In 2023, visit.brussels orchestrated a series of strategic initiatives to promote Brussels as a top destination, targeting both visitors and tourism professionals. visit.brussels strengthened the capital's image on the international stage through a robust city marketing strategy, international actions and promotional campaigns. These visit.brussels initiatives included efforts focused in particular on mobilising and promoting Brussels' nightlife, notably through the Brussels Night Council.
Image of Brussels
450
participants in BRUSSELS brand launch workshops and online sessions
26,6 million
million people reached (total reach) by our three B2C campaigns
12th
Europe's Best Cities 2023 ranking (top 100)
2023 saw major achievements, with the creation of the visual and narrative identity of the new international city marketing brand, BRUSSELS. visit.brussels involved over 450 participants through seven educational workshops and four online sessions, reinforcing the commitment of public and private players to promoting Brussels internationally. Brand deployment tools such as a manifesto film, a graphic charter, a photo library and templates were also made available to partners via an online brand hub. These different initiatives allowed visit.brussels to act as a catalyst in consolidating the image of Brussels, as well as facilitating the involvement of stakeholders in promoting the Region.
Brussels Days
In 2023, the Brussels Days, co-organised by hub.brussels, brussels.international and visit.brussels, took place in Barcelona and Madrid. This annual event aims to promote Brussels on the international scene by facilitating high-level networking and showcasing the Region's economic dynamism, know-how, creativity, cultural wealth, gastronomy and tourist appeal.
Brussels Houses
Brussels Houses are the result of a collaboration between visit.brussels and hub.brussels to create a space that brings the Brussels community together internationally while promoting the attractiveness and expertise of Brussels. These spaces, in which visit.brussels applied the concepts of the international BRUSSELS brand, embody the image of a dynamic, innovative, creative Brussels that is open to the world. In 2023, Brussels Houses were launched in Milan and Barcelona. Opening in Barcelona's Poblenou district and Milan's Porta Nuova underlines the importance of these cities as key centres for fashion, design, tourism, innovation and finance. These venues serve as showcases for Brussels products and lifestyle, offering a sensory insight into the Region through immersive staging and marking an important step in the international promotion of Brussels.
The Brussels Region at MIPIM
The world's leading real estate market event, MIPIM, showcased Brussels' ambitions in the real estate sector by bringing together major players and highlighting the Region's development projects. visit.brussels worked with hub.brussels, AWEX and private Flemish partners to set up a large-scale Belgian pavilion called « Surreal Estate in Belgium ».
visit.brussels dynamically promoted the cultural and tourist scene through multi-sector communication campaigns, covering aspects such as gastronomy, artisanal shopping and cultural offerings even during the low season. For example, the "Janvier c'est nul, mais pas à Bruxelles" (January sucks, but not in Brussels) campaign allowed visit.brussels to transform the perception of January, often seen as an off-peak period, into a unique opportunity to discover Brussels in a new light. This digital campaign, which focused on a rich offering of local activities, aimed to position Brussels as the must-visit destination for the start of the year.
The spring campaign, with the slogan "Experience Art-Architecture-Music differently in Brussels", targeted a range of international audiences and invited visitors to explore the city's cultural diversity through art, architecture and music.
The autumn cultural campaign also aimed to boost tourism and cultural consumption, by inviting an international audience to discover what Brussels has to offer in art, architecture, music and the performing arts.
In 2023, visit.brussels systematically integrated the calculation of its campaigns' carbon footprint, covering both media production and consumption. Creative productions were adapted to favour local and sustainable shoots, while the carbon footprint of campaigns was optimised through the use of carbon footprint calculation and management tools specific to the communications and media sector, such as Impact+ and CommToZero. The Art Nouveau 2023 campaign also won a bronze award at the MIXX Awards 2023 for its sustainable digital marketing.
Lastly, in 2023, visit.brussels worked on an international B2C marketing plan to decentralise tourism throughout the year. From 2024, this plan will enable the message and timing of our communications to be adjusted according to the interests and booking behaviour of each priority market.
In 2023, visit.brussels actively promoted the Region's nightlife, both permanent (clubs and bars) and temporary (a growing number of festivals with national and international reach, such as Listen, CORE, Nuits Sonores, Rave Rebels, Paradise City, Horst, Voodoo Village). At the same time, significant effort was devoted to developing the Brussels Night Council, a body whose mission is to centralise information on nightlife, facilitate collaboration between different sectors and coordinate the development of a regional nightlife plan. Initiatives for 2023 included the creation of the architecture and identity of the Brussels Night Council, a survey of nightlife perceptions involving 2,200 respondents, a regional proposal for a Night Charter for municipalities and the analysis and formulation of urban planning proposals.
The Brussels Night Council was also involved in the inclusion of clubbing culture in the Brussels Region's inventory of intangible cultural heritage, and in supporting the reopening of FUSE.
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