Once every 6 years, in line with the municipal elections, VisitGent draws up a policy plan which is approved by the Ghent city council. The current policy plan titled “Tourism of the Future” applies to the period 2020-2025 and was approved by the city council in February 2021. The policy document is based on the knowledge and data gathered by VisitGent and follows the model of the policy cycle.

To draw up the policy document, we first collected all relevant data concerning tourism in and visits to Ghent, and carefully considered the wishes of the new city council. We then developed a participation project (City Debate) which allowed all stakeholders (tourism industry, local residents, other government authorities, etc.) to express their vision of the tourism of the future. VisitGent is currently implementing all actions included in the policy document.