The City of Antwerp looks back on a festive summer with good numbers. “The Antwerp tourism sector can look back on a busy summer, with good visitor numbers thanks to the many fun events in the city. The changeable weather did not prevent many tourists from visiting the city and most tourism subsectors therefore recorded growth”, the City says in a press release.

Among other things, the arrival of the Giants of Royal de Luxe, the Bollekesfeest, Museum Night, the Antwerp Pride and many other sights made Antwerp the place to be for local and international visitors. 

Autumn also has beautiful prospects in store.

Day tourism

The City of Antwerp received more than 2.2 million day tourists this summer, an increase of 4.8% compared to the summer of 2022. Most day visitors come from the interior: mainly from the provinces of Antwerp, East Flanders and the Brussels-Capital Region.

​The international day tourist is also making a comeback. 28% of the day trippers come from abroad, the majority of which come from the Netherlands (43.6%) and Germany (16.5%). Spain (8.8%) is strikingly number three this year, the United Kingdom (7.4%) and France (5.6%) are fourth and fifth respectively.

​​Weekends in Antwerp

“The many fun events during the weekends, which account for 35% of all day visits, often caused a spike in the numbers, especially on Saturdays. Events such as Tomorrowland, the Antwerp Pride and the arrival of the Giants always attracted a lot of visitors to the Antwerp city center.”

Alderman for Tourism and Small Businesses Koen Kennis (N-VA): “I would like to reinforce this with an anecdote. An acquaintance of mine recently heard a Dutch visitor say to her partner ‘that they really go from party to party in Antwerp’. When I see these figures And what else is planned for this year, I can only agree with them.”

Residential tourism

Based on mobile data counts, 398,000 overnight stays were registered, which is an increase of 18.15% compared to 2022. 

There are again more international overnight tourists than national tourists this year, as was also the case before corona. Among those international visitors, the Dutch were again the most numerous, with 39.7%, followed by the Germans (18.2%) and this summer there were noticeably more British visitors (9.3%) in the city. The top five is completed by people from Spain (6.9%) and the United States (6.3%).

In order to continue to tap into this international market, the city of Antwerp has, among other things, focused on online attention on the basis of the Art Cities Campaign, together with Tourism Flanders. 

There were also collaborations with international players such as Hello New Place, Virtuoso, Reisetopia and more. The city also continues to focus on international press activities and thus receives a great deal of press attention abroad, most recently in Condé Nast Traveler.

Hotels

The average occupancy rate at the Antwerp hotels is 70.3%. That is 3% higher than the summer of 2022.

The average room price was €117.16 and in July this even increased to an average day room price of €125.12. 

In August this fell to €109.2, one of the lowest amounts recorded this year. Room prices rise every year, on the one hand due to rising inflation and on the other hand due to a willingness of visitors to pay more for the more luxurious offer in Antwerp.

The forecasts are also positive for September: there is currently an occupancy rate of 47% (rooms already booked). In addition, the Gymnastics World Championships later this fall also promise a large occupancy rate.

Didier Boehlen, president of the Antwerp Hotel Association: “Although Tomorrowland was only two weekends this year compared to three weekends in 2022, we have seen better numbers this summer. The increase in day room rates remains necessary to compensate for the rising costs of mainly personnel, food and energy, which have risen more than 10% this year. For the rest of the year, we are looking at a good occupation of recreational tourists during the weekend, but certainly also of business guests who visit our city for meetings or conferences.”

Camping remains popular: the City Camping Antwerp on Linkeroever (the Left Bank welcomed more than 8000 guests, doing just as well as last summer. This winter they will also remain open on weekends and during the holiday periods Christmas and Krokus (Carnival).

Attractions

Antwerp’s monumental churches welcomed about 130,000 visitors this summer. Due to the return of international tourists, they can record a nice increase of 20% compared to last year. Of all the churches, the Cathedral of Our Lady remains the most popular. The Night of the Churches also attracted extra visitors this summer, with no fewer than 14 Antwerp churches taking part.

The municipal museums were allowed to receive approximately the same number of visitors as during the summer of 2022. Considering that this year the Rubens House, one of the most visited museums in Antwerp, is closed for renovation works, this is a very strong achievement. 

The strongest riser was the Red Star Line Museum, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary later this year. They received 54% more visitors compared to the summer of 2022.

This summer, 697 guided tours were booked through Experience Antwerp. The most popular tours were those of the Antwerp city guides, but the underground history of De Ruien and the Vleeshuis also attracted many visitors. ​

Visitor centers

In total, the visitor centers received around 132,000 visitors, representing an increase of 27.6%. 78.4% of all those visits took place in Het Steen, which had a real top summer with more than 100,000 visitors and continues to prove itself as a tourist hotspot. 

Visitors could not only go there for tourist information, but this summer they could also enjoy a drink in the Offline summer bar.

The number of visitors to the tourist information desk at Antwerp-Central Railway Station remained the same as last summer, almost 30,000 visitors. Among the visitors to both centers, the Belgians are the most numerous, followed by the Germans and the Dutch.

Peak moments this summer were the Museum Night on August 5, the Rubens Market on August 15 and the weekend of the Giants.

As per annual tradition, the ATV-Wandelrally was again the most sold product, but typical Antwerp souvenirs also remain popular. The Antwerp City Pass, the digital successor to the Antwerp City Card, also sold well, 966 of which were sold. 

The most cards sold are the 48h cards, which, together with the 72h cards, accounted for 67% of all sales. This proves that the visitor still wants to spend at least two days or more to discover the city.

Cruises

A lot of cruise ships moored in Antwerp again. The number of passengers on sea cruises increased by no less than 140% compared to last year. This fall, the city expects 9 more sea cruises, of which 2 ships will dock for the first time: Ambition from the Ambassador Cruiseline and the MS Hanseatic Nature. The latter is a real luxury ship, built in 2019 and specially designed for ice water. It can accommodate 230 passengers and 175 crew members.

River cruises continue to do very well in Antwerp. The city received 159 of those cruises, representing some 23,000 visitors. Another 187 will moor in the autumn

Autumn and winter 2023

There are also many exciting events planned for Antwerp residents and visitors this autumn and winter.

A selection from the offer:

• Open Monumentendag, 10 September.
• Antwerp Shift, 17 September.
• ZuiderZinnen, 17 September.
• Smaakmeesters, 30 September – 1 October.
• 10 years Red Star Line Museum, 30 September – 1 October.
• World Championships of gymnastics, 30 September – 8 October.
• Expo ‘Krasse Koppen’ KMSKA, 20 October – 21 January.
• De Grote Schijn Rivierenhof, 26 October – 19 November.
• Expo ‘Zeldzaam en Onmisbaar’ MAS, 31 October – 25 February.
• Winter in Antwerp, 8 December – 7 January.

On tourism

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• ANTWERP | 2022 tourism statistics show recovery towards 2019 numbers.
• City happy with Winter in Antwerp 2022-2023 edition.
• Belgians make 4.5 million day trips to Antwerp every year.
• ANTWERP | 2 million day tourists and 337K overnight stays in the summer of 2022.
• Belgians travelled massively in the first quarter of 2022.
• The Major Flaws of domestic tourism in Belgium.
• Discovering Belgium and the Netherlands in COVID times.
• Will COVID-19 be the End of Business Class?.
• The world of travel and planning after coronavirus COVID-19.
• Balancing travel enthusiasm and the reality of the coronavirus crisis.
• Skam or being shamed for going outside.
• FLANDERS | Castles of the Scheldt.