Europe · Region & state programme
Flanders
Belgian region whose tourism agency has, since 2017, framed tourism as a means for residents and places rather than an end in itself.
Flanders is one of few European regions where the public tourism agency has formally redefined tourism as a means rather than an end. Visit Flanders (Toerisme Vlaanderen) began its Travel to Tomorrow process in 2017, and its 2021 strategic plan states that tourism is no longer a goal in itself but a way of creating added value for everyone involved in a place 12. The vision has been carried into successive Flemish tourism policy notes, most recently for 2024–2029 3.
The region's visitor economy is concentrated in five art cities — Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, Leuven and Mechelen — alongside the coast and rural areas 4. That is where the strategy is tested: resident surveys run since 2017 show broad support for tourism overall but growing discontent in Bruges and Ghent 5. Evidence on the programme is mostly first-party. Its 2030 targets are public, but we found no published progress report against them and no independent evaluation of outcomes.
Geography and cultural context
Visit Flanders is the tourism agency of the Flemish Region. It reports around 15 million arrivals and 35.2 million overnight stays a year, more than 300,000 jobs supported and €9.5 billion in direct gross value added from tourism 4. International arrivals grew from five million in 2000 to 7.8 million in 2019, according to the agency 9.
Tourism is unevenly spread. The 2024–2029 policy note puts the spatial concentration of tourism at a Gini coefficient of 0.83 in 2022, while overall tourism intensity (1.28) sat below the 2.62 level the note treats as a risk threshold 3. In practice, pressure is local: Visit Flanders' own case description notes that overtourism is often hyper-local and needs neighbourhood-level engagement 4.
Culture and heritage
Visit Flanders organises its marketing around six themes — Arts and Heritage, Culinary Flanders, Conferences and Events, Flanders Naturally, Cycling, and Everyone Deserves a Holiday — intended to steer visitors towards local culture rather than generic attractions 4. In 2022 a Visit Flanders director described each theme as a story told in the places where it comes to life, citing the former Sint-Godelieve abbey in Bruges, taken over by the city, as an expected home for a Flemish cooking academy 10.
The agency's own publications use local projects to illustrate the idea of a 'flourishing community'. One is LABIOMISTA in Genk, which a 2019 Visit Flanders booklet describes as a collaboration between local residents and entrepreneurs, the artist Koen Vanmechelen, the city of Genk, Visit Limburg, the Flemish Government and private partners 13; the agency reports that its revenue is reinvested in public outreach and local projects 9.
Communities and livelihoods
Visit Flanders has surveyed residents of the five art cities regularly since 2017, with waves reported for 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023 7125. The 2023 wave received 7,175 valid responses. Overall, 69% supported tourism, but support was 64% in Bruges and 63% in Ghent; half of Bruges respondents wanted fewer tourists, and only about one in five residents across the cities felt they could be heard on concerns or ideas 5. An earlier wave, reported in January 2020, found 27% saying their quality of life had suffered from tourism, up from 19% two years before 12. Visit Flanders says survey findings informed holiday-home regulations in Bruges and Ghent 4.
Social tourism is a long-standing strand of Flemish policy. A social tourism decree has existed for over 20 years 7; an updated version, in force from January 2023, aims to remove financial and other holiday barriers for people affected by poverty or serious illness and allows local social organisations to be recognised and subsidised for this work 8. The agency also runs an accessibility label; 340 labels had been awarded to accommodation in 2024 7.
Tourism model and development
Travel to Tomorrow was developed through staff sessions, a listening exercise with more than 1,600 travellers, five think-tanks with 379 participants and a writing workshop in 2018 1. The 2021 strategic plan reframed success from return on investment to social return on investment and set five principles, including balanced value for all stakeholders and participation 2.
The 2022 sustainability plan attaches targets to the vision, including a 25% cut by 2030 in emissions from foreign visitors' travel against 2019, and objectives that at least 40% of art-city residents feel they have a say in tourism development and that no more than 40% of overnight stays fall in the busiest three months 6. The 2024–2029 policy note keeps Reizen naar Morgen as the basis of tourism policy, introduces a destination barometer covering residents, visitors, entrepreneurs and place, and acknowledges that support budgets are scarce 3. At least one grant scheme, for investment in youth accommodation, requires applicants to explain how projects fit the principles of Reizen naar Morgen 11. Academic research on resident participation in Flemish tourism governance began at Breda University of Applied Sciences in 2026, with supervisors from KU Leuven and Ghent University and Visit Flanders as an industry partner; it has not yet reported findings 14.
