About the Region Tourism in Wallonia Tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing sectors in the world economy. It plays a key role in job creation, export revenue and domestic value added, and directly contributes, on average, 4.2% of GDP, 6.9% of employment and 21.7% of service exports in OECD countries. In Belgium, the economic contribution of tourism is approximately 2.8% to Flanders, 6.1% to Wallonia, and 4.2% to Brussels. In 2014, Belgium received a record 6.4 million international tourists in hotels and similar establishments, of which 48% (3.1 million) visited Flanders, 40% (2.5 million) Brussels and 12% (800,000) Wallonia. In Wallonia, tourism is the responsibility of the Minister of Agriculture, Nature, Rurality, Tourism, Heritage and Delegate to the Greater Region.
The Tourism Department of Wallonia is composed of the Walloon Ministry of tourism (CGT) and Wallonia-Belgium Tourism (WBT). The CGT and WBT work closely together with professional organisations in the sector – such as Gîtes de Wallonie, Accueil Champêtre en Wallonie, Walcamp (camping sites), Vilvac (holiday villages), Auberges de Jeunesse (youth hostels), Attractions et Tourisme, Musées et Société en Wallonie, and Horeca Wallonie – to develop creative and innovative tourism policies to meet the needs of industry stakeholders. The Regional Policy Declaration for 2014-2019 recommended focusing on two tourism objectives:
Source of diagram: OECD,2018.
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