Brussels faces more 'over-tourism' than Barcelona

As Barcelona makes headlines for locals’ targeted harassment of tourists in an effort to "reclaim" their city, a new list from German holiday accommodation portal Holidu ranks Brussels’ busyness as higher than that of the Spanish city.

The Belgian capital ranks 19th on the list of "over-tourism", one step above Barcelona, where residents have been squirting tourists with water guns in order to send the message that they are not welcome.

But Jeroen Roppe of visit.brussels told Bruzz that tourism in Brussels, while on the rise, is generally spread throughout the year, minimising its impact on locals.

“We have been working for years on a strategy to prevent over-tourism,” Roppe said. “We do this by spreading out tourists as much as possible, both in time and space, to spare peak periods and the busy historic city centre.

"We also organise more and more events outside the high season. One example is Bright Brussels, which takes place in February."

While figures naturally fell during the pandemic years, 2023 matched 2019’s levels of tourism, which were the highest Brussels has seen.

“The historic city centre is indeed sometimes busy, but many improvements have already been made there too,” Roppe said, noting car-free streets and efforts to highlight neighbourhoods outside the city centre.

Holidu based its figures on market research company Euromonitor International, citing the top three busiest holiday destinations per inhabitant as Dubrovnik (Croatia), Rhodes (Greece) and Venice (Italy).

Dubrovnik, with 1.14 million arriving visitors, received more than 27 tourists per inhabitant last year – a lot for such a small city. Rhodes received 26 tourists per inhabitant and Venice more than 21.

Brussels ranks 19th with 4.5 tourists per inhabitant, close to figures for Edinburgh.

Another Belgian city in the top 20 is Bruges, which lands in 14th place.