314,000 air trips were made by residents in the summer of 2022 compared to 269,000 in the summer of 2019. Photo: Matic Zorman/Maison Moderne/Archives

314,000 air trips were made by residents in the summer of 2022 compared to 269,000 in the summer of 2019. Photo: Matic Zorman/Maison Moderne/Archives

Luxembourg has reacquired its taste for travelling: with 314,000 trips undertaken by residents last summer, an increase of 17% compared to 2019, air travel has returned to or even exceeded its pre-crisis level.

Residents have returned to their tourism habits. According to the latest , residents made 916,000 trips abroad during the 2022 summer holidays. This is a 36% increase compared to 2019 (with 672,000 stays in the same period), the last summer of reference before the covid-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions it brought along. Above all, the plane is more popular, even if it remains behind the car, widely preferred by residents to reach their holiday destination.

In detail, the survey shows a renewed confidence in air transport. In the summer of 2022, residents made more trips by air (+17%) than in 2019, and the same number of long-haul trips. The number of trips by plane had fallen sharply in 2020 (-45%) following the various restrictions put in place due to the health crisis.

They really took off in the summer of 2022, with 314,000 trips by plane counted, compared to 269,000 in the summer of 2019.

Nevertheless, with 56% of trips, the car remained the preferred means of transport for residents to go on holiday abroad last summer. It should be noted, however, that 22% of leisure trips were made within 300 kilometres of the country.

Less ‘Vakanz Doheem’

According to Statec, in the summer of 2020, a few months after the first confinement, 37% of residents preferred to spend the summer in Luxembourg, a trend largely accompanied by the government’s ‘Vakanz Doheem’ campaign. But this trend clearly decreased: last summer, 27% of residents preferred to stay in Luxembourg during the summer of 2021 and 24% decided to do the same in the summer of 2022.

Finally, Statec states that “all residents’ favourite holiday destinations welcomed more visitors from Luxembourg in the summer of 2022 than in the summer of 2019.” This is the case for Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Italy. The increase is on average lower towards other European countries (+17%) and towards non-European destinations (+1%). It should also be noted that holiday stays outside Europe have returned to their pre-crisis level in just two years.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.