Hotels in Ghent are once again pretty fully booked during the festive period this year. At the end of November, the hotel sector in the East Flemish capital was still quite worried, because significantly fewer tourists than usual had booked a hotel room for Christmas and New Year's Eve. However, many more bookings have been added in recent weeks.
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Occupancy levels at Ghent hotels in the pink during the festive period
Colin Clapson
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There are approximately 3,200 hotel rooms in Ghent. At the end of last month, only half of these had been booked for Christmas and New Year's Eve. Normally, that figure is 10 percent higher. The hotel sector has witnessed a decline in early bookings for some time now, but certainly not to such a significant extent. “This is a historical low,” industry sources said at the time.
In the meantime, many additional bookings have accumulated. “We now have an occupancy rate of 72 percent during the week and 76 percent at weekends,” says Rudy De Wit of the Ghent hotel sector. “We are satisfied.”
More Americans than Spaniards visiting Ghent!
“These are mainly Belgian visitors, but also guests from the Netherlands, Germany, and France. And there are also noticeably more Americans coming to Ghent during this year’s festive period. There are even more Americans than Spaniards.”
An excellent 2025
The Ghent hotel sector is also looking back on an excellent past year. “It is, of course, still too early to draw any major conclusions, as we do not yet have all the figures. However, an initial analysis shows that we witnessed growth of 6 percent this year compared to last year.”
“That's a good thing, especially when you consider that new hotels have been added in Ghent over the past year. So the pie is more divided, but the occupancy rate remains the same. We're not losing ground. That means we're doing well!”