Belgian residents are travelling more often compared to the period when the spread of the Coronavirus and its new variants reached its peak, according to the recent report provided by Travel and Tour.
This means that the tourism sector in Belgium is marking a notable improvement, despite the fact that some transformed patterns in travelling and tourism can be noticed among Belgians, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Due to the spread of the Coronavirus and its new strains, government in the majority of countries worldwide kept in place strict entry rules and imposed travel bans in order to contain the virus’ further spread; however, the easing of the restrictions by authorities in Belgium as well as those in countries worldwide has led to an increase in the travel demand and also has notably improved the tourism sector.
In this regard, the CEO of Tourism Flanders, Peter De Wilde, stressed that he has seen how many difficulties tourist entrepreneurs faced, being subject to significant difficulties during the pandemic, but still, despite all odds, they never gave up and are now experiencing a lot of passengers from home as well as those from other countries to appreciate all the resources that make Flanders such as an exclusive tourist destination.
Recently, the Belgian statistical office, StatBel, said that the number of overnight stays spent in Belgian tourist accommodations rose to 3,871,283 in April this year.
In addition, the same revealed that the majority of overnight stays were in hotels, or 41 per cent, followed by holiday homes as well as apartments (20 per cent) and holiday centres and villages (14 per cent).
StateBel figures reveal that the number of overnight stays in April this year increased by a total of 120 per cent compared to the same period last year’s figures and by 8,614 per cent compared to April 2020, still below in comparison to pre-pandemic levels.
In the recent report provided by Antwerp airport, it was confirmed that nearly 81,705 passengers travelled through this airport in Belgium in the second quarter of this year.
“Business travel and private aviation at Antwerp Airport are also flourishing. The business segment exceeds the 2019 figures by more than ten per cent,” the statement revealed.
According to the airport’s statement, the figures registered in the second quarter of this year mean a total of 97.5 per cent increase compared to the figures of the same period in 2019.