Editing Tourism in Belgium

{{Short description|none}}
<!-- "none" is preferred when the title is already sufficiently detailed; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
'''Tourism in Belgium''' is one of [[Belgium]]'s industries. Its accessibility from elsewhere in [[Europe]] makes it a popular [[tourism|tourist]] destination. The tourist industry generates 2.8% of Belgium's [[gross domestic product]] and employs 3.3% of the working population (142,000 people).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.flandersnews.be/cm/flandersnews.be/Flanders%2BToday/tourism/070302_WECOFORUM |title=More support for tourism |publisher=flandersnews.be |date=2007-03-02 |access-date=2007-03-02 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070305183324/http://www.flandersnews.be/cm/flandersnews.be/Flanders+Today/tourism/070302_WECOFORUM <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-03-05}}</ref> 6.7 million people travelled to Belgium in 2005.<ref name="Travel and Tourism in Belgium">[http://www.euromonitor.com/Travel_and_Tourism_in_Belgium Travel and Tourism in Belgium] - euromonitor.com</ref> Two-thirds of them come from the larger nearby countries - [[France]], The [[Netherlands]], the [[United Kingdom]], and [[Germany]]; there are also many tourists from [[Spain]] and [[Italy]].

Like many national institutions in Belgium, the national tourist agencies are split along regional lines with two tourist agencies. They are the [http://www.belgiumtheplaceto.be/index.php Belgian Tourist Office Brussels & Wallonia] for the regions of [[Wallonia]] and [[Brussels Capital-Region]], and [http://www.visitflanders.co.uk/index.jsp Toerisme Vlaanderen] covering [[Flanders]], although it covers Brussels as well.

In 1993, 2% of the total workforce was employed in tourism, less than in many neighbouring countries.<ref>[http://www.wto.org/English/tratop_e/serv_e/w51.doc Tourism Services] - World Trade Organization</ref><!-- are there any more recent statistics than this available? --> Much of the tourism industry is located either on the heavily developed coastline or in the [[Ardennes]].<ref>[http://www.diplomatie.be/en/belgium/belgiumdetail.asp?TEXTID=1750 Belgium - The tertiary sector] from diplomatie.be</ref> [[Brussels]] and the [[Flanders|Flemish]] cities of [[Bruges]], [[Ghent]], [[Antwerp]], [[Leuven]], and [[Mechelen]], the Flemish ''Cities of Art'', attract many cultural tourists.<ref name="Travel and Tourism in Belgium"/> Much tourism in Brussels is business tourism.

Belgium was ranked 21st on the World Economic Forum's 2017 ''Travel and Tourism Competitiveness report''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TTCR_2017_web_0401.pdf |title=Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017 |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=2017-04-05 |access-date=2018-04-13}}</ref> The country was placed 4th for "health and hygiene" and 6th for "ground and port infrastructure", but only 105th in the world for "price competitiveness" and 122nd for "natural resources". In recent years, the number of international tourists has exponentially grown as key figures shown by [https://www.toerismevlaanderen.be/sites/toerismevlaanderen.be/files/assets/documents_KENNIS/cijfers/Kerncijfers/2017_Tourism-in-keyfigures.pdf Tourisme Vlaanderen].

==Arrivals by country==

Most visitors arriving to Belgium on short-term basis in come from the following countries of nationality:
{| class="wikitable" kut
|-
|- style="color:white;"
!  style="width:5px; background:#00966E;"|Rank
!  style="width:130px; background:#00966E;"| Country
!  style="width:50px; background:#00966E;"| 2014<ref>[http://statbel.fgov.be/fr/binaries/Tourisme%20selon%20pays%20de%20provenance-2014_tcm326-274580.xls Tourisme selon pays de provenance 2014]</ref>
!  style="width:50px; background:#00966E;"| 2015<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://statbel.fgov.be/fr/binaries/2015%20land%20van%20herkomst%20FR_tcm326-279456.xls |title=Archived copy |access-date=2017-06-11 |archive-date=2016-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161115170046/http://statbel.fgov.be/fr/binaries/2015%20land%20van%20herkomst%20FR_tcm326-279456.xls |url-status=dead }}</ref>
!  style="width:50px; background:#00966E;"| 2016<ref>{{cite web |url=http://statbel.fgov.be/fr/binaries/2016%20land%20van%20herkomst%20FR_tcm326-283903.xls |title=Archived copy |access-date=2017-08-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170820201211/http://statbel.fgov.be/fr/binaries/2016%20land%20van%20herkomst%20FR_tcm326-283903.xls |archive-date=2017-08-20 }}</ref>
|- 
|1||{{flagcountry|Netherlands}}|| 1,705,537 || 1,919,413 || 1,854,486
|-
|2||{{flagcountry|France}}|| 1,264,291 || 1,285,610 || 1,202,041
|-
|3||{{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}|| 1,026,003 || 1,043,613 || 868,173
|-
|4||{{flagcountry|Germany}}|| 868,250 || 945,974 || 865,031
|-
|5||{{flagcountry|Spain}} || 366,474 || 360,220 || 304,598
|-
|6||{{flagcountry|United States}} || 366,061 || 388,423 || 299,907
|-
|7||{{flagcountry|Italy}} ||  299,864 || 294,945 || 224,762
|-
|8||{{flagcountry|China}} ||  169,075 || 209,045 || 147,654
|-
|9||{{flagcountry|Luxembourg}}|| 100,002 || 114,899 || 110,953
|-
|10||{{flagcountry|Switzerland}} || 108,031 || 118,796 || 91,308
|- 
|11||{{flagcountry|Poland}}|| 87,698 || 94,937 || 90,914
|-
|12||{{flagcountry|Sweden}}|| 69,994 || 68,021 || 65,117
|-
|13||{{flagcountry|Denmark}}|| 60,330 || 61,927 || 63,415
|-
|14||{{flagcountry|Russia}}|| 97,183 || 72,630 || 60,386
|-
|15||{{flagcountry|Ireland}}|| N/A || N/A || 57,266
|-
|16||{{flagcountry|Turkey}}|| 49,475 || 61,538 || 55,410
|-
|17||{{flagcountry|Portugal}} || N/A || N/A || 54,221
|-
|18||{{flagcountry|Canada}}|| 59,289 || 61,357 || 50,521
|- 
|19||{{flagcountry|Japan}} || 111,939 || 96,444 || 50,253
|-
|20||{{flagcountry|Romania}}|| N/A || N/A || 45,077
|-
|||Total foreign || 7,887,426 || 8,354,753 || 7,481,422
|}

==See also==
*[[List of museums in Belgium]]
*[[Europalia]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikivoyage|Belgium}}
*[https://www.visit.brussels/en/visitors Official English-language tourism website of Brussels]
*[https://www.visitflanders.com/en Official English-language tourism website of Flanders]
*[https://visitwallonia.com/en-gb/?cookie_lang=en-gb Official English-language tourism website of Wallonia]
*[https://www.virtualbruges.com/en/bruges-in-360 Virtual Tour of Bruges]

{{Belgium topics}}
{{Tourism in Europe}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tourism In Belgium}}
[[Category:Tourism in Belgium| ]]
[[Category:Tourism in Europe by country|Belgium]]