Hotels in the East Flemish capital are looking back on an excellent Easter. Hotel occupancy levels reached buoyant levels with on average 96% of rooms booked during the Easter weekend. For the first time since the pandemic British holidaymakers were back in large numbers.
The Easter holiday got off to a poor start at the beginning of last week when merely 52% of hotel rooms had been booked. This may be due to the fact Francophone schools have changed their holiday calendar and will only break up in May.
Clearly the long Easter weekend made up for the poor start. “The Easter weekend was sunny with highs of 16°C to 18°C” says Rudy De Wit representing the Ghent hotel sector. “That was ideal weather for a city break. Most people booked for one night, but when they saw how beautiful Ghent is decided to book two extra nights. These are the kinds of tourists that are more than welcome in Ghent!”
Hoteliers did notice fewer Belgian tourists this year. “Last year there were more Belgians as a result of the pandemic. More Belgians are now opting for a foreign trip. You can get a week’s holiday in Greece or Turkey for 500 euros”.
“It’s above all foreign tourists that were responsible for the high occupancy levels in Ghent: Dutch, French and German nationals, but also Brits. Brits have found their way back to Belgium. Numbers were up a full 7%”.