Flemish travel agencies: ‘31 March strike affects 100,000 travellers’
According to the Flemish Travel Agency Association (VVR), the financial impact of the national strike on 31 March on the tourism sector will amount to more than 5.5 million euros. A total of 100,000 travellers are affected, the association said.
Due to the national strike, none of the nearly 250 scheduled departing passenger flights will take off from Brussels Airport on Monday and arriving flights may be affected too. All flights to and from Charleroi Airport have been cancelled. Train and bus traffic will be severely disrupted as well.
According to the VVR, which represents more than 600 travel companies in Flanders and Brussels, about 100,000 people wishing to travel to or from Belgium will be affected. Several thousand Belgian holidaymakers will leave for their trip a day earlier than planned.
“Over the past few days, travel agents have pulled out all the stops to rebook those planning a holiday through them to avoid major disruption,” said Koen van den Bosch, managing director of the association. People can leave on Monday via airports in France, the Netherlands or Germany, or travel a day earlier or later from a Belgian airport. “In addition, compensation is provided, for example, for a missed excursion or a lost night.”
This is the third time this year that the national airport has had to close due to strikes. This has already cost the tourism industry more than 16 million in total, he said, a nd affecting Belgium's reputation.
Belgium’s two largest unions - the socialist ABVV and the Christian democrat ACV - plan a national strike on 31 March to protest against austerity measures outlined in the federal government's programme.
#FlandersNewsService | Illustration © BELGA PHOTO JASPER JACOBS
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