Tourism sector in positive mood as summer holidays begin

Despite the unreliable weather, the Luxembourg tourist board is pleased with the number of travellers who have come to the country so far. The outlook for the rest of the summer is promising.

“Luxembourg is one of the few European destinations that already exceeded pre-pandemic visitor numbers last year,” said Alain Krier, head of insights and strategy at Luxembourg for Tourism. the Luxembourg Times by email.

“The start of the 2024 season can be described as stable at a high level, with an overall better result in Luxembourg City – also thanks to the return of business tourism, whose recovery after Covid is now on par with that of leisure tourism.”

While bookings were initially strong, unreliable weather this spring and early summer put a damper on reservations in the important camping sector, Krier said, with some campgrounds forced to close over the Pentecost weekend due to lack of business.

Culture, events, wellness, health, culinary and wine are all areas that Krier identifies as strong growth areas, “in addition to the already well-established themes for Luxembourg, such as city breaks and hiking.”

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Data for 2023 shows that Luxembourg returned to pre-pandemic visitor numbers, with visitors staying an average of 2.4 days. An easy way for destinations to generate more tourism revenue is to encourage visitors to stay longer.

Duration of stay

However, data on the length of stay in Luxembourg can be misleading, as 36% of guests who spent a holiday in Luxembourg in 2023 combined their visit to Luxembourg with at least one overnight stay in a neighbouring country.

According to Krier, this kind of cross-border shared tourism is far from being bad for Luxembourg, but rather an opportunity. “It is important to work together with neighbouring destinations to come up with transnational offers, such as the ‘Escapardenne Trail’. This can ensure longer and more sustainable stays.”

The national tourist organisation has published interim figures showing that travel has increased by 1-2% so far in 2024 compared to 2023. The figures are based on figures from statistics agency Statec, data from online search and booking tools and Luxembourg for Tourism’s own research.

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The agency also predicts that the good times for the sector will continue throughout the summer, as search and booking data from July through September shows a 4-5% growth compared to 2023 for hotel and campsite bookings.

“The outlook for the summer season is therefore positive,” Krier said. “This is also confirmed by the still high figures for future travel intentions of Europeans from the relevant surveys, such as the European Travel Commission, which says that 75% are planning at least one trip until October. Travel remains a priority for consumers, despite the increased travel and living costs.”

Although the lion’s share of overnight stays are spent by people visiting from abroad, the study on the travel behaviour of residents shows that 5.9% of holiday trips by Luxembourgers in 2022 took place within the Grand Duchy.

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