Fewer American tourists visiting Brussels

The beginning of the year has been marked by a decrease in the number of American travellers visiting Europe, and Brussels in particular, according to data provided by Visit.brussels.

Data shows that arrivals from the United States to the Belgian capital fell by 11% in January and then by 17% in February.

The American demographic with its penchant for high-end establishments is an "interesting clientele" for Brussels, one hotel concierge told RTBF.

“They visit a lot and they frequent many different types of restaurants,” said Hotel Amigo’s Marc, who has been a concierge for almost 40 years.

“I love asking customers: ‘Where are you from?’ They come from everywhere, from the west, the east, the centre, sometimes from small towns. And they are often older.”

Laurence Demaré, the hotel's spokesman, confirmed that American tourists come with higher-than-average spending and a preference for more upmarket tourism.

“Americans are very important to us,” Demaré said.

“They are really in the top four nationalities that we have here at the hotel, along with France, the UK and of course the Benelux.”

But since the inauguration of the new American president, Donald Trump, Visit.brussels has been concerned about the decline in bookings from the United States.

“We met at the end of December with several European cities and wondered: what will be the impact of the election on tourism?” said director Patrick Bontinck.

“We were all quite confident, because the American market had been very resilient in recent years and was growing steadily. Unfortunately, since January and February, we have seen a drop in American visitors.”

He thinks there may be a Trump effect at play: “It's a bit worrying, because it's a market that was booming. It was the market that grew the most after Covid. Fortunately, the Asian market is picking up again. So maybe we're going to see a pendulum effect.”

Another potential factor is that American media coverage of the war in Ukraine may emphasise the geographical proximity of the conflict to their travel destination.

“I think what we underestimated is that in the American media, the war in Ukraine was not making the headlines every day,” said Bontinck.

“Today, with Trump, it’s making the headlines in the American media. And so I think there is also an impact, in fact, of information, of over-information given to the American citizen who says to himself: well, something is happening in Europe.”

For the time being, Brussels hoteliers have not yet observed a significant drop in the number of visitors. But trends in airline bookings indicate that the phenomenon will persist in the coming months: projections show a 4% drop in flights from the United States to Brussels in the future.