In 2024, Belgian rooms and apartments rented via platforms such as Booking.com and popular tourism villain Airbnb attracted more guests than ever before. During the peak month of August 2024, over 52,000 accommodations were rented out daily. 

This trend reflects the growing popularity of online booking platforms in the country. Holiday rentals through websites like Airbnb, Booking.com, Tripadvisor, and Expedia reached a new record last summer, according to the latest figures from Eurostat. 

In the first nine months of 2024, more than 9 million overnight stays were booked, marking a 10 percent increase from 2023 and a 30 percent rise from the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

These figures specifically pertain to apartments and rooms offered by private individuals and professional landlords via the mentioned platforms, excluding hotels and campsites. 

From abroad

Foreign tourists were the primary drivers of this growth, with an 11 percent increase in booked overnight stays. 

Belgian guests accounted for less than a third of all overnight stays. Throughout the year, with the exception of April and June, every month saw higher occupancy rates compared to the previous year. August was the busiest month, with over 1.6 million overnight stays, averaging 52,200 occupied accommodations daily.

Modest growth

However, Belgium‘s growth in this sector is modest compared to other European countries. Only Hungary, Liechtenstein, and Iceland experienced slower growth in rental via booking platforms.

 The European average saw a 19 percent increase in booked nights, nearly double that of Belgium. Top tourist destinations like France, Spain, and Italy showed similar growth figures. 

Malta stood out with a 42 percent increase in booked nights compared to 2023. Scandinavian countries also saw stronger growth in holiday rentals via platform companies.

Free University of Brussels (VUB) sociologist Pieter-Paul Verhaeghe attributes the slower Belgian growth to several factors. The platform giants showed a weaker recovery post-pandemic compared to the traditional hotel sector, Vergaeghe tells De Tijd.

Additionally, Belgium faced weakened domestic tourism, which was not fully compensated by foreign visitors, unlike in countries such as Spain and Germany. 

The number of business travellers to Belgium likely decreased as online meetings became more prevalent. 

Verhaeghe notes that stricter regulations for platform companies are not the primary cause, as these regulations are not necessarily stricter in Belgium than in other countries like France or the Netherlands. Moreover, the market share of such companies remains high in Belgium, second only to Croatia.

An assessment

Already during the pandemic we wrote domestic tourism in Belgium is not attractive. In a way it’s farcical. There are too many inhabitants and way too few popular spots of interest. 

Some tourism statistics

• BELGIUM | Flemish museums attracted more than 4.8 million visitors in 2023.
• Belgium sees modest tourism growth in 2024, led by Flanders and Brussels.
• Travel in 2024: Spain, France, USA, China, Mexico lose ground and Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, UAE to grow market share.
• France, Spain, USA, China and Italy most visited countries in the world, Belgium 41st.
• France welcomed 100 million international visitors in 2024.
• Turkey welcomed 62 million international tourists who together spent $61 billion in 2024.
• SPAIN | 94 million international visitors and €108.7 billion tourism income in 2024.
• UN WORLD TOURISM BAROMETER | International tourism recovers pre-pandemic levels in 2024.
• Outside the EU, Europeans mostly travel to Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
• Intra-European travel mostly for fun and / or family.
• Europeans visit other European countries over 7 nights on average.