of the first eight months of 2025, August was the worst month for Dutch filling station entrepreneurs. This applies to petrol and diesel as well as LPG sales. Whereas diesel recorded a 13.9 per cent drop in sales in August compared to the same month a year earlier, petrol sales fell by 5.3 per cent in this month. LPG even dropped by almost 26 per cent.

All the first eight months of 2025 were negative for petrol, diesel and LPG. Diesel did not score a sales plus in any month compared to the same month in 2024. For petrol, the picture is the same: all months recorded a sales drop compared to a year earlier. The exception was the month of April which recorded a small plus of 0.3 per cent. lpg, although a small market, also went down sharply with a sales drop in the first eight months of 2025 of almost 6 per cent.

Excise differences

It is not only the energy transition, with a growing number of consumers and businesses switching from the use of fossil fuels to electric charging and more renewable fuels, that is responsible for the steady decline in fossil fuel use, but tank tourism is also doing its bit. “Tank tourism plays a major role in the sharp drop in sales of diesel in the first eight months of 2025,” says Erik de Vries of Nove. “The same goes for petrol. Excise differences between the Netherlands and other European countries mean that many private individuals fill up the tank across the border in Belgium and Germany. Transport companies also frequently fill up across the border. Despite the excise duty reduction extended for another year by the cabinet in August, it remains attractive to fill up outside the Netherlands.“

“Should the cabinet decide to reverse the excise duty reduction as yet, the sector will be faced with even more tank tourism and fuel sales in the Netherlands will decline further,” De Vries said.

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This article was automatically translated from the Dutch language original to English (British).

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