In August 2025, the second month of the summer holiday, Brussels Airport in Zaventem, Belgium welcomed 2.5 million passengers, an increase of 3% compared to August 2024. Because of the end of the school holidays, the number of arriving passengers was very high, the airport manager says in a press release.
Tag: North America
End of the line for Grand Bazar: Antwerp’s and Belgium’s shopping centres face new reality
The Grand Bazar shopping centre on Antwerp’s Groenplaats is set to disappear entirely to make way for the expansion of the Hilton Hotel, both Het Laatste Nieuws and Gazet van Antwerpen report. The once-busy mall will be largely dismantled, with only the ground-floor retail units remaining. These shops will no longer be accessed from within…
TRAINS IN LUXEMBOURG | CFL’s Alstom Coradia Stream HC ‘Série 2400’
We haven’t travelled to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg since 2018 and 2019, but in January 2025 we returned to get a taste of the Alstom Coradia Stream HC which the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois (CFL) runs under the name Série 2400. The Coradia Stream HC was a candidate to become NMBS…
Travel in 2024: Spain, France, USA, China, Mexico lose ground and Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, UAE to grow market share
In 2024, Google and consultancy giant Deloitte wrote the paper ‘NextGen Travellers and Destinations‘, studying the the before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course, the paper was written before 2025, which has proven to be a year of turmoil the world hasn’t experienced in many decades.
France, Spain, USA, China and Italy most visited countries in the world, Belgium 41st
France, Spain, the United States of America, the People’s Republic of China and Italy are the most visited countries in the world. Belgium ranks 41st, the Netherlands 20th. Not only the 193 member states of the United Nations are counted, but also other top level domains such as Hong Kong (17th).
GERMANY | Bauhaus in Dessau
October 2024. During a week-long whistle-stop tour of Germany, we visit Dessau-Roßlau in Saxony-Anhalt, Weimar in Thuringia, Coburg in Upper Franconia (Bavaria) and Kassel in Hesse. Smaller cities, yes. But each with their own significance. Untouched by overtourism. We’re avoiding using the white trains of DB Fernverkehr, Deutsche Bahn‘s long-distance section and opt to use…
UN WORLD TOURISM BAROMETER | International tourism recovers pre-pandemic levels in 2024
With 1.4 billion international tourist arrivals recorded globally, 2024 marked the recovery of international tourism from the worst crisis in the sector’s history. A majority of destinations welcomed more international tourists in 2024 than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic, while visitor spending also continued to grow strongly. For 2025, more growth is predicted.
2025: Overtourism overdose?
On 1 January 2024 we wrote about how rising prices affect travel. Not only the price of flights, but also the price of activities. Pricing was a topic the year before, 2023. In 2024, conventional and social media dug into the issue of overtourism. Articles about locals protesting, Instagrammers posting about big crowds in Japan…
USA | 25 hours in New York City
June 2024. For our first visit to the United States of America since the COVID-19 pandemic, we flew to New Orleans via London Heathrow with British Airways. After two days of exploring NOLA, Amtrak‘s Crescent overnight train brought us from Louisiana to New York, where we we stayed one night only before flying home.
ANDALUSIA | Málaga ft. the Alcazaba and the Cathedral
Six days. Five overnight stays in five cities in Spain. Lunch in Paris. Stopover in Barcelona. Then Córdoba, Seville, Granada and Málaga. An Andalusia Whirlwind Tour where we visit the Mezquita and the Alhambra. We’re touring Andalusia in October 2023 to follow the trend of travelling to hot spots outside summer, as we did with…