Belgium

The International Passenger Survey (IPS) was suspended on 16 March 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic until the start of 2021. The ONS have made every effort to produce high-quality estimates for the periods when IPS data is not being collected but have not been able to produce a full set of results. See the 2020 inbound page for more information.

The 2021 data is ‘incomplete’ as Eurotunnel data was unavailable for the entire year. In addition, interviewing at Dover restarted from Q3 2021 and pseudo records for the Irish land border were also removed in 2021. More info can be found on the 2021 inbound page.

For 2022, Eurotunnel data was also unavailable for the first half of the year. Interviewing at Eurostar was not affected by Covid-19 restrictions in 2021 or the first half of 2022. The ONS restarted IPS interviews at all ports from July 2022. The latest data can be found on the monthly and quarterly pages.

Due to the above, the latest full year IPS data below is from 2019.

Visitor characteristics

There are more than twice as many male than female business visitors
Almost four-in-five Belgian holiday visitors (excluding British expats) are making a repeat visit to Britain (within ten years)
Far more visitors come from Brussels than any other part of Belgium
97% of departing visitors from Belgium (excluding British expats) are ‘likely’ or ‘extremely likely’ to recommend a visit to Britain

Popular activities

Dining in a restaurant

Sightseeing of Famous Buildings/ Monuments

Went Shopping

Global context


Measure	2019
International tourism expenditure (US$bn)	18.8
Global rank for international tourism expenditure	20
Number of outbound visits (m)	26.9
Most visited destination	France

Key demographic and economic data


Measure	2022
Population (m)	11.6
GDP per capita PPP (US$)	57,785
Annual average GDP growth over past decade (%)	1.4
Annual GDP growth (%)	2.5

Belgium Market Snapshot (PDF, 468KB)

Belgium Market Profile (PDF, 2.71MB)

Find out where visitors from Belgium to the UK reside in their own country(Excel, 176KB, Published 2015)

Read about the preferences of Europeans towards tourism (PDF, 1.65MB, Published March 2015)

Exchange rate

1 GBP = 1.1345 EUR

As of 30 March 2023

Retrieved from the Bank of England

Inbound visits to Britain from Belgium

Applied filters:

Display:

Drag to change year on charts and tables.

Touch the data points to see the values.

OVERVIEW OF UK VISITOR STATISTICS {{activeYear.name}}

Number of visits

{{ totalVisitsPerc == 'Infinity' ? '-' : totalVisitsPerc >= 0 ? '+' + totalVisitsPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' : totalVisitsPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' }}

{{item.name}} {{item.data | fixUnits}}

Total expenditure (GBP)

{{ totalSpendPerc == 'Infinity' ? '-' : totalSpendPerc >= 0 ? '+' + totalSpendPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' : totalSpendPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' }}

{{item.name}} {{item.data | spendUnits}}

Total nights spent

{{ totalNightsPerc == 'Infinity' ? '-' : totalNightsPerc >= 0 ? '+' + totalNightsPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' : totalNightsPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' }}

{{item.name}} {{item.data | fixUnits}}

Average length of stay (Nights)

{{ isNaN(avgStayPerc) ? '-' : avgStayPerc >= 0 ? '+' + avgStayPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' : avgStayPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' }}

{{item.name}} {{item.data.toFixed(2)}}

Average spend per visit (GBP)

{{ isNaN(avgSpendPerc) ? '-' : avgSpendPerc >= 0 ? '+' + avgSpendPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' : avgSpendPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' }}

{{item.name}} {{item.data | spendUnits(0, 'hideUnit')}}

* Change from {{Number(activeYear.name) - 1}}

Chart
Table

	{{seasonalityBox.visits.data[1].name}}		{{seasonalityBox.visits.data[0].name}}
	Visits	% total	Visits	% total
{{item}}	{{seasonalityBox.visits.data[1].data[index] \| fixUnits(2)}}	{{seasonalityBox.visits.data[1].totalPerc[index]}} %	{{seasonalityBox.visits.data[0].data[index] \| fixUnits(2, 'showDigits')}}	{{seasonalityBox.visits.data[0].totalPerc[index]}} %

Chart
Table

		{{journeyBox.visits.data[1].name}}				{{journeyBox.visits.data[0].name}}
	Visits	% total	Nights	% total	Visits	% total	Nights	% total
{{item}}	{{journeyBox.visits.data[1].data[index] \| fixUnits(2)}}	{{journeyBox.visits.data[1].totalPerc[index]}} %	{{journeyBox.nights.data[1].data[index] \| fixUnits(2)}}	{{journeyBox.nights.data[1].totalPerc[index]}} %	{{journeyBox.visits.data[0].data[index] \| fixUnits(2, 'showDigits')}}	{{journeyBox.visits.data[0].totalPerc[index]}} %	{{journeyBox.nights.data[0].data[index] \| fixUnits(2, 'showDigits')}}	{{journeyBox.nights.data[0].totalPerc[index]}} %

Chart
Table

	{{durationBox.visits.data[1].name}}		{{durationBox.visits.data[0].name}}
	Visits	% total	Visits	% total
{{item}}	{{durationBox.visits.data[1].data[index] \| fixUnits(2)}}	{{durationBox.visits.data[1].totalPerc[index]}} %	{{durationBox.visits.data[0].data[index] \| fixUnits(2, 'showDigits')}}	{{durationBox.visits.data[0].totalPerc[index]}} %

What Belgians think about Britain

Museums and films are the cultural products that Belgians most closely associate with Britain
44% say a potential trip to Britain would be 'exciting'
46% associate the statement 'has a rich and interesting history' with Britain but a greater number associate it with both France and Italy
42% reckon that Britain 'is good for high street shopping'
One-in-three associate Britain with the statement 'is rich in natural scenic beauty' but competitor destinations are much more strongly associated with the attribute

Caring for visitors

3 or 4 star hotels tend to be the favoured form of holiday accommodation, with an eagerness for value for money and a warm personal welcome
Belgians like to take time over their meals and take pride in their cuisine
Belgians are comfortable paying for goods and services with a credit card when on holiday

The leisure & travel trade

Group operators, especially those providing school and youth travel, are an important sector of the travel trade selling Britain
Most Belgians book a holiday to Britain directly on the internet
It is wise to be on time for meetings

Access to Britain from Belgium


Measure	2022
Weekly aircraft departures	84
Weekly seat capacity	14,319
Airports with direct routes in Belgium	2
Airports with direct routes in Britain	7
Eurostar trains per day from Brussels	7
Weekly ferry crossings	7

The majority of Belgians reach Britain by means of the Channel Tunnel
The bulk of plane seat capacity serves the Brussels to Heathrow corridor
There were 84 weekly departures with an average seating capacity of 14,319 in 2022
Following the severe impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, scheduled flight seat capacity from Belgium to the UK in 2022 recovered to 66% of 2019 levels
Those who fly back to Belgium from Britain pay £13 in Air Passenger Duty if flying economy

Markets

Belgium