The City of Antwerp is unsurprisingly happy with the 2023-2024 edition of Winter in Antwerp (Winter in Antwerpen), which was held from 8 December 2023 until 7 January 2024. Last Sunday, the City held its New Year’s Treat, called ‘t Stad trakteert. 

Despite the sometimes very bad weather, almost 1,300,000 visitors came to take a look, the same number as during the previous edition. “The high number of visitors shows that Antwerp residents and visitors really care about Winter in Antwerp”, the press release says.

The New Year’s Eve fireworks had a record attendance of more than 150,000 spectators, partly thanks to cancellations in other cities.

Opening weekend

The opening weekend was an immediate hit. Nearly 223,000 visitors came to enjoy an attractively decorated city center, the press release says. 

With the opening show on the ice rink, a performance by Jaap Resema in the JOE Christmas House, various street animations and choir performances at the ‘Singing Christmas Tree‘ stand at the Handschoenmarkt at the Cathedral of Our Lady and at the fountain on the Hendrik Conscienceplein, Winter in Antwerp got off to a good start.

Whole city packed

This year Winter in Antwerp really took over the entire city. At Koningin Astridplein, visitors could enjoy a beautiful view of the city with a visit to the Ferris wheel. From there, a string of lights led visitors past Operaplein into the historic heart of the city. There was plenty to do for young and old on the Grote Markt, Groenplaats, Handschoenmarkt, Suikerrui and Hendrik Conscienceplein.

The Avenue of Lights or Lichtjeslaan on the Suikerrui and the mill with mistletoe were again very popular for taking atmospheric photos. The beautifully illuminated Cathedral of Our Lady was also often photographed.

The classics continued to score. More than 1,100,000 passers-by enjoyed an attractively decorated Christmas Market, with 72 stalls, from Operaplein to Grote Markt. 

50,000 skaters came to test their skills on the ice rink on the Groenplaats. 20,000 visitors had a beautiful view of the city from the Ferris wheel on Koningin Astridplein. 

Scores of fans and music lovers visited the JOE Christmas House, which broadcast nearly 286 hours of live radio, or attended one of the many surprise performances. Winter bar Den Après on the Groenplaats was again a great success this edition.

Due to the disappearance of animation on the Steenplein, Winter in Antwerp also took place this year at new locations such as the Hendrik Conscienceplein and Operaplein. 

The Operaplein immediately attracted many new visitors, the Conscienceplein had a rather slow start, but still offers growth margin for subsequent years.

Fireworks

On December 31, Antwerp traditionally started the new year with a bang and it was a success. More than 150,000 visitors were impressed by the beautiful fireworks spectacle above the Scheldt River and wished each other the best for the new year. That is a record number and no fewer than 10,000 spectators more than last year. The broadcast of the fireworks on VRT 1 attracted almost 700,000 viewers, a market share of almost 50%.

The City treats

Today the city treated its residents to start the new year festively. Visitors could enjoy Winter in Antwerp one last time and exchange their free tokens for a drink in one of the many food and drink chalets or the winter bar Den Après on the Groenplaats.

Visitor numbers

78% of all visitors came from Belgium. Many foreign tourists also visited Winter in Antwerp. The majority of the turnout came from the Netherlands (50%), Germany (8%) and Spain (7%). This included day-trippers, but also visitors who stayed longer in the Scheldt City. 

Antwerp hotels had a high occupancy rate of 70.8% in the period between Christmas and New Year.

Our take

It is undeniable this Winter in Antwerp season was a success visitor number wise. The inner city was full. There were so many Dutch visitors. It felt like 1830 never happened. 

But we did the Christmas Market twice and honestly, we weren’t enchanted. It couldn’t come near the charms of a German Christmas Market such as the ones in Bonn, in North Rhine-Westphalia. You’ll read about that in October 2024. 

On tourism

• ​CLIMATE CHANGE & TRAVEL | Is Belgium ready to be the Spain and Italy of the future?.
• Condé Nast Traveler praises Antwerp as one of the Best Places to Go in 2024 in Europe.
• Flanders’ art cities residents still proud of their city, but highlight drawbacks of tourism more
• Antwerp hotel industry demands stricter rules and enforcement for Airbnb as business tourism is not recovering.
• 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 | 2.2 million day tourists and 398K overnight stays in the summer of 2023.
• 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.