Overview of Belgian Travel Trends in 2025
Key Destinations:
- France remained the most popular holiday destination for Belgians, significantly outpacing the Netherlands, Spain, and Italy.
- In 2025, Belgians took 31.2 million trips with at least one overnight stay, primarily for leisure and personal reasons.
Purpose of Travel:
- Only 6% of the trips were for business, a sign that business travel has not returned to pre-Covid levels, likely due to changes brought on by Zoom and remote work.
Business Travel Insights:
- Of the 1.9 million business trips, 18% were domestic.
- Notable foreign destinations included:
- France: 366,000 trips
- Germany: 229,000 trips
- Netherlands: 207,000 trips
- Business trips to Italy and Spain ranged from 44,000 to 79,000, alongside some trips to regions beyond Europe.
Domestic Travel:
- Almost a third of trips (9.4 million) were made within Belgium, with popular destinations being the Ardennes and the Belgian coast (2.9 million trips each).
- Art cities attracted 1.1 million visits.
Travel Preferences and Trends:
- When traveling abroad, 6.86 million trips were made to France, followed by 2.63 million to the Netherlands and 2.22 million to Spain.
Diverse Destination Popularity:
- Other destinations included Italy (1.45 million trips), Germany (1.44 million), and Morocco (around 700,000).
- Popular trip types were city breaks (35%), followed closely by seaside holidays (32%) and countryside trips (31%).
Transportation Choices:
- Most trips (over two-thirds) were made by car, motorbike, or camper (19.1 million), with air travel being the second most used mode (7.8 million).
- Within Belgium, the car was the preferred choice (83% of trips), whereas public transport usage was low: 12% by train and 3% by bus.
- The train was favored for trips to art cities (39%), but less so for the Ardennes and coast (5% and 12%, respectively).
Conclusion
The statistics indicate a strong preference for local travel, leisure activities, and a significant shift towards domestic travel. France’s dominance as a holiday destination illustrates ongoing cultural and geographical ties, while the decline in business travel suggests lasting impacts from the pandemic on professional travel habits.
