Dutch shoppers deliver better winter sales to Antwerp, Hasselt and Ghent than last year

What is striking is that Dutch shoppers only go to the big cities to shop. “In smaller cities, such as Aalst and Sint-Niklaas, we see no effect of Dutch shoppers on winter sales,” says Delanghe. “The Dutch mainly shop in the big cities they know, they don’t take the exit to smaller cities because they don’t know them. They mainly go to Antwerp and Hasselt, close to the Dutch border.”

“But when they heard that it was too busy there, they drove on to Ghent to shop.” That’s where it stopped. Still driving to Bruges? “No, that turned out to be too far”, laughs Isolde Delanghe. “We have seen some Dutch tourists in Bruges, but there is certainly no noticeable demonstrable effect on sales in the shops.” The shopkeepers in West Flanders have now sold as much during the winter sales as last winter.

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