2025 was a year of consolidation for Brussels’ tourism sector. After the record results of 2024, attendance remained stable with nearly 10 million overnight stays, confirming the strength and stability of the destination. This performance illustrates the increased resilience of the sector, which is capable of sustaining itself after a strong recovery phase. The maturity that has now been reached is a strong point for tourism in Brussels, both in terms of economic development and the creation of jobs that cannot be relocated in the region.

In addition, visit.brussels’ teams deployed increasingly targeted actions, making it possible to obtain a better return on investment for each public euro invested. This shift towards hyper-targeted campaigns, rather than large, global campaigns, ensured an immediate and relevant impact on the destination.

Particular attention was also paid to business tourism (B2B) prospecting. The teams focused on high-importance and high-impact projects. This approach has led to better management of congress applications and an optimisation of the long-term return for Brussels.

Finally, the development of the ticketing system for visits in Brussels was an essential point. Visitors are now looking for a holistic experience, where booking, information and trip planning can be done in one place. This strategy, adopted and reinforced by visit.brussels, aims to make the region and its culture more accessible to all.

Until October and November, 2025 was marked by generally stable trends in tourist arrivals. The announcement of the upcoming opening of major new infrastructures, in particular the Kanal museum, had already generated significant media coverage, helping to strengthen Brussels’ international visibility. These initial positive echoes were an additional lever of attractiveness, with expected effects both in terms of awareness and additional attendance in the coming months.

However, this outlook must be seen in an uncertain international context, marked by persistent geopolitical tensions and increased volatility in energy prices. These factors create an unpredictable environment for the tourism sector and weigh on both operating costs and visitor behaviour. In the event of a gradual stabilisation of certain international situations, Brussels could nevertheless regain some of the international clientele currently absent and envisage a turnaround that goes beyond the simple stabilisation observed in recent years.

What’s more, recent tax decisions will have a direct impact on the attractiveness of the destination. The increase in taxation applied to accommodation (VAT), tourist tax, plane tickets and certain attractions and cultural institutions will automatically lead to an increase in prices for the visitor or to an economic imbalance that operators will find difficult to absorb. Studies estimate that this effect could result in a drop in attendance of between −1.5% and −4.5%. Added to this is the region's budgetary situation and the potential for savings in the region's grant and support schemes – and indeed those of other federated entities – within Brussels' tourism, cultural and events sectors. This situation will potentially impact the performance of both visit.brussels as a promotion agency and various players in these sectors.

In this challenging context, the commitment of teams and partners to step up promotional and marketing activities remains essential to offset these negative effects. Efforts will focus, in particular, on targeting priority markets, the joint development of the leisure, B2B and MICE sectors, and on promoting periods of lower visitor numbers, particularly in winter and during August. Support for the emergence of new flagship attractions also remains a key driver.

With a fixed budget, these measures should help to limit the impact of the new constraints. Consequently, against this backdrop of multiple uncertainties, the realistic target for 2026 remains the stabilisation of visitor numbers, which would constitute a positive outcome.