Figures released on Friday by the West Flanders Tourist Information Office (Westtoer), the NPO Kusthotels and the De Lijn public transport group show that July was a good month for the Belgian coast. Although the weather has been quite varied over the past few days, from a tourism perspective, July is considered a successful month along the coast. “About 3 million day-trippers visited the coast in July,” said Westtoer president Franky De Block, adding that the figures make the coast the country’s top holiday destination. The busiest weekend was the July 21st weekend, with an average of 370,000 visitors a day.
Representing hotels on the coast, the NPO Kusthotels confirms that July was indeed a great month. “Occupancy rates reached 90, sometimes even 95% at weekends and 75-80% on weekdays. This constitutes a good month for the holiday season, to add to several busy weekends we had back in spring.” Westtoer adds that 2015 figures are higher than last year’s.
Occupancy rates in both holiday homes and campsites were also high, holiday-makers still fond of looking for a last-minute booking.
De Lijn’s coastal tramway shuttled some 2 million tourists in July, an 11% increase on 2014. Around the July 21st bank holiday, 70,000 people used the line daily and 345,000 travellers purchased a day ticket.
(Source: Belga)
