Furthermore a third of the hotels and 57% of the campsites surveyed observed a “substantial increase” in custom from residents, the minister said on Tuesday.

He credits the boost to the €50 Luxembourg accommodation vouchers offered by the tourism directorate to all residents and cross-border workers and which remain valid until the end of the year. The scheme was introduced to encourage local tourism in light of the pandemic.

A total of 34,000 vouchers have been used across 234 different accommodation structures. On average, 600 vouchers were redeemed per weekday since mid-July and 1,000 vouchers per weekend day. The dedicated web page was consulted 309,000 times.

“In many European countries, domestic tourism has a great tradition. For the first time in 2020, the concept ‘Vakanz doheem’ (holiday at home) is likely to really mark our tourist season. Accommodation vouchers have convinced a large number of residents to consider Luxembourg as a real alternative destination. Now, service providers in the field are being called upon to retain these new customers and to turn them into ambassadors of our destination.”

It wasn’t only accommodation providers that benefited from the initiative. The Remerschen lake in the east of Luxembourg received over 37,000 visitors over the summer. The new Luxembourg for Tourism website, www.100thingstodo.lu, received almost 469,000 unique visits since the beginning of July.