The Brussels-Capital Region recorded a record number of overnight stays last year, outgoing Brussels Minister-President Rudi Vervoort (PS) stated. However, the official figure will not be known until mid-2025.
9.85 million overnight stays were booked in Brussels in 2024, Vervoort said in the parliamentary committee for Territorial Development on Monday, in response to a question from Brussels MP Martine Raets (Open VLD). This includes all overnight stays, including in hotels, but also youth hostels and private apartments offered on platforms such as Airbnb.
However, the spokesperson for visit.brussels, Jeroen Roppe, told Bruzz this is only a preliminary figure. "We will not receive the final figures from Statbel and Eurostat until June." However, the agency did confirm that this figure gives a good picture of the situation.
Roppe told The Brussels Times in January that the visitor figures for the whole of 2024 were looking very good and that the number of overnight stays in the region will likely surpass that of 2019, the previous record year for tourism in Brussels. He now told Bruzz the number of overnight stays in 2024 is 4.8 percentage points higher than in 2023, and 3.6 percentage points higher than in 2019.
Where Brussels was once known as mainly a business city, it has now become one of leisure, too, which has helped increase figures. Many Brussels-based events and the city's cultural heritage are driving this trend. Some examples include techno parties, vibrant festivals, the winter market, Art Nouveau and Art Deco.
Vervoort also provided figures on the origin of the tourists who stayed overnight in Brussels last year. Almost a quarter (23%) were people living in Belgium, while 11% came from France. Americans, Germans and British each accounted for about 7% of overnight stays booked, with Spaniards (6%) close behind. Italians and the Dutch each accounted for 4%.
