Updated November 24, 2022

The Ardennes offensive!

By Shana Devleschoudere
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Our series on Brussels, interconnected to the North and South, continues this week with a slightly mixed theme, as we meet the Flemish... from Wallonia!

The Walloons go to the Flemish coast and the Flemish (and Dutch) go to the Ardennes "mountains". The refrain is well known. Some, like the Flemish-but-true-Belgian humorist Bert Kruismans, don't hesitate: "During the tourist season, local classified ads and municipal signs prohibiting illegal dumping are in both languages. The Café des Sports, an asylum for the region's last remaining Walloons, has been closed for years. On the other hand, the Beffe brewery, where the Flemish are at home, welcomes visitors with open arms. Welcome to Beffelyhills! In case you were wondering, the name was coined by a Dutchman...".

We're talking about a phenomenon that's been around for a long time. Flanders has always loved vacationing in the Ardennes. But since the confinement of Covid, the phenomenon has become much more pronounced. Some Flemish newspapers are even making headlines about it. Take this article from Le Morgen, published at the start of the new school year, with a headline that could be translated as "Flemings begin to reign supreme in the Ardennes". That sets the tone! And the whole article follows suit. A resident of Rendeux declares: "For the past five years or so, we've been invaded by Flemings, who buy everything. This disrupts the rhythm of the region. And Madame points her finger in all directions: "Marche, Hotton, La Roche, it's all the same. And we're not talking about small gîtes. Because, even if this influx of visitors is good for the economy, it's not without its problems: parties until the wee hours of the morning, littering along the roads, supermarkets raided during the vacation season... life for some locals can seem like hell in high season. Not to mention the soaring property prices that all this entails...

Some dare to speak of the "Marc Coucke effect". Starting in Durbuy, the price war is now spreading to the surrounding communes, reinforced by the resurgence of tourism in the Ardennes after the initial confinement. In Rendeux and La Roche, a third of those who bought a house in 2020 came from the other side of the language border. And the problem is spreading to neighboring villages: Vielsalm, Gedinne, Vresse, Beauraing, Houffalize, Rochefort, Somme-Leuze, Han-sur-Lesse (rumored to be Marc Coucke's next target), and even Stavelot and Malmedy.
Let's be frank: there's another, more serious and structural problem with this Flemish "overpopulation". By selling buildings to developers and building new ones for tourism, what's left of rural life in the off-season, when we're all stepping on each other's toes during the vacations? What's more, overbidding makes it impossible for young locals to buy a home here, and three-quarters of the owners may live elsewhere, which contributes to emptying the communes of their year-round population...
This is not about blaming tourists and visitors. As we've written, all this is good for Wallonia's economic health. But excess is always bad. And while we haven't yet reached the point of "Vlamingen buiten! some people are starting to lose their nerve...
Want to find out more about this original transhumance phenomenon? Go to theLOBBY 57 page-turner!
In the meantime, this weekend, between the Flemish coast and the Ardennes countryside, don't hesitate: stay in Brussels! It's a great place to live too...