Nearly 45 million overnight stays were booked in Belgian holiday homes last year – about 194,000 more than in 2023, according to an initial estimate by Belgian statistics office Statbel.
More than a quarter of these were registered during the summer holidays, and just over half of all overnight stays were booked by Belgians (23.1 million or 51.7%).
"In 2024, the months with the most overnight stays were July (6,133,924 overnight stays) and August (6,021,286 overnight stays). These two months alone account for 27.1% of the total number of overnight stays," said Statbel.
Hotels over B&Bs
The others were foreign nationals who came to Belgium for at least one night. These were mainly Dutch (6.1 million), German (3.2 million), French (2.7 million), British (1.8 million) and American (almost 960,000) tourists.
More than six in ten overnight stays (62.9%) took place in holiday homes in Flanders, amounting to a total of 28 million – 0.6% more than in 2023. While there was an increase of 3.5% in the Brussels-Capital Region, bringing the number to 7.1 million, the number of overnight stays in Walloon holiday homes fell by 2.4%, to 9.5 million.
Tourists usually spend the night in hotels, which accounted for almost 21 million overnight stays (+1.3%). Stays in gîtes, holiday homes and apartments also increased by 1.6%, while people slept less often in holiday centres and holiday villages (-4.4%), and B&Bs (-2.4%).
