The monster traffic jams on the motorways to holiday destinations and the long queues at airports show that the desire to travel is strong this summer. Although it is too early to draw up an assessment, national statistics bureau Statec has examined the tourist practices of Luxembourg residents in 2021 and the tourist offer in the grand duchy. Here are some of the findings.

2 million trips

Residents returned to travel last year: 1.966 million trips were recorded, 91% of which were for leisure purposes. This is 23% more than in 2020, a year marked by the outbreak of the pandemic. But the indicator remains 24% below 2019 levels.

Summer concentrates 41% of stays

“Since the summer of 2021, residents have been travelling again, almost as much as before the health crisis,” states the study. While holiday stays account for 54% of leisure trips, 46% are attributed to visits to family and friends, a number that grew by 15% compared to 2019.

Business travel at 35% of 2019 levels

Accounting for 9% of all travel recorded in 2021, business tourism remains a niche that is struggling to rebound after the pandemic. While in 2019 a resident made an average of 1.9 trips of this type per year, the indicator fell to 0.8 the following year and even 0.7 in 2021.

In the face of the development of videoconferencing tools Statec however observes a lengthening of the duration of business trips, from 3.4 nights in 2019 to 5 nights last year. “While the 2019 level will probably never be regained, we cannot imagine that business travel will disappear either,” writes the statistics institute.

France remains the number one destination

24% of leisure trips, but also business trips, last year took place in France, the leading destination for residents. Luxembourg tourists also chose Germany, Belgium and Portugal (10% each).

8% of residents travelled within Luxembourg

Making up 8% of leisure trip destinations in 2021, compared with 1% in 2019, the grand duchy has made a name for itself on the residents’ roadmap. The country lost a bit in popularity compared to 2020 (10%) when the local tourism industry was supported by foreign travel restrictions and the introduction of the €50 voucher to be redeemed in the country’s hotels.

Private car preferred by 63%

Holidays by car remain most popular among Luxembourg residents and have even been reinforced by the health crisis. This means of transport has seen its use increase by 14 percentage points compared to 2019 to reach 63%. The plane has gone down from 41% to 28% in two years, while the train and the bus retain a marginal share of 5% and 1% respectively.

€969 per person

This is the average cost of a trip per person from Luxembourg, with an average duration of 7.8 nights. In detail, 34% is spent on accommodation--for which hotels and relatives are the most popular options--30% on activities and food, 28% on transport and 8% on valuables, like jewellery, works of art and high-tech products. This budget is 2% lower than in 2019.

+30% of arrivals in Luxembourg

The country welcomed 853,472 tourist arrivals last year, an indicator that is 30% higher than in 2020, but still 27% lower than in 2019. Belgians represent 18% of the tourist contingent, ahead of Germans (14%). Eight out of ten tourists to Luxembourg came from one of the 27 EU member states.

Overnight stays up by 40

2.13 million overnight stays were recorded in 2021, 40% more than in 2020, but 700,000 fewer than in 2019. The region around the capital accounts for 46% of these overnight stays, nine out of ten of which are in hotels. It should be noted that this area concentrates 60% of the country's hotel capacity. In terms of activities, the Mullerthal saw a 12% increase in the number of hikers to 163,000 on the Mullerthal Trail.

0.95% of GDP in 2020

This is the contribution of tourism activities to Luxembourg's national GDP, an indicator that is contracting after 1.21% in 2019. It must be said that non-residents generate 88% of tourist spending in Luxembourg and that travel restrictions in the year of the outbreak of the health crisis were particularly pronounced. In 2020, foreign visitors spent €2.5m in the grand duchy compared to €381,000 for residents.

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