According to the Flemish Travel Agency Association (VVR), the financial impact of the national strike on Monday 31 March on the tourism sector will amount to more than 5.5 million euros. A total of 100,000 travellers are affected, stated the association.
Due to the national strike, none of the nearly 250 scheduled departing passenger flights will take off from Brussels Airport on Monday and arriving flights may be affected too. All flights to and from Charleroi Airport have been cancelled. Train and bus traffic will be severely disrupted as well.
According to the Flemish Travel Agency Association, which represents over 600 travel companies in Flanders and Brussels, about 100,000 people wishing to travel to or from Belgium will be affected. Several thousand Belgian holidaymakers will leave for their trip a day earlier than planned.
“Over the past few days, travel agents pulled out all the stops to rebook those planning a holiday through them to avoid major disruption,” said Koen van den Bosch, managing director of the association. These people can leave on Monday via airports in France, the Netherlands or Germany, or travel a day earlier or later from a Belgian airport. “In addition, compensation is provided for, for example, a missed excursion or a lost night.”
Van den Bosch pointed out that it is already the third time this year that the national airport has had to close due to strikes. This has already cost the tourism industry more than 16 million in total, he said. According to him, the impact on Belgium’s reputation is also dramatic.
