A great summer for tourism in Brussels: the Flower Carpet and Tomorrowland weekends break all records.This year, hotel numbers were up in July and August, with an average rise of 6 per cent compared with last year (73% compared with 67% occupation rates in 2013). “Our promotional activities to place Brussels as a summer destination have seen fantastic results, and we are incredibly proud. More and more tourists have been visiting, especially at weekends, despite our rather Belgian climate. We have also seen a rise in visits to our website, visitbrussels.be (17% more visitors compared to 2013),” confirms Patrick Bontinck, CEO of visit.brussels.
According to Rodolphe Van Weyenbergh, Secretary General of the Brussels Hotels Association (BHA), “the summer was a success for hoteliers, confirming Brussels’ appeal as a leisure destination. The momentum is worth pursuing. These good results in terms of tourist numbers should not however mask the challenge faced by the sector when it comes to profitability, which is more precarious than ever due to the profit margins per room”.

The highpoint of the season was the Flower Carpet weekend (16/08), when average visitor numbers reached 95%. The weekend of 21 July and the one after that also saw fantastic results thanks to the Tomorrowland festival, with each one exceeding 90%.