School in Flanders and Dutch-medium schools in Brussels break up for half term today (Friday 24 October). French-medium schools in Brussels and schools in Wallonia began their 2-week autumn holiday last Friday. Normally school holidays mean busy times for hotels and other holiday accommodation in the coastal resorts of West Flanders. However, this autumn half term business is anything but booming with hotels reporting booking down by a fifth compared with this time last year. Hoteliers at the coast are hoping that a flood of last-minute bookings will save the day.
It is a lot less busy at the coast than it was during the autumn half term last year. Hotels in our coastal resorts report a fall of around 20% in bookings.
Michelle Martens of the West Flemish tourist board Westtoer told VRT News that "This can in part be explained by the fact that last year 1 November fell on a Friday which meant that there was a long weekend with additional bookings. Moreover, the weather was also better then”.
"As regards Francophone Belgian visitors, the first week of whose 2-week autumn holiday is almost over, the figures as a little more positive. Thanks to the relatively mild weather at the start of their vacation there were 8% more overnight stays than there were last year. The situation does vary though from resort to resort."