Tourists docking in Zeebrugge by cruise ship and people arriving in Bruges (West Flanders) in a coach party will have to pay a new tax starting 2027. Until now the city tax only applied to tourists staying overnight in our popular tourist destination. The city council took the decision to introduce the new tax as part of its policy programme for this and the next five years.
Last year, a record number of almost 8 million tourists visited Bruges. That puts a lot of pressure on the city and its residents. Sometimes too much. You can sometimes hear some Bruges residents complain. Only people spending the night in the city currently pay the lodging tax of 4 euros per person per night. The city council now wants to expand its scope.
Cruise and coach tourists also taxed soon
‘If tourists on an overnight stay have to pay 4 euros, we think a cruise tourist should also have to pay 4 euros,’ argues mayor Dirk De fauw. ‘Because now cruise tourists pay nothing. And that while they hardly spend anything in our restaurants and shops!’
As part of its 2025-2030 policy programme, the city council has decided that tourists who only spend a short time in Bruges, such as cruise tourists and coach visitors, will also have to make a financial contribution.
557,609 cruise tourists docked in 2024
Figures from the Port of Antwerp-Bruges show that 557,609 cruise passengers docked in Zeebrugge last year. ‘We know from research that 10 per cent of passengers stay on board,’ says alderman for tourism Minou Esquenet. ‘Of those who do leave the ship, 73 per cent visit the city centre. If you apply these percentages, you arrive at over 366,000 cruise tourists who visited Bruges city centre in 2024.’
Tax to be collected from 2027
The city council is looking at making every cruise tourist who docks in Zeebrugge pay the tax anyway, whether they come ashore or not. Normally, this should take effect from 1 January 2027.
‘I have already had a conversation with the cruise industry,’ says mayor Dirk De fauw, who is also vice-president of the Port of Antwerp-Bruges. ‘So they already know that in time, per cruise ship passenger, a contribution will have to be paid to the city. They can already take that into account when they calculate their prices.’
It is much harder to find out how many of the 8 million tourists who visited Bruges last year were day-trippers who visited as part of coach parties. ‘We are investigating this. We need to set up a system that deals with every coach arriving in Bruges to ensure they pay a contribution per passenger.’