Foreign holidaymakers discover Belgian coast during Christmas holidays

During the Christmas holidays, foreign holidaymakers found their way back to the coast, according to figures from Westtoer. Despite a slight drop in the number of day tourists and residential tourists, the Christmas holidays were back to pre-corona crisis levels thanks to foreign tourists. The coast received a total of 540,000 day tourists, down 10% from last year. Accommodation tourism was also down 5% to 1.7 million overnight stays.

Successful Christmas holidays for seaside hotels

Westtoer reports on a successful Christmas holiday despite changeable weather. The busiest day by the sea was on 27 December with 60,000 day tourists. Traditionally, New Year's Eve was the best night for accommodation tourism. Hotels recorded an average occupancy rate of 70 per cent for year-end. Overall, there was a slight decrease on the number of overnight stays, but with 1.7 million nights spent in hotels, hotels can still speak of a successful Christmas holiday. Notable is the return of foreign tourists to the sea after the corona period. For instance, twice as many German and French guests were in hotels during the Christmas holidays compared to the Christmas holidays last year.