Initiatives and their evidence
| Initiative | Led by | What it is | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Travel to Tomorrow (Reizen naar Morgen) | Visit Flanders (Toerisme Vlaanderen) | Regional tourism vision, developed 2017–2018 and formalised in a 2021 strategic plan, that treats tourism as a means of creating value for residents, entrepreneurs, visitors and places.123 | In progress |
| Resident survey in the art cities | Visit Flanders with the cities of Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, Leuven and Mechelen | Survey of residents' views on tourism run roughly every two years since 2017; the 2023 wave had 7,175 responses and published city-level results.57 | Documented |
| VISITFLANDERS Sustainability Plan | Visit Flanders | Plan approved in 2022 setting 2030 targets (with some 2024 milestones) for visitor travel emissions, seasonality, resident say and certification.6 | Announced |
| Destination barometer | Visit Flanders / Flemish Government | Multidimensional monitoring of visitor intensity, resident perceptions, environmental impact and business health, committed to in the 2024–2029 policy note.34 | In progress |
| Everyone Deserves a Holiday (Iedereen verdient vakantie) | Visit Flanders with social organisations | Long-running social tourism decree and network helping people with financial or health barriers take holidays; updated in 2023.7811 | In progress |
Challenges
- Only about one in five art-city residents said in 2023 that they could be heard on tourism concerns or ideas, well short of the sustainability plan's objective of 40% feeling they have a say.
- Between 2021 and 2023 the share of Bruges and Ghent residents disagreeing that tourism's benefits outweigh its drawbacks rose significantly, and half of Bruges respondents wanted fewer tourists.
- Tourism is highly concentrated in space (Gini coefficient of 0.83 in 2022), while the policy note acknowledges scarce support budgets.
- Turning the vision into a shared operational strategy is described by Visit Flanders itself as ongoing and challenging.
Open questions
- Has Visit Flanders published progress against the 2024 intermediate targets in its 2022 sustainability plan?
- Has a 2025 wave of the art-city resident survey been carried out, and what did it find?
- Will the destination barometer's results be published in full and on a regular schedule?
- Will the Breda University of Applied Sciences research on resident participation provide the first academic assessment of how residents shape tourism decisions in Flanders?
Further reading
External
Visit Flanders' Travel to Tomorrow publication pagePrimary source for the vision, with a downloadable booklet.
Regenera Luxury · affiliated with this publication
Regenerative tourism in Spain and Europe: from the EESC’s 2025 signal to hotel-ready proof in 2026Regenera Luxury's January 2026 article on the European policy context, including the EESC's 2025 call to move from sustainable to regenerative tourism
Sources
- 1Travel to Tomorrow (magazine documenting the 2017–2018 vision process) — Toerisme Vlaanderen / VISITFLANDERS. First-party
- 2Reizen naar Morgen: strategic plan (foreword by CEO Peter De Wilde, April 2021) — Toerisme Vlaanderen, 1 April 2021. First-party
- 3Beleidsnota Toerisme 2024-2029 (Flemish tourism policy note), Melissa Depraetere — Flemish Government / Flemish Parliament, 15 November 2024. Government
- 4Visit Flanders (urban practice case) — Portico – European Urban Initiative. First-party
- 5Bewonersonderzoek toerisme kunststeden 2023 – samenvatting hoofdrapport — Toerisme Vlaanderen with the cities of Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, Leuven and Mechelen (hosted by Visit Gent). First-party
- 6VISITFLANDERS Sustainability Plan (Travel to Tomorrow), English version — VISITFLANDERS, via EU Transition Pathway for Tourism platform. First-party
- 7Tourism Strategies Towards Resilience (webinar slides, Marjan Nauwelaert) — Visit Flanders, via EU Transition Pathway for Tourism platform. First-party
- 8'Everyone Deserves Vacation': Flanders updates decree to offer holidays for people in need — Belga News Agency. Media
- 9Travel to Tomorrow (book, 'Flanders of Tomorrow' series) — VISITFLANDERS. First-party
- 10Visit Flanders : l'objectif n'est pas de revenir aux chiffres pré-pandémie mais de les qualifier — TourMaG, 3 October 2022. Media
- 11Toerisme steunmogelijkheden (tourism support measures) — VLAIO – Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship. Government
- 12Tourists still welcome in Flemish cities, up to a point — Flanders Today, 17 January 2020. Media
- 13Travel to Tomorrow / Reizen naar Morgen: reflection booklet — Toerisme Vlaanderen. First-party
- 14Junior researcher Justine Bauters puts residents at the heart of tourism governance — Breda University of Applied Sciences. Academic