VisitGent

What VisitGent does

VisitGent is the official municipal tourist office of the City of Ghent (Stad Gent), Belgium. Operating from a single headquarters at Sint-Veerleplein 5 in Ghent's historic center, the organization serves as the city's primary promotional and informational body for tourism, supporting leisure visitors, conference organizers, travel trade professionals, and media through dedicated service divisions including GentCongres (conference services), Press & Trade, and a Knowledge Centre for tourism research and policy. Headcount stands at 6 employees, and the entity is legally classified as a government state entity operating under the parent organization Stad Gent.

The organization's core offering is the visit.gent.be digital platform, a multilingual portal (Dutch, English, French, German, Spanish) providing comprehensive tourism information on attractions (including the city's 12 museums), events, dining, accommodation listings, and a CityCard discount pass offering savings up to €20 on attraction visits. VisitGent's underlying technology is straightforward: a content-managed web platform supplemented by social media distribution across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, Threads, X, and Flickr, alongside a physical tourist information office. No proprietary technology platform or AI/ML capabilities are described.

VisitGent operates as a department within the City of Ghent municipal government rather than a commercial enterprise. Funding flows from the municipal budget, and services to visitors and conference planners are provided free of charge. Policy direction follows a six-year cycle aligned with municipal elections, with the current 'Tourism of the Future' framework (2020-2025, approved by city council in February 2021) prioritizing sustainable tourism, overnight visitor attraction from Belgium and neighboring countries over mass day-tripper tourism, and spreading visitor flow beyond the historic center to ease the liveability impact noted by 42% of Ghent residents. The go-to-market combines direct-to-consumer (via website, social media, and physical office) with an event-driven motion through the GentCongres conference bureau. Strategic partnerships span Ghent University, VisitFlanders, Tourism East Flanders, and the Flemish Art Cities collaborative.

Name

VisitGent

Legal name

Stad Gent

Website

https://visitgent.be

Company type

Public

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

VisitGent is the official municipal tourist office of the City of Ghent, Belgium, promoting the city to leisure tourists, conference planners, travel trade, and media via its website, physical office, and GentCongres conference bureau.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Municipal Tourism Services

NAICS

Convention and Visitors Bureaus (561591)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Walking City Tours (Highlights & Orientation) (THAJAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Museum & Landmark Guided Tours (Skip-the-line/Docent-led) (THAJAAAC), Architecture & Urban Design Tours (THAJAAAD)

Keywords

• Municipal tourism services
• Destination marketing organization
• Convention bureau services
• Travel trade services
• Cultural destination promotion

Headquarters

HQ city

Ghent

HQ country

Belgium

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Municipal Tourism Services: VisitGent operates as the official tourist office of the City of Ghent, funded through municipal budget. Services include providing tourism information, promoting Ghent as a destination, and supporting the local tourism industry.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

VisitGent is the official municipal tourist office of the City of Ghent that provides free visitor information, destination promotion, and support services for leisure tourists, conference organizers, travel-trade partners, and press. It operates a visitor centre, the Visit Gent website, and dedicated B2B service lines including GentCongres for meetings and events and a Press & Trade department for media and tour operators.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• GentCongres: Professional conference and meeting planning services for organizing congresses and events in Ghent, offered free of charge to event organizers.

Products and services

• Visit Gent Website Platform Official Visit Gent website providing comprehensive tourist information on attractions, events, accommodation, and city logistics for leisure visitors planning a trip to Ghent.
• GentCongres Convention Bureau Services Dedicated convention bureau service from VisitGent supporting conference, meeting, and event organizers with venue sourcing, bidding materials, and on-the-ground coordination for hosting events in Ghent.
• Press & Trade Department Services Dedicated department serving journalists, editors, and travel-trade partners with press releases, story ideas, imagery, trip facilitation, and official destination content for editorial coverage and tour packaging.
• VisitGent Knowledge Centre Knowledge centre offering tourism statistics, research, and data resources about Ghent for partners, researchers, and professionals needing structured destination intelligence.
• Travel Trade Partner Program Program equipping tour operators, travel agents, and receptive operators with official destination content, imagery, and itinerary support to package Ghent within their travel offerings.

Quantifiable outcome

• 42 percent of Ghentians find historical center too busy - policy focuses on spreading tourism to address this
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Ghent UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGhent University is a key partner for GentCongres, providing access to academic venues and supporting the city's positioning as a knowledge capital for conferences and academic events.
• Toerisme Vlaanderen (VisitFlanders)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVisitFlanders collaborates with VisitGent on research studies and art city tourism programs, providing regional tourism data and co-marketing initiatives.
• Toerisme Oost-Vlaanderen (Tourism East Flanders)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional tourism body partnered with GentCongres to promote East Flanders province and Ghent as a conference destination.
• Flemish Art CitiesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVisitGent collaborates with other Flemish art cities on tourism research and marketing studies, sharing visitor data and best practices.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Barcelona Turisme: Municipal tourism board for Barcelona that combines cultural-tourism promotion with convention bureau services and overtourism management. Highly comparable as a historic-city DMO facing similar liveability-vs-visitor-growth tensions to Ghent.
• WienTourismus (Vienna Tourist Board): Official tourism organization for Vienna combining cultural-city promotion, leisure information, and convention bureau activity. Comparable to VisitGent in city-tourism focus, cultural-heritage emphasis, and integrated leisure/MICE remit.
• VisitFlanders (Toerisme Vlaanderen): Regional DMO for the entire Flemish Region, including a dedicated art-cities program. VisitGent is a listed partner of VisitFlanders and operates as the city-level DMO within its broader destination-marketing framework.
• Berlin Tourismus & Kongress GmbH (visitBerlin): Official DMO and convention bureau for Berlin, operating both leisure visitor marketing and a large convention sales operation analogous to GentCongres. Comparable in combining city-tourism promotion with a dedicated congress/events bureau.
• Amsterdam & Partners: Municipal destination marketing organization for Amsterdam, providing visitor information, city marketing, and convention bureau services. Larger and better-resourced than VisitGent, but comparable in function as a city DMO combining leisure promotion and MICE services.
• Office du Tourisme et des Congrès de Paris: Official Paris convention and visitors bureau combining leisure visitor information with a major MICE operation. Comparable in dual leisure-plus-congress remit analogous to VisitGent plus GentCongres.

Others

• Tourism Flanders' Flemish Art Cities network: Cooperative network of Flemish art cities (including Ghent, Antwerp, Bruges, Leuven, Mechelen) for joint tourism marketing and research. VisitGent is a participant rather than a competitor; useful as a structural peer for benchmarking research and co-marketing activity.

Direct peers

• visit.brussels: Official tourism and convention bureau for the Brussels-Capital Region. Directly comparable as a Belgian city-level DMO operating both leisure visitor services and a dedicated Brussels Convention Bureau function analogous to GentCongres.
• Visit Antwerp (Antwerpen Toerisme): Official city tourism office for Antwerp, another major Flemish art city. Directly comparable as a Belgian/Flemish city DMO with similar museum/heritage attractions and shared membership in the Flemish Art Cities network.
• Visit Bruges (Visit Brugge): Official tourism organization for the City of Bruges, a fellow Flemish art city and direct collaborator with VisitGent via the Flemish Art Cities partnership. Same governance model (municipal DMO) and overlapping cultural-tourism proposition.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/visit_gent
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/ToerismeGent
• Facebookfacebook.com/visitgent
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/visitgent
• Instagraminstagram.com/visitgent
• TikToktiktok.com/@visitgent
• Pinterestpinterest.com/visitgent/boards

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about VisitGent