Over 59,000 people visited the museum, up 42% on the same period last year, while over 145,000 went to the animal park in Bettembourg, (+11%) and over 67,000 visited the castle in Vianden (+8%). But even these three could not outdo the incredible +192% growth in visitor numbers recorded by the Luxembourg City Museum, visited by almost 29,000 people.

Speaking on Wednesday, secretary of state for economy Francine Closener gave a positive assessment on tourism in Luxembourg, saying it resulted from the “sector’s efforts to promote and professionalise.”

Tourist accommodation recorded an overall 4% increase with almost 1.3 million overnight stays. Growth was strongest among campsites, whose occupancy rates rose 15% and youth hostels, recording a 10% increase. Accommodation in the Mullerthal region, which has a large number of campsites, recorded the strongest growth (+9.2%).

Among those staying overnight, there was a 15% spike in stays from Spanish tourists, followed by the Dutch (+13%) and Japanese (+10%).

Vote for your favourite projects

On Wednesday, the Luxembourg public was invited to serve as jury and vote for their favourite finalists in the 2018 tourism innovation awards.

Within the category of smart tourism, the finalists include Spoticle, an app enabling people to chart their favourite places on a map, the Urban Timetravel bus and Zeilt Productions’ interactive “Nächst Statioun” (next station) application for young people using a television series to help people get to know locations in Luxembourg.

Within the circular economy and sustainable tourism category, the finalists were Ramborn Cider, cycle tour organization Vélosophie and Hugo Zeler’s Hunnegkëscht, an urban beekeeping project creating a link between tourism sites and biodiversity. People can vote online until 9 September.