Business tourism: Regional guide to Wallonia’s premier sites

Of all visitors, business tourists are particularly prized. Not least since each one visiting Wallonia is expected to spend on average three times as much as a regular tourist. It’s one important reason why the Walloon government has, in recent years, led a push to ensure not only that Belgian businesses stay here for their work trips but that businesses from abroad consider the region as a destination for their own excursions.

And they’ve had considerable success so far: business tourism in Wallonia is up by 66 percent since 2002. This increase is unsurprising given the number of things there are to do and see in Wallonia, and the facilities that have been created around the region. Take your sales team for a walk around the ancient Abbey of Orval and its forests, or your management team for a jaunty tour of Walloon Brabant on Vespas. As for facilities, Wallonia has bulked up in recent years. The Chateau du Lac in Genval alone can accommodate many multinationals’ worldwide management teams, with a conference room large enough for 1,000 people.

The efforts of the Walloon government to increase the number of business tourists are concentrated through the Wallonie Bruxelles Tourism Convention Bureau. Any business considering organising a work trip in Wallonia can contact the bureau, which can suggest options tailored to the company’s needs, book hotels and organise activities. These can range from city visits to sporting outings to gastronomic tours. Not only does this save company personnel the time it would take to research and reserve the trip, but the bureau has an excellent and impartial knowledge of what Wallonia has to offer business tourists. It’s a win-win situation.

In addition to offering a tailored service, the bureau is also responsible for marketing the region in Belgium and beyond, attending tourism salons and fairs and co-ordinating with representatives abroad who are in direct contact with foreign companies.

Of all business tourists to visit Wallonia, just over half are from within Belgium. The second largest group is from France, then Germany, the Netherlands and finally the United Kingdom.

The Convention Bureau is currently focusing on encouraging more business tourists from the north of France, in particular the company-rich Lille and Paris regions, and from the German regions bordering Wallonia. It has also commissioned a study to understand why so few Dutch business tourists pop over the border, given that no other country sends as many regular tourists to Belgium as the Netherlands. Over the following pages we look at what each province has to offer.

NAMUR

The medieval city of Namur, straddling the river Meuse below a towering citadel, is today a bastion of Walloon culture and seat of the Walloon government and parliament. Its province stretches from the picturesque agricultural centre of Gembloux, with its Unesco-recognised belfry and ancient knife makers, south to the town of Dinant, the Ardennes hills and the French border. Known as the Land of Valleys, the province of Namur is dotted with castles and strongholds, abbeys and Gallo-Roman remains. Its capital is conveniently situated within an hour’s drive of Brussels and the French, German and Luxembourgish borders.

STAY

Bordering the Meuse, 20km south of the city of Namur, the four-star Hotel Les Jardins de la Molignée offers 52 rooms in a quaint former stone forge. The hotel is well equipped for corporate stays, with a boardroom large enough for 40, a banqueting room for up to 200 and a reception hall that fits as many as 300 guests for cocktails. An indoor swimming pool, a sauna and two tennis courts help guests unwind after a day of meetings and corporate events. Guests are well placed to explore the forests surrounding the hamlet of Anhee as well as the beautiful town of Dinant, with its medieval citadel and towering church, which lies only 10km away.

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The Domaine de Béronsart is the ideal place for a day of rural reflection, activities and gastronomy. Close to Namur, in the Samson Valley, this carefully renovated water mill from the 17th century is set among thick forest and is within walking distance of some of Wallonia’s prettiest stone villages. Guests can enjoy guided walks through the valley, visit local caves, sample produce from the region and enjoy cooking lessons. The jewel in Béronsart’s crown, however, is its greenhouses, covering 700m² and home to an exotic range of plants. It’s an incredible setting for dinner, conferences or other events.

HAINAUT

The Hainaut province is a world heritage treasure trove, with 19 sites and events in the province recognised and protected by Unesco. These include Tournai’s Notre Dame cathedral, the colourful spring Carnival in Binche and Mons’s towering belfry. Tournai, which lies either side of the Escaut river and is replete with historical sites, is Belgium’s oldest town, while the wider province has as many as 300 castles.

STAY

The four-star Dream hotel is right in the heart of the historic city of Mons, which is home to four Unesco heritage sites and is celebrating the European Capital of Culture 2015 title. With 57 large, modern and eclectically furnished rooms, the Dream is housed in a dramatic 19th-century neo-gothic building. Explore Mons’s churches and museums before relaxing in the hotel’s spa complex and dining at its modern French restaurant.

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Wallonia’s only hippodrome lies in the woody countryside a couple of kilometres from Mons and is the perfect place for an introduction to the world of horse-racing. In addition to watching the races, groups can arrange for guided tours round the hippodrome’s facilities and can even experience riding a double sulky, a two-wheeled racing cart. The hippodrome can make a dozen of these available, each with a professional driver.

