Acknowledging the growing interest of domestic travel in Luxembourg in recent years, LFT carried out, for the first time, a survey on travel intentions to Luxembourg of the resident population. The survey took place via an online panel with 2,000 respondents at the end of April/beginning of May. Here is a summary of the key results.
36% of residents are considering an overnight stay in Luxembourg until December, a share that rises to 57% among respondents living for less than 10 years in Luxembourg. The questionnaire explicitly focused on trips for holiday or leisure purposes, i.e. excluding business trips and visits making part of the usual environment of the respondent, but potentially including paid and non-paid accommodation. This high proportion of domestic travel intent compares with a past visiting experience for holiday trips in paid accommodation of 15% since the start of 2024 (and 66% at any time in the past), highlighting ongoing future growth potential.
Hotel (44%) is the favourite accommodation type for planned domestic trips this year, followed by camping (20%-25% when including motorhomes and annual pitches) and countryside houses (“gîtes ruraux”), which are comparatively more popular among domestic than among inbound travellers in terms of future travel intent.
Similarly to inbound travellers, July-August are the favourite months for residents to go on a holiday trip in Luxembourg, particularly for younger respondents. Next follows September-October, which concentrates nearly as many responses as the peak summer months. Interest for domestic leisure travel in autumn 2025 appears to be relatively strong comparing inbound leisure travel for that period.
Regarding planned length of stay, the vast majority of residents will travel for a short overnight trip in Luxembourg this season (i.e., maximum 3 nights). For 91% of respondents, it is also likely not going to be their main holiday this year, but rather an additional break. Residents living for less than 10 years in Luxembourg more often would also consider stays of 4-7 nights in 2025 (31%).
Eislek is clearly the most popular region for a domestic leisure break in 2025, followed by MPSL and Moselle. But 20% of planned stays may well take place in more urban regions (City, South and Guttland), potentially also driven by larger events and recent openings of new lodgings.
General reasons for domestic holiday trips – both past and intended – typically include ease of access, seeing something different, specific pastime/leisure activities and the variety of experiences at short distance. Curiosity due to lack of familiarity with Luxembourg has been mentioned more often by residents of foreign nationality. Free public transport, sustainability considerations and the fact that Luxembourg is not overcrowded with tourists are also important decision factors to some resident travellers.
64% of residents are not going to take any domestic leisure overnight trip this year, and the main reasons against such a trip are too high familiarity with the place (also sometimes through a high propensity to do same-day excursions that substitute to overnight stays), preference for other destinations (whether due to their offer, or in the context of visiting friends & family abroad), but also occasionally too high prices in Luxembourg. Weather conditions and a general mismatch between travellers’ interests and Luxembourg’s offer also play a role, however they are comparatively low on the list of reasons against domestic travel this year (but have been more often mentioned by residents aged 16-34).
Preferred holiday types of residents for a leisure overnight trip in Luxembourg to some extent reflect the preferred destination regions: nature & countryside tops the list – and is, interestingly, ahead of active holidays such as hiking which may be more relevant in the context of same-day excursions. Next up follow rest & relaxation and wellness & health which – with 14% of planned trips – accounts for a higher demand share than among inbound leisure overnight visitors. The same also holds true for culinary & wine trips, suggesting that hedonistic travel motives such as spoiling oneself and well-being are comparatively important for residents when travelling domestically. The majority of domestic holidaymakers will probably travel with their partner or spouse but also trips with friends and family are popular. 15% are planning to travel with children.
While the focus of this survey was mostly on overnight trips, we also did assess intentions for same-day leisure excursions: 41% of residents are planning to realise such excursions on a regular basis in 2025, while another 40% will only occasionally do so. Propensity to do regular excursions is particularly high among those aged 35-54 and among the Nature-Loving Actives segment.
