The Belgians made 8.3 million trips in the second quarter 2025
Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, publishes today the figures from its survey on holidays and travels for the second quarter 2025. During this period, 8,329,000 trips were made in Belgium or abroad.
2.5 million domestic trips
2.5 million (29.9%) of these trips were domestic trips. Of the 5.8 million trips abroad, 4.9 million were to another European Union country, 0.5 million to a non-EU country in Europe and 0.5 million to a non-European country.
9 trips out of 10 for personal reasons
7.5 million or 90.6% of all trips were for personal reasons in the second quarter 2025 (tourism, visiting family or friends, or other personal reasons). The number of business trips amounted to 0.8 million.
Besides trips (travels with at least one overnight stay), Belgians also made 3.1 million excursions abroad.
Important note:
In 2025, the travel survey changed from a quarterly to a monthly collection. This methodological change significantly reduces respondents' recall bias and leads to an increase in the number of trips recorded, particularly for short stays. This results in a break in the series: the figures for 2025 are no longer directly comparable with those for previous years.
For more information: Modification of the travel survey in 2025
Number of travels by destination, duration and motif, 2024 (in milliers)
| Destination | Trips of 1 to 3 nights | Trips of 4 nights or more | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holidays | Professional trip | Total | Holidays | Professional trip | Total | |
| Total | 8,170 | 913 | 9,083 | 14,066 | 514 | 14,579 |
| European Union | 7,852 | 833 | 8,685 | 11,169 | 342 | 11,512 |
| Belgium | 3,807 | 178 | 3,986 | 1,728 | 34 | 1,762 |
| France | 1,636 | 209 | 1,846 | 3,703 | 86 | 3,789 |
| the Netherlands | 1,276 | 117 | 1,393 | 460 | 14 | 473 |
| Germany | 528 | 96 | 624 | 398 | 54 | 451 |
| Spain | 148 | 31 | 178 | 1,867 | 17 | 1,885 |
| Italia | 109 | 56 | 165 | 1,014 | 32 | 1,047 |
| Other EU | 347 | 145 | 493 | 1,999 | 104 | 2,104 |
| Other European countries | 272 | 62 | 334 | 860 | 49 | 908 |
| Africa | 22 | 6 | 27 | 752 | 41 | 792 |
| North-America | . | 4 | 4 | 222 | 38 | 259 |
| South-America | 9 | . | 9 | 195 | 4 | 199 |
| Asia + Oceania | 15 | 8 | 23 | 868 | 40 | 909 |
| Statbel (Direction générale Statistique - Statistics Belgium) | ||||||
Purpose and brief description
Travelling, whether domestic or international, for business or holiday, is becoming increasingly important in our way of life. This brochure presents the main results of a survey on the travel behaviour of Belgians. Travel habits have been followed since 1997 via a continuous quarterly survey amongst households. You will find here data regarding the duration and the motives of the trip, the destination, the accommodation type, the means of transport used and how the trip has been organised. The traveller's origin is also surveyed.
Population
Inhabitants in Belgium
Data collection method and sample size
Survey technique based on the use of paper questionnaires
Frequency
Annually.
Timing of publication
Results available 6 months after the reference period
Definitions
Number of trips: Trips of the inhabitants with at least one overnight stay. Day trips are also taken into account since 2014.
Duration of the trip: The duration of the trip is measured as the number of nights.
Purpose of the trip: There is only one main purpose for a trip, in the absence of which the trip would not have taken place. The Directive distinguishes two main reasons to travel:(i) business and professional; (ii) holidays, recreation and leisure. Holidays due to 'Visits to friends and relatives' should be included in point (ii).
Traveller: person who travels during the reporting period.
Low-skilled people are people who have at best a lower secondary education diploma. Medium-skilled people have obtained an upper secondary education diploma, but no higher education diploma. High-skilled people have a higher education diploma.