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Tourism in Belgium is one of Belgium's industries. Its accessibility from elsewhere in Europe makes it a popular tourist destination. The tourist industry generates 2.8% of Belgium's gross domestic product and employs 3.3% of the working population (142,000 people). [1] 6.7 million people travelled to Belgium in 2005. [2] Two-thirds of them come from the larger nearby countries - France, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Germany; there are also many tourists from Spain and Italy.

Like many national institutions in Belgium, the national tourist agencies are split along regional lines with two tourist agencies. They are the Belgian Tourist Office Brussels & Wallonia for the regions of Wallonia and Brussels Capital-Region, and Toerisme Vlaanderen covering Flanders, although it covers Brussels as well.

In 1993, 2% of the total workforce was employed in tourism, less than in many neighbouring countries. [3] Much of the tourism industry is located either on the heavily developed coastline or in the Ardennes. [4] Brussels and the Flemish cities of Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Leuven, and Mechelen, the Flemish Cities of Art, attract many cultural tourists. [2] Much tourism in Brussels is business tourism.

Belgium was ranked 21st on the World Economic Forum's 2017 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness report. [5] The country was placed 4th for "health and hygiene" and 6th for "ground and port infrastructure", but only 105th in the world for "price competitiveness" and 122nd for "natural resources". In recent years, the number of international tourists has exponentially grown as key figures shown by Tourisme Vlaanderen.

Arrivals by country

Most visitors arriving to Belgium on short-term basis in come from the following countries of nationality:

Rank Country 2014 [6] 2015 [7] 2016 [8]
1   Netherlands 1,705,537 1,919,413 1,854,486
2   France 1,264,291 1,285,610 1,202,041
3   United Kingdom 1,026,003 1,043,613 868,173
4   Germany 868,250 945,974 865,031
5   Spain 366,474 360,220 304,598
6   United States 366,061 388,423 299,907
7   Italy 299,864 294,945 224,762
8   China 169,075 209,045 147,654
9   Luxembourg 100,002 114,899 110,953
10    Switzerland 108,031 118,796 91,308
11   Poland 87,698 94,937 90,914
12   Sweden 69,994 68,021 65,117
13   Denmark 60,330 61,927 63,415
14   Russia 97,183 72,630 60,386
15   Ireland N/A N/A 57,266
16   Turkey 49,475 61,538 55,410
17   Portugal N/A N/A 54,221
18   Canada 59,289 61,357 50,521
19   Japan 111,939 96,444 50,253
20   Romania N/A N/A 45,077
Total foreign 7,887,426 8,354,753 7,481,422

See also

References

  1. ^ "More support for tourism". flandersnews.be. 2007-03-02. Archived from the original on 2007-03-05. Retrieved 2007-03-02.
  2. ^ a b Travel and Tourism in Belgium - euromonitor.com
  3. ^ Tourism Services - World Trade Organization
  4. ^ Belgium - The tertiary sector from diplomatie.be
  5. ^ "Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017" (PDF). World Economic Forum. 2017-04-05. Retrieved 2018-04-13.
  6. ^ Tourisme selon pays de provenance 2014
  7. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-11-15. Retrieved 2017-06-11.{{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title ( link)
  8. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-08-20. Retrieved 2017-08-20.{{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title ( link)

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Belgium.
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