Tourism in Belgium is one ofBelgium's industries. Its accessibility from elsewhere inEurope makes it a populartourist destination. The tourist industry generates 2.8% of Belgium'sgross domestic product and employs 3.3% of the working population (142,000 people).[1] 6.7 million people travelled to Belgium in 2005.[2] Two-thirds of them come from the larger nearby countries -France, TheNetherlands, theUnited Kingdom, andGermany; there are also many tourists fromSpain andItaly.
Like many national institutions in Belgium, the national tourist agencies are split along regional lines with two tourist agencies. They are theBelgian Tourist Office Brussels & Wallonia for the regions ofWallonia andBrussels Capital-Region, andToerisme Vlaanderen coveringFlanders, although it covers Brussels as well.
In 1993, 2% of the total workforce was employed in tourism, less than in many neighbouring countries.[3] Much of the tourism industry is located either on the heavily developed coastline or in theArdennes.[4]Brussels and theFlemish cities ofBruges,Ghent,Antwerp,Leuven, andMechelen, the FlemishCities of Art, attract many cultural tourists.[2] Much tourism in Brussels is business tourism.
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Belgium was ranked 21st on the World Economic Forum's 2017Travel and Tourism Competitiveness report.[7] The country was placed 4th for "health and hygiene" and 6th for "ground and port infrastructure", but only 105th in the world for "price competitiveness" and 122nd for "natural resources". In recent years, the number of international tourists has exponentially grown as key figures shown byTourisme Vlaanderen.
Most visitors arriving to Belgium on short-term basis in come from the following countries of nationality:
| Rank | Country | 2014[8] | 2015[9] | 2016[10] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  The Netherlands | 1,705,537 | 1,919,413 | 1,854,486 |
| 2 |  France | 1,264,291 | 1,285,610 | 1,202,041 |
| 3 |  United Kingdom | 1,026,003 | 1,043,613 | 868,173 |
| 4 |  Germany | 868,250 | 945,974 | 865,031 |
| 5 |  Spain | 366,474 | 360,220 | 304,598 |
| 6 |  United States | 366,061 | 388,423 | 299,907 |
| 7 |  Italy | 299,864 | 294,945 | 224,762 |
| 8 |  China | 169,075 | 209,045 | 147,654 |
| 9 |  Luxembourg | 100,002 | 114,899 | 110,953 |
| 10 |  Switzerland | 108,031 | 118,796 | 91,308 |
| 11 |  Poland | 87,698 | 94,937 | 90,914 |
| 12 |  Sweden | 69,994 | 68,021 | 65,117 |
| 13 |  Denmark | 60,330 | 61,927 | 63,415 |
| 14 |  Russia | 97,183 | 72,630 | 60,386 |
| 15 |  Ireland | N/A | N/A | 57,266 |
| 16 |  Turkey | 49,475 | 61,538 | 55,410 |
| 17 |  Portugal | N/A | N/A | 54,221 |
| 18 |  Canada | 59,289 | 61,357 | 50,521 |
| 19 |  Japan | 111,939 | 96,444 | 50,253 |
| 20 |  Romania | N/A | N/A | 45,077 |
| Total foreign | 7,887,426 | 8,354,753 | 7,481,422 |
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