The Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions (NBTC) and low-cost carrier easyJet have strengthened their joint cooperation in Europe.

The two companies will work closely over the coming three years to push city breaks to Holland from the German, Spanish, Italian and British markets.

The decision comes just days after easyJet was recognised as Europe’s Leading Low-cost Airline by the prestigious World Travel Awards.

Andrew van der Feltz, business development and network director at the NBTC said: “This partnership is an excellent example that fits our strategy to bundle as many relevant domestic and international partners and resources as possible to maximize marketing power for the destination ‘Holland’.

“The structural cooperation with easyJet will focus on driving tourism traffic to the Dutch cities from these key markets for us.

“The objective of the three year cooperation within the NBTC’s city breaks campaign, which is carried out in partnership with eight Dutch cities, is to contribute to the targeted extra 750,000 city break visitors and consequent € 300 million extra tourism spend in the Dutch cities.

Jointly the airline and NBTC will invest €4.5 million in order to push Dutch cities further up the traveller’s European city break shopping list and help boost visitor numbers and spend to the Netherlands as a whole.

Paul Simmons, easyJet’s UK director, said: “easyJet is already a major force in tourism and commerce within the Netherlands.

“We have been flying to Amsterdam since 1996 and have carried a total of 23 million passengers to and from the city over that time.

“Working closely in partnership with the NBTC will only help to strengthen our commitment to making travel easy and affordable for passengers travelling to Holland from all over Europe and boost tourism to the country.”