WALLOON BRABANT

Home to Waterloo, where Napoleon’s reign over Europe came to a definitive end, Walloon Brabant lies within a stone’s throw of Brussels and its international travel connections. Its notable sites include the Collegiate Church of Saint Gertrude, which was consecrated as long ago as 1046, and the magnificent Chateau de la Hulpe in the Domaine Solvay. But it is also well known for its cartoonists, including Tintin creator Hergé, who is showcased at the impressive Musée Hergé in Louvain-la-Neuve, as well as for its numerous golf courses.

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The five-star Chateau du Lac is an ivy-clad mansion just 20km from Brussels, overlooking Genval lake. It is the jewel in the crown of Martin’s Hotels, Belgium’s most prestigious hotel group and a European leader in terms of sustainability. The luxurious facilities include several seminar, conference and boardrooms and a banqueting hall large enough for 150 people. The hotel also has luxurious spa facilities, in keeping with the site’s popularity as a spa centre during the first half of the 20th century before it became a hotel.

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The countryside around picturesque Jodoigne is rich in farms and local producers. A Vespa tour provides numerous options for exploring the region at a leisurely pace. Stop first at the fruit gardens of the Cistercian Abbaye of the Ramée, with its 300 different fruit trees. Next up should be the prehistoric caves at Folx-les-Caves, where guided tours describe how they were used for mushroom growing and as hideouts for bandits. End the tour tasting a local artisanal beer at the Brasserie Jandrin-Jandrenouille and dining at one of the Michelin-rated restaurants in the area round Jodoigne. The organisers of the Vespa tour have incorporated activities that introduce an element of teamwork into the tour.

LUXEMBOURG

Luxembourg is Wallonia’s largest and yet least populated province. As a result, this hinterland in the far south of the country has acres of wild forest to explore, dotted with remote villages built from local stone. Bordering France, Germany and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, this province is home to the medieval stronghold of Godefroid de Bouillon, who led the first crusade in 1099, and is one of the last of its age still standing. Luxembourg is well known throughout the country for its agricultural fair in Libramont, WW2 memorial and museum in Bastogne and its jazz festival in Gaume.  

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In the heart of the Belgian Ardennes, near Marche-en-Famenne, lies the historical Château Jemeppe. The renovated 13th-century moated castle in the village of Hargimont is an exceptional venue that offers 77 rooms, indoor swimming pool, gastronomic restaurant, brasserie, libraries, sport facilities, open fires and a sauna. Set in a 65-hectare wooded estate, the castle has facilities for seminars, conferences and weddings. Its medieval splendour is enhanced by the deliberately homely atmosphere.

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Tucked away in the southernmost corner of Belgium and surrounded by thick, ancient forests, the Orval abbey and brewery makes for an ideal day trip, mixing a grandiose natural setting with history, beer and cheeses. The abbey is home to Cistercian monks and traces its history back to 1070, though it has been sacked and razed on several occasions since. Nowadays the abbey is famous throughout Belgium and further afield for its hoppy beer and cheese. Orval is one of eight Trappist beers in the world, meaning it is brewed within the walls of a Cistercian monastery. Visitors can explore the abbey with a guide and taste the two Orval beers brewed in the abbey, as well as cheeses. The abbey also offers guided walks through the verdant Gaume countryside surrounding the abbey to discover local flora and fauna along Gallo-Roman trails.  

LIEGE

With Europe’s third largest river port and excellent transport connections to the Netherlands and Germany, Liège is fast recovering from the collapse of its steel industry to become Wallonia’s economic capital. But this bustling and dynamic city on the Meuse is also ideally equipped to host large conferences, with more than 1,200 hotel rooms rated three stars or more and event rooms large enough to hold up to 1,000 people. Not to mention the excursions that can be made into the province of Liège, from visiting the ancient spa town of Spa or the Hautes Fagnes national park in Belgium’s German-speaking area.

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Housed in what used to be the residence of the De la Marck family in the 1600s, the five-star Hotel Crowne Plaza Liège offers 124 rooms as well as numerous meeting rooms of different sizes. A beautiful gastronomic restaurant, a French-style brasserie and a bar with fabulous views over the rooftops and bell towers of Liège all reinforce the hotel’s luxurious ambience.

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Not just a haven for beer-lovers, Belgium now also boasts a world-class whisky producer. Indeed, one authoritative guide ranked the Belgian Owl the best single-cask whisky produced in continental Europe. The distillery can arrange an excellent half-day excursion for visitors, starting at Goreux Farm in the village of Fexhe-le-Haut-Clocher, a 20-minute drive from Liège. After meeting master distiller Etienne Bouillon, guests can visit the barley fields and see the barrels used to age the whisky, before heading down the road to the distillery – comprising equipment dating back to 1880. Having learnt about the production process, visitors have the chance to taste a selection of Belgian Owl whiskies.

 This article was first published in the Wab magazine