Belgium
Intro
Travellers from Belgium made 24.0 million outbound visits in 2022, with a total international tourism expenditure of US$16.3 billion.
In 2022, the UK welcomed 679,000 visits from Belgium. During the travellers’ visits, their total expenditure was a record £402 million, with an average spend of £593 per person.
Discover visitor behaviour, travel trade insights, detailed visualisations for this market – and more. The statistics in this market report are collated from a range of sources such as the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as well as sponsored questions and our own research. For further details, see How we source this information.
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 for this market
Dining in a restaurant.
Sightseeing of famous buildings and monuments.
Going shopping.
Explore the inbound data in full
Use our visualisations to see data from this market in greater depth and clarity. Compare annual statistics, and filter by age group, gender, trip duration and more. Includes seasonality, trip purpose and regional spread of visitors to UK destinations. This data is based on the International Passenger Survey, conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
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Perceptions of Britain in the Belgian market
- 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% think 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.
Global context
Top-level statistics relating to the population, GDP, tourism expenditure and popular destinations for this market. For greater detail on inbound tourism flows from this market to the UK, see our data visualisations.
Measure | 2022 |
International tourism expenditure (US$bn) | 16.3 |
Global rank for international tourism expenditure | 16 |
Number of outbound visits (m) | 24.0 |
Most visited destination | France |
Key demographic and economic data
Measure | 2022 |
Population (m) | 11.6 |
GDP per capita PPP (US$) | 62,888 |
Annual average GDP growth over past decade (%) | 1.5 |
Annual GDP growth (%) | 3.2 |
Caring for visitors
- Three- or four-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 and 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
The key routes and transport modes that connect this market with the UK.
Measure | 2023 |
Weekly aircraft departures | 108 |
Weekly seat capacity | 17,043 |
Airports with direct routes in Belgium | 3 |
Airports with direct routes in Britain | 7 |
| Eurostar trains per day from Brussels | 9 |
| 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 are 108 weekly departures, with an average seat capacity of 17,043 in 2023.
- Following the COVID-19 pandemic, scheduled seat capacity on non-stop flights from Belgium to the UK has recovered to 79% of 2019 levels in 2023.
- Those who fly back to Belgium from Britain pay £13 in Air Passenger Duty if flying economy.
Further resources
Belgium market snapshot.pdf
Belgium market snapshot
Belgium market profile.pdf
Discover Belgium’s travel trends, business preferences and key event organisations.
Where Belgian visitors reside.xlsx
Where visitors from Belgium to the UK reside in their own country
How we source this information
We work with a number of data sources to provide a rich and insightful picture of our key inbound source markets. This includes, but is not limited to, data provided by Oxford Economics, the UNWTO, Apex, Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index and from our own surveys and ad-hoc research. The largest share of the data comes from the International Passenger Survey (IPS) by the ONS.
Visit our About the International Passenger Survey page for more information on how the data is collected and analysed.
