The changeable weather during the past month has led to fewer tourists staying overnight at the resorts along the coast of West Flanders. However, the number of day-trippers spending a day at the seaside rose by 8% compared with July 2023. The figures were published on Wednesday morning by the West Flemish Tourist Board Westtoer. They show that the weekend of 20 and 21 July was particularly busy at the coast.
Changeable weather leads to fewer overnight stays at our coastal resorts during July
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This month’s changeable weather led to a 6% drop in the number of tourists staying at the coast overnight compared with July 2023. Westtoer explains that the later start to the school summer vacation for pupils in French-Medium education also contributed to a quiet start to the summer season at our coastal resorts.
With average occupancy rate of around 70%, July 2024 was slightly less busy at hotels along the Flemish coast than July 2023. However, during the latter half of the month occupancy rates were at a similar level to last year.
Flemings accounted for around 62% of tourists staying at the coast overnight, while Francophone Belgians accounted for 23%. The remaining 15% came from abroad. Germans were the foreign tourists that were most numerous, followed by the French and the Dutch.
Self-catering holiday homes
It was a month of mixed fortunes with regard to occupancy rates in self-catering holiday homes. Westtoer says that “Last-minute bookings did not materialise this month. Some letting agents recorded a slight increase, while others saw a drop in occupancy”.
Day-trippers
Meanwhile, the number of day-trippers at the coast was up 8% on July last year. “The fine summer days during the second half of July led to us welcoming an increased number of day-trippers. The weekend of 20 and 21 July was busiest, with a total of around 300,000 day-trippers spread over the two days", Westtoer said.