The coronavirus pandemic and its related lockdowns had a massive effect on travel both within and outside of the country, according to figures released from Statbel on Thursday.
Belgians took 76% fewer business and holiday trips in 2020, compared to the year before.
The biggest drop off came predictably in March, when the first coronavirus lockdown began. Just a couple months later, in the second half of May, trips began to increase slightly again, but nowhere near 2019 numbers.
Graphic from Statbel
The summer saw Belgians take 5 million trips in July and August, but this was still a 28% decrease over the same period for the year before, and most trips for 2020 (62%) were domestic ones.
Another sharp decrease came with the second lockdown.
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, around three quarters of end-of-the-year excursions were to destinations outside of Belgium, but in December 2020 there were 88% fewer trips abroad compared to 2019.
The decrease in the number of business trips was even sharper than the decline in holiday or other personal trips - those were 83% lower in the last part of 2020.
