Lex Delles, Luxembourg's Minister for Tourism; Credit: MECO

On Thursday 20 May 2021, Luxembourg's Minister for Tourism, Lex Delles, presented the priorities of Luxembourg's tourism policy concerning leisure tourism.

In the short term, the 2021 edition of “Lëtzebuerg, dat ass Vakanz” targets residents of the Grand Duchy, cross-border workers and foreign tourists in order to make them aware of tourist attractions in Luxembourg. This campaign, which brings together seven different projects, particularly highlights active, cultural and gastronomic tourism.

"Lëtzebuerg, dat ass Vakanz" thus includes the following projects:

- "Luxembourg Sky Swing", a swing that invites visitors on a virtual journey through Luxembourg;

- “LetzBingo”, a game with various entertaining challenges, aimed at adults as well as children;

- “Luxembourg Tourism Awards”, a prize which rewards various tourism players in order to highlight the quality of this sector;

- “Vëlosummer”, the opening of special routes for cyclists throughout the country;

- “Movewecarry.lu”, free luggage transport for hikers and cyclists;

- Extension of the €50 hotel vouchers, offered to all residents over 16 as well as cross-border workers, which can be redeemed until 15 September 2021;

- "Guide For One Day", the opportunity to discover unusual places as a guide for a day.

In the medium term, Luxembourg's Minister of Tourism emphasised three national priorities among many projects. A new strategy will be drawn up in order to improve the tourism development of the Grand Duchy. This will define guidelines as well as priority action areas and will be presented in autumn 2021.

In the years to come, the General Directorate for Tourism is also working on the promotion of remembrance tourism. One of the flagship projects in this area will be the upgrading of the former “MS Princesse Marie-Astrid” boat, on which the Schengen Agreement was signed. 

Finally, in the field of active tourism, the General Directorate for Tourism will continue to strengthen the service offer for tourists. An analysis of the “Rent a Bike” system will be carried out in order to improve the system and create opportunities for synergy.

Minister of Tourism, Lex Delles, indicated in this context that “we are constantly improving our tourist offer through various innovative projects in order to make the stay in the Grand Duchy pleasant and rewarding. The 2021 edition of 'Lëtzebuerg, dat ass Vakanz' is characterised by its great diversity and focuses in particular on the digitalisation of the tourist offer while continuing to promote active tourism. In the long term, the elaboration of a new tourism strategy will allow us to exploit our tourism potential. I am confident that the diversity and quality of our offer pave the way for a recovery of this sector which has a considerable economic impact in Luxembourg".

The CEO of Luxembourg for Tourism (LFT), Dr. Sebastian Reddeker, presented the trends and perspectives of the tourism sector. He notably indicated that the desire to travel remains very strong in the markets on which LFT focuses its promotional activities. He noted that 56% of Europeans aspire to go on holiday abroad in the coming months, with the number of people in Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands alone who intend to travel to Luxembourg amounting to 2.4 million - a demand which the LFT CEO said Luxembourg can meet thanks to the quality of its tourism offer, as well as its visibility on social networks and a good reputation for its health security.

“Through the development of its digital services, LFT will strive to ensure that visitors have a flawless journey despite health restrictions, so that they leave with the best possible memories of the destination. This is a foundation of the promises of value around which we orient our approach since we started repositioning the Visit Luxembourg brand last year”, concluded Dr. Sebastian Reddeker.