The Easter weekend traditionally marks the start of the tourist season in the Grand Duchy. The country mainly attracts visitors from neighbouring countries. (Photo: Matic Zorman/Masion Moderne)

The Easter weekend traditionally marks the start of the tourist season in the Grand Duchy. The country mainly attracts visitors from neighbouring countries. (Photo: Matic Zorman/Masion Moderne)

With good weather forecast for the Easter long weekend and the return of traditional festivities such as the Éimaischen after two years of pandemic, tourism outlook is good for the 2022 season.

“It is obvious that there is a very strong desire to travel and to disconnect from everyday life. The war in Ukraine has very little direct effect on bookings, but will potentially have more indirect effects, through inflation. This will mainly affect ancillary expenditure on the spot, rather than the general intention to travel,” says Alain Krier, head of research and media management at Luxembourg for Tourism (LFT).

The group is confident at the start of the 2022 tourist season: since February it has observed a weekly increase of 3 to 4% in hotel searches and bookings and the occupancy rate of a number of hotels is expected to reach 48% for April 2022, compared with 21% a year earlier.

“For April, we are seeing particularly high increases from Germans, both for city trips and for excursions,” explains the manager. Belgians and Dutch are also very present: in 2020 they represented 16% and 27%, respectively, of all overnight stays in Luxembourg.

On the other hand, LFT notes an evolution: “The fairly marked difference between a higher number of visitors in the north and east of the country, and a lower number in the capital than that observed since 2020, has almost disappeared now. City trips are now almost on a par with wellness, health, mountain biking and gastronomy holidays.”

The hunt for Péckvillercher is on

“With the lifting of the health restrictions and the favourable weather conditions, we are optimistic about the tourist influx this Easter weekend,” says the Luxembourg City Tourist Office (LCTO). For the occasion, a new activity is proposed, namely the Easter Safari, a guided tour of the city aimed at 4 to 12-year-olds where they go in search of a series of animals, including the famous Péckvillchen birds.

The LCTO has announced a 93% booking rate for this new offers, and is also organising other guided tours this weekend, such as the Top City Views, the City Promenade and the Wenzel Circuit.

There is something for everyone: last month, LFT launched its communication campaigns in eight European markets considered to be priorities--Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, the UK, Switzerland, Italy and Spain. The communities of hikers, bikers, explorers, slow travellers and active nature-lovers are particularly targeted.

In 2021, Luxembourg recorded 1.5 million tourist nights in the country’s hotels and campsites. The country has 220 hotels and 79 campsites. They are reopening this weekend with an expected occupancy rate of 44%, compared to 29% a year earlier.

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