Tourism in Flanders reaches pre-pandemic levels

In 2022, Flanders attracted the same number of overnight tourists as it did before the Covid-19 pandemic. With 10.6 million overnight stays, it was the most popular region in the country, figures from Statistics Flanders showed on Tuesday.

Last year, 54 per cent more tourists opted for a multi-day visit to Flanders than in 2021. The total is now 1 per cent higher than it was in 2019, before the pandemic began. Flanders received more than 10 million visitors; 3.9 million people visited Wallonia and 3.2 million visited Brussels.

The majority of overnight tourists (57 per cent) came from Belgium or neighbouring countries (31 per cent). More than 1.6 million came from the Netherlands. Business tourism accounted for 20 per cent of visitors, which falls short of the numbers before the pandemic.

The biggest attractions in Flanders were the five major art cities, the coast and holiday parks in the Kempen. Almost 3.6 million visitors were registered in Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, Leuven and Mechelen combined. Antwerp takes the crown with 1.3 million sightseers. Bruges comes in second with 1.1 million, with 800,000 visiting Ghent.

2.3 million tourists visited the coast in 2022, accounting for 21 per cent of the total. The rest of Flanders received 45 per cent of tourists.

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