Visitor figures for spring break give Belgian coastal resorts a boost

Coastal hotels and rental properties recorded 2.5 million overnight stays during the Easter holidays, reports RTBF. The figure, based on estimates by the provincial tourism organisation Westtoer, is similar to that recorded over the same period last year.

Visitors were initially slow to arrive at Belgium’s coastal resorts due to the mixed weather but the arrival of sunshine as the extended Easter weekend began sparked a run of last-minute bookings. Hotels experienced an occupancy of 90 to 95% during the long weekend, which is as high as in 2019.

On the rental side, the occupancy rate during the first week of the holidays was between 70% and 80%. For the second week, with the extended Easter weekend, bookings were significantly higher, with occupancy rates between 85% and 95%.

For the camping sector, the second week and the extended Easter weekend were particularly favourable periods with an occupancy rate of up to 90%.

Visitors were mostly Belgians, but many others crossed the borders from Germany, the Netherlands and France to holiday by the sea.