Belgian coast records rise in foreign tourists over end-of-year period

The number of tourists coming to the Belgian coast at the end of 2022 fell compared to the same period in 2021. In spite of this, the Westtoer tourism office thanked the rise in foreign tourists during the festive period as the reason why they managed to reach pre-pandemic levels.

On Saturday, the Westtoer tourism office for the province of West Flanders indicated that they were pleased with the number of tourists who came to the Belgian coast during the recent festive period

As unveiled on Sunday, their figures showed that 540,000 day tourists had made the trip to the coast over the Christmas vacations, with the coast also recording 1.7 million overnight stays. However, this represented a 10% and and 5% fall respectively.

To counter this decline, the tourism sector have foreign tourists to thank for the end-of-year holidays figures falling in line with pre-pandemic levels from 2019. For example, the proportion of German and French guests among online hotel bookings had doubled compared to the same period in 2021.

Furthermore, 27 December was the most popular date for day visits, attracting around 60,000 tourists. For overnight stays, New Year's Eve was the busiest night of 2022, as is the case most years.

^{#FlandersNewsService | Day trippers at the beach in Ostend. © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK}