The tourism sector is booming again in Flanders due, at least in part, to an increase in the number of foreign travelers who are once again visiting the region after two years of restrictions. Tourism Flanders expects the number of overnight stays during the first summer holiday month to turn out 27 percent higher than in July 2021. This estimate is based on booking data in hotels and B&Bs. The official figures, however, will be available in October.
According to Belga news agency, the number of overnight stays by foreign visitors doubled in July 2022 compared to last year. Especially in the art cities (Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Mechelen, Leuven), where the effects of the corona restrictions were strongly felt.
Many of the visitors are clearly back and we are again recording very nice overnight stay figures
Stef Gits, Tourism Flanders
The figures are still not at the level they were before the pandemic. The number of overnight stays is 3 percent lower than in 2019. Especially the foreign market is still 17 percent below the number of July 2019. “Visitors from Asian countries are not yet fully back. We expect that it may take until 2024 before the volume of foreign overnight stays will again be at the pre-corona level,” said Gits.
In 2021, 57% of residents in the Flemish Region made at least 1 trip with at least 1 overnight stay. For 41% of the inhabitants, this involved at least 1 trip abroad. From 2017 to 2019, local tourism hovered around 69%, while foreign visitors increased from 58% to 63%.
The proportion of people who made at least 1 trip in 2021 was 57% in the Flemish Region; in the Brussels Capital Region, tourism was about as high (56%), and in Wallonia Region somewhat lower (46%). Trips abroad are much higher in the Brussels Capital Region (50%) than in the Flemish Region (41%) and the Walloon Region (37%).
Belga news agency reports that the number of domestic bookings has decreased this year by thirteen percent. Now that Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted, many residents of Belgium are again opting for a holiday abroad.
