In 2021, online platforms accounted for 6,520,000 overnight stays in private accommodations

In 2021, online platforms accounted for 6,520,000 overnight stays in private accommodations

DataLab

1 February 2023

In 2021, 644,000 accommodations were booked via an online platform (Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia or TripAdvisor), with travellers spending to total of 6,520,000 nights. This is what emerged from the new figures of Statbel, the Belgian statistical office. The rental of accommodations offered by private individuals via an online platform is well established. Statbel wants to analyse this growing phenomenon in this experimental statistic. For this, Statbel uses the data it receives via Eurostat from four large platform companies. These four platforms, Airbnb, Booking.com, the Expedia Group and TripAdvisor, provide pseudonymised and aggregated data about all reservations and overnight stays that take place via their platforms on the Belgian territory.

This experimental statistic is limited to the accommodations that are offered by private individuals. Professional accommodation providers, like hotels, are excluded. The statistics on these professional providers are available in the official tourism statistics(This hyperlink opens a new window). More information about this experimental statistic and the data used is available in the tab 'documents'.

In 2021, online platforms accounted for 6,520,000 overnight stays in private accommodations

In 2021, 644,000 accommodations were booked via an online platform, with travellers spending a total of 6,520,000 nights. This represents a substantial increase compared to 2020, year of the coronavirus, but a decrease of respectively 22% for bookings and 7% for the number of overnight stays compared to 2019, the year before the crisis.

Half of overnight stays took place in the Flemish Region

The Flemish Region registers the largest number of overnight stays in accommodations offered by private individuals and booked via an online platform. In 2021, 50.1% of all overnight stays took place in the Flemish Region, 36.2% in the Walloon Region and finally 13.7% in the Brussels-Capital Region.

Compared to 2019, the Flemish Region (+72,000) and especially the Walloon Region (+680,000) registered an increase in the number of overnight stays in private accommodations. However, the Brussels-Capital Region recorded a sharp decrease in the number of overnight stays (-1,219,000) in this period. Therefore, the share of the Brussels-Capital Region decreased from 30% in 2019 to 14% of the total number of overnight stays in Belgium in 2021.

Despite sharp decrease, Brussels-Capital remains the most popular district

Despite a sharp decrease from 2020 on, Brussels-Capital remains the district with the largest number of overnight stays booked with a private individual via an online platform. Throughout the whole calendar year 2021, 891,000 overnight stays took place in the capital. The districts Ostend (713,000 overnight stays) and Bruges (591,000 overnight stays) complete the top 3. In Wallonia, Verviers was the most popular district with 493,000 overnight stays and occupies the fifth national place.

The number of foreigners decreases further

In 2019, 77% of overnight stays were booked by non-residents, so by travellers whose main residence is located abroad. Because of the travel restrictions due to the coronavirus crisis, this share dropped to 52% in 2020 and 43% in 2021. So, the increase in the number of overnight stays observed in 2021 is mainly due to Belgians going on holidays in their own country.

Finally, it is also possible to break down the number of overnight stays of non-residents by country of origin of the traveller. This analysis shows that in 2019, the French were the largest group of non-residents who booked an accommodation offered by a private individual via an online platform. In 2020, the Dutch passed the French, and became with 23% of the overnight stays the main country of origin. Also in 2021, the Netherlands, with 27% of overnight stays, were the main country of origin of travellers renting an accommodation offered by a private individual. In 2021, the Dutch and the French accounted for more than half the number of overnight stays in private accommodations (51%). The Germans complete the top 3, with 15% of overnight stays, followed by residents of Spain and the United States. Finally, the share of the United Kingdom decreases sharply in the period 2019-2021.