Belgians made 23.7 million trips in 2024, a record number. This represents a slight increase (+2.1%) compared to 2023, which was already a record year. This is what emerges from the figures on travels for 2024 published by Statbel, the Belgian statistical office.
Trips are longer on average: the number of overnight stays in 2024 rose to 181.4 million, an increase of 10.9% compared to 2023.
| Number of trips (in thousands) | Number of overnight stays (in thousands) | gemiddelde lengte reis (in dagen) | Number of trips (2015 = 100) | Number of overnight stays (2015 = 100) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 16,701 | 118,914 | 7.1 | 100 | 100 |
| 2016 | 19,619 | 136,626 | 7.0 | 117.5 | 114.9 |
| 2017 | 18,624 | 123,580 | 6.6 | 111.5 | 103.9 |
| 2018 | 20,498 | 147,373 | 7.2 | 122.7 | 123.9 |
| 2019 | 22,683 | 152,745 | 6.7 | 135.8 | 128.4 |
| 2020 | 11,392 | 83,953 | 7.4 | 68.2 | 70.6 |
| 2021 | 15,505 | 114,826 | 7.4 | 92.8 | 96.6 |
| 2022 | 21,764 | 151,200 | 6.9 | 130.3 | 127.2 |
| 2023 | 23,180 | 163,553 | 7.1 | 138.8 | 137.5 |
| 2024 | 23,662 | 181,413 | 7.7 | 141.7 | 152.6 |
As every year, France remains by far the most popular foreign destination for Belgians, with 5.6 million trips and 41.4 million overnight stays in 2024. This represents an increase of 4.3% for trips and 6.3% for overnight stays compared to 2023.
Spain supplants the Netherlands and ranks second, with 2.1 million trips (+5.1%) and 21.9 million overnight stays (+18%).
The Netherlands drops to third place, recording 1.9 million trips and 5.5 million overnight stays, down 11.2% and 18.5% respectively compared to the previous year.
Portugal drops out of the top 10 foreign destinations, replaced by Turkey, which climbs to ninth place with 0.4 million trips and 8.7 million overnight stays (+16.0% and +72.8%).
Morocco also drops out of the ranking and is replaced at the 10th place by Switzerland, which totalled 0.4 million trips and 2.6 million overnight stays, a sharp increase compared to 2023 (+60.2% and +45.5%).
Top 10 foreign destinations - 2023/2024
| 2023 | Number of trips (in thousands) | Number of overnight stays (in thousands) | 2024 | Number of trips (in thousands) | Number of overnight stays (in thousands) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | France | 5,401 | 38,964 | France | 5,635 | 41,415 |
| 2 | The Netherlands | 2,101 | 6,798 | Spain | 2,063 | 21,868 |
| 3 | Spain | 1,964 | 18,539 | The Netherlands | 1,867 | 5,539 |
| 4 | Italia | 1,323 | 12,340 | Italia | 1,212 | 11,490 |
| 5 | Germany | 1,079 | 4,412 | Germany | 1,076 | 4,587 |
| 6 | United Kingdom | 453 | 2,504 | United Kingdom | 560 | 3,087 |
| 7 | Austria | 453 | 3,246 | Austria | 504 | 3,657 |
| 8 | Portugal | 404 | 4,029 | Greece | 405 | 4,100 |
| 9 | Greece | 356 | 3,670 | Turkey | 386 | 8,654 |
| 10 | Morocco | 337 | 5,143 | Switzerland | 360 | 2,595 |
Please note:
Detailed statistical tables related to the annual publication on travels will be made available at a later date in Excel format.
They will include all data on travels by Belgian citizens in 2024, broken down by various themes: destinations, duration, reasons, means of transport, etc.