The small country of Belgium counts 129 Michelin starred restaurants for 2016: 3 restaurants with 3 stars, 20 restaurants with two stars and 106 restaurants with one star. Of these starred restaurants, 77 are situated in Flanders, 18 in Brussels and 34 in Wallonia. Belgians visit a restaurant often. 40% of them do it every week or even more than once per week. Most of them think they go more often to the restaurant than 5 years ago and they also think they spend more to restaurants than 5 year ago. Flemish people are spending clearly more than French speaking Belgians. Flemish people are spending most in restaurants: 63% of Flemish people spend between € 30 and € 75 per person, while 73% of French speaking Belgians only spend between €15 and €50 per person. On the average, a 3 course meal costs 24,95 euro in Belgium, the 2nd most expensive country of Western Europe for restaurants, after Holland. Belgian consumers are willing to spend money for a restaurant meal, although the high cost. Belgian people select a restaurant first upon the menu, then upon the service and then the decoration. Other important selection criteria for Belgians are the chef, the presence of a terrace and the use of regional/seasonal products. Belgians appreciate ‘originality’, the ‘special touch’ makes them come back. Did you know that 80% of Belgians are drinking wine with their meal at the restaurant? Sure you’ll be liking your Belgian customers! Take good care of them, because they’re exuberant, but reserved and cautious.
Vincent Vermeulen, an experienced butler and director of the School for Butlers & Hospitality, perfectly succeeded in convincing us that being a butler is reaching to the ultimate humanity. There is no magic or divine interference. There's just a man or a woman perfectly applying human techniques like having an eye for details, controlling body language, anticipating to the desires of the other. Invisibly taking care of the perfect customer experience. By some examples from daily life as a customer and from mystery shopping cases by his students, Vincent Vermeulen showed us that also in our businesses, we can behave like a butler and reach to the best customer journey for our customers. Think of the smile of your employees, offering a perfect coffee, a nice price offer and gentle return call, anticipating to your customer's preferences... These little things may overwhelm your customer, make him or her happy and come back, or help you close the deal. By the attitude of being a butler for our customers, we can definitely make the difference and even save our jobs for the future, throughout and embracing the digital transformation. You can read your way to success in the new book of Vincent Vermeulen, 'What we can learn from the butler', or visit the website www.schoolforbutlers.com.
In 2015, The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg counted together 451,863 registered golfers, according to the study on ‘golf participation in Europe in 2015’, developed by KPMG in collaboration with the European Golf Association. 10.8% of all registered golfers in Europe are living in the Benelux.
The Netherlands are considered a ‘developed’ market for golf, holding on their own the 5th position in Europe. Belgium is presenting a ‘growing’ golf market, thanks to remarkable efforts of the Flemish Golf Federation to attract more new golfers to the game in Flanders. Over the years, many initiatives have been taken by golf associations to popularize the game among women and juniors. Remarkable is the fact that The Netherlands are the second market, after Germany, in terms of total numbers of female golfers in Europe. 32% of golfers in The Netherlands are women. Also in Belgium and Luxemburg, the participation rate of women is high with 30% of all golfers. While The Netherlands have fewer junior players, Belgium and Luxemburg have a good result of respectively 11% and 14% of junior golfers. Important conclusions can be made for Travel. Couples and families from Benelux may be likely to play golf during holidays. Belgian travelers are known to be fond of luxury as well as food and wine. Holiday providers have interest to consider the Benelux as an important target for Golf holidays.
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An important recent survey among Belgian citizens shows that 78% of them plans at least one vacation this Summer, exactly the same share as last year. ‘Belgians consider going on holiday as an acquired right’, says Pierre Fivet, president of the Association of Belgian Tour Operators, that ordered this broad survey at the independent market research agency WES, covering the organized as well as the non-organized market in Belgium.
Vacation plans remain unchanged versus 2015. As in previous years, over three quarters of Belgians will travel at least once. This makes 11.7 million potential holidays, according to the research. Hardly 300,000 less than in 2015 and the same as in 2014. Already 3.1 million of potentially 11.7 million holidays were booked in January 2016. That is exactly the same as in 2015, which means that Belgians booked a little earlier this year. Of course, there are quite some shifts in the choice of a destination. France, which remains the number one holiday destination for the Belgians, loses 4 percentage points till 20.4%, due to the decrease of holidays to Disneyland or Paris, while other regions in France remain stable. More people will spend their holidays in their home country (12.9%) or opt for Spain (11.4%), mainly at the expense of Turkey, which is no surprising news. |
