Despite initial mixed results, Belgian Beer World is a unique way of showcasing an architectural masterpiece. By cleverly combining tangible and intangible heritage with events, Brussels can attract far more than just beer and chocolate fans.
The (beer) glass is half full thanks to the more than 2.3 million visitors who, as we recently learned, strolled through the Bourse building one year after its reopening in September 2023. However, that also means the glass is half empty, as too few have pushed open the doors of the Belgian Beer World experience (BBW) that it houses, failing to become an immediate tourist growth driver for the capital.
Nevertheless, the City of Brussels has no reason to panic, being supported by the Region, the Federal Government and the European Union, and having invested 90 million euros in renovating the Bourse. When the results were published, mayor Philippe Close pointed out that other renovated sites, such as Palais 12 and La Madeleine, took 4 to 5 years to become financially viable. The fact remains that only 150,000 people will have visited the BBW after a year in operation. At the time of its inauguration, the mayor had said he was hoping for more than 300,000.
Hot spot in the making
300,000 was just about the number of visitors to the Heineken Experience in Amsterdam in 2009. That year, Dirk Lubbers took over the reins and, in just a few seasons, turned it into one of the city's most popular attractions, with over a million tickets sold each year.
Just in time, the Brussels Beer Museum has made him its new interim manager, in the hope of boosting visitor numbers. It is up to him to fulfil the ambitions of the Brussels authorities, who want to make the BBW the 3rd most popular attraction after the Atomium and the Grand Place. Partnerships with airlines and airports, visibility campaigns, new opening times... In an interview with our colleagues at Le Soir, Dirk Lubbers seems to be full of ideas.
European examples
A number of figures give him cause for hope. Munich's Hofbräuhaus , an emblem of Bavarian brewing culture, claims to receive 35,000 visitors a day. In Dublin, the House of Guinness claims 1.5 million visits a year. The Carlsberg Museum in Copenhagen, which reopened after renovation in December 2023, had already recorded 220,000 visits by the end of September 2024. Its director, Tine Kastrup-Misir, is counting on partnerships with regional and national tourist authorities, TripAdvisor and GetYourGuide, as well as social media.
Investing in events
The institution doesn't just rely on foreign tourists for a day. ‘We are investing in events to ensure repeat visits from the Danish public,’ Tine Kastrup-Misir explains. ‘It could be a special historical tour or a lecture on the science of beer. We've experimented with different activation formats and seen a lot of revisits.’
The BBW should also be able to count on public and private events in its immediate vicinity to boost attendance. This summer, the Bourse, also called Brussels Stock Exchange, hosted the Détours urban dance festival and the presentation of the Belgian delegation to the Paralympic Games and its medal winners. It also houses coworking spaces, meeting rooms, conferences and seminars, as well as a café, a brasserie, an archaeological museum in the basement and a rooftop bar.
Completed in 1873, the building - with its central dome, Corinthian columns and Rodin bas-reliefs - bears witness to the past role of Brussels as a financial centre. As an exceptional showcase, it is undoubtedly one of the main assets that the BBW still needs to capitalise on.
Tangible and intangible heritage
Others have succeeded brilliantly in developing events based on their architectural heritage. The first of these is the Ommegang spectacle on the Grand Place, which attracts 2,000 seated spectators every summer.
In a different genre, there's also Hangar, the organiser of electronic music concerts. Its love affair with Brussels' iconic venues began during the COVID-19 lockdown. Forced to put its gatherings on hold, the team pivoted and imagined livestreams set in exceptional locations. Its first guest DJs mixed in the middle of the deserted Grand Place or Cinquantenaire. ‘It worked straight away. After the lockdown, we continued in the same direction, but this time with the public,’ founder Marvin Weymeersch recalls. The artists also appreciate it. ‘They are highly motivated by the idea of mixing in such environments,’ he adds.
Since then, Hangar has staged its various events in the Place des Palais, the Atomium, Place Rogier and the Cité administrative. For the next ones, the organiser is considering the Palace of Justice and even - one can dream - the greenhouses of Laeken.
Brussels, home to electro
Marvin Weymeersch explains that he received immediate support from visit.brussels, aware of the tourist potential of such events. ‘In 2024 alone, we will have attracted 80,000 people. And a quarter of the audience at our big concerts come from abroad, which represents a lot of hotel nights', adds Weymeersch, who is delighted to see the capital, already boosted by the huge Tomorrowland, increasingly associating its image with electronic music.
Police, local authorities, SIAMU, CoAMU, Régie des bâtiments, Urban Brussels, Bruxelles environnement, URBAN, ... the founder can't count the number of authorities - with diverse interests - he has to deal with to bring his projects to completion. 'You have to plan well in advance, but with experience and contacts, we've learned to master the cascade of permits required. In the end, he stresses, Brussels remains an ideal location for this type of event. ‘The authorities are very open if you do things professionally. Unless you have colossal budgets, replicating such experiments in Paris would be completely impossible’.