After one year of “Luxembourg for Tourism”, tourism in Luxembourg is on the up according to the findings of the general assembly held yesterday. 

Secretary of State for the Economy Francine Closener gave a positive assessment for the initiative’s first year, saying “the creation of LFT has further professionalised tourism structures in Luxembourg. For the first time in the history of tourism, the entrepreneurial sector is heavily involved in national tourism promotion. A genuine public-private partnership has been launched to attract even more tourists through thematic campaigns based on a well thought out marketing strategy.”

Luxembourg hosted 2.97 million overnight stays in 2016, another year-on-year rise for the fifth year running, and tourism and leisure tourism grew by 3% compared to 2014.

"The growing interest of travelers in the Luxembourg destination confirms the effectiveness of LFT's strategic choices in the target markets," said LFT Chairman Romain Weber. 

In September last year, efforts to promote Luxembourg as a MICE destination were put under the management of LFT, with the MICE cluster working in eight commissions to boost the creation of new products to attract the market.

LFT also launched integrated campaigns across several communication channels, including digital media. Focusing on priority markets such as Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and France, the various actions were found to have increased the number of visits to the www.visitluxembourg.com website, visited last year almost 3.2 million times, an increase of 7.5% against 2015.

170 media platforms specialising in tourism were welcomed by LFT during press trips resulting in 394 articles in the international media presenting the Grand Duchy as a tourist destination of choice. Cooperation with Luxair has attracted customers from more distant markets.

Following the approval of the 2016 balance sheet and the discharge granted to the Board of Managers, LFT members unanimously adopted the marketing strategy for 2017 before voting on the 2017 budget. On the basis of the excellent results, the members expressed their Confidence in the new EIG by granting it a budget of just over €5 million enabling it to pursue its marketing activities at international level.

Image: Centre: Romain Weber, president LFT, Francine Closener on right,  Anne Hoffmann, director general of LFT to left.