“As the CEO of Visit Brussels, I often get confronted with questions such as “how’s the season picking up, how are we ranked vs other competitors or what’s our air service capacity like?” I can now confidently showcase our direction and performance based on real-time data that is being monitored and shared via ForwardKeys”
Patrick Bontinck
CEO of Visit Brussels
The capital of the EU
Brussels is the capital of Belgium and one of the three administrative regions within the country, together with Flanders and Wallonia. Apart from its role within its country, it is also an internationally important city, hosting numerous international institutions, and in particular the core institutions of the European Union. Due to that, it is sometimes referred to informally as the capital of the EU.
Known for its Grand Place, Atomium, and Manneken-Pis, as well as its excellent chocolate and beers, the metropolis attracts tourists from all over the world. In addition to domestic tourism, which is particularly important in the Brussels-Capital Region, the leading source markets for this destination are neighbouring European countries. In 2020, tourists who stayed in the Belgian capital and its surroundings were primarily from the Netherlands, France, and Germany.
The advent of Covid-19
The tourism organization at Visit Brussels was struggling with gaps in information regarding the changes in travellers’ preferences and habits due to the advent of Covid-19. This was providing them with a handicap when building business plans and tourism development strategies. Just who was travelling and what volume of interest was there in flight search and booking data for Brussels?
“Data is key, in other words, without data we can’t strategize and plan. The partnership with ForwardKeys is just what we needed as it covers several areas ranging from demographic profiles, segmentation, seasonality and most importantly it provides us with insights to anticipate the market changes,” says Patrick Bontinck, CEO of Visit Brussels.
Now they can forecast the future based on real-time future data. “We do not only see it as a resource but as our lifeline for all tourism performance and data matters,” Patrick Bontinck adds.
Exploring new markets
ForwardKeys provided insights and data on the secondary markets as well as the new markets that the tourism board were keen to venture into.
“One of our goals for this chapter in tourism is to reposition the city. Exploring new markets can only be done with the data received from ForwardKeys. This is how we can see and analyze potential opportunities from areas in the world that previously we never evaluated as a potential source market,” says Patrick Bontinck.
“Our aim at ForwardKeys has been always to help our DMO customers overcome their challenges and better plan their tourism strategies with data-based decisions,” says Katrina Dawson, VP of Destinations at ForwardKeys.
“ForwardKeys is keen to support capital cities like Brussels with their tourism growth post-pandemic, with a purpose-built data platform such as Destination Gateway providing near-live data and helping to answer the most important use-cases such as arrivals past & future, passenger profile, travel intents and more – all within budget. We also offer a strong 24/7 customer support service,” she adds.
The pent-up demand is real
The use and employment of the data from ForwardKeys have provided the tourism organization with a sense of reassurance that pent-up demand is real and translating into bookings. In addition, the team of researchers and marketers at Visit Brussels appreciate the ability to act quickly upon monitoring the destination performance and benchmarking it with key markets and competitor destinations.
“As the CEO of Visit Brussels, I often get confronted with questions such as “how’s the season picking up, how are we ranked vs other competitors or what’s our air service capacity like?” I can now confidently showcase our direction and performance based on real-time data that is being monitored and shared via ForwardKeys,” says Patrick Bontinck.
The tools supplied by ForwardKeys are straightforward to work with. Moreover, the ForwardKeys customer success team and analysts are available around the clock for any technical support or questions.
“About our experience, everything was great. From the first presentation of your destination product to the training we’ve had about how to use the platform, we think that the follow-up and customer service are great. Also, the different webinars provided by Olivier Ponti, VP of Insights, to different organizations really add some value (benchmark, global situation),” concludes Bontinck.
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