The south of Luxembourg is experiencing a tourism boom

Luxembourg's Minister of Culture and Tourism, Eric Thill, continues his tradition of summer walking tours of the country's regions. This time, he travelled south to the Bettembourg, Pétange and Lasauvage regions to assess the 2025 season for himself and talk to local tourism and cultural representatives.

The first stop was Parc Merveilleux in Bettembourg, the country's only park with a zoo, children's rides and areas inspired by fairy tales. It had 290,000 visitors in 2023, making it one of Luxembourg's most popular tourist attractions.

A special feature of the park is that it has been run since 1997 by APEMH, an organisation that provides jobs for people with disabilities. Around 100 employees work here in sheltered employment, combining inclusion, leisure and educational purposes.

Departing on the retro train "Train 1900", the minister arrived at the Fond-de-Gras industrial park, where a tour of a hangar with locomotives and carriages - part of the future National Railway Heritage Centre - took place. The project is being realised in collaboration with the Ministry of Mobility and the CFL and promises to be a new museum with a scientific and educational mission.

Later, the delegation travelled on the historic Minièresbunn train to the Doihl mine, where participants descended into a real gallery. Led by members of the Minièresbunn Doihl association, the tour revealed the everyday life of miners and iron ore extraction methods.

Fond-de-Gras is an example of how industrial landscapes can be turned into cultural and tourist clusters. As Eric Thill emphasised: "Thanks to the efforts of volunteers and the partnership between the state and citizen initiatives, such places are becoming a hallmark of the region and attracting tourists and researchers alike".

At the last stop on the trail, in Lasauvage, the minister also summarised the interim results of the Kabaisercher project, a network of unusual guesthouses along the Minett Trail. These holiday homes are set up in the buildings of former stations, miners' dwellings and other industrial sites. In 2024, their first full season, they welcomed 7,500 guests. The Floater in Dudelange, the Gonnerhaus in Rümelange and the Biergemer Kabaisercher in Mondercange are particularly popular.

The project is managed by simpleviu, which won the Tourism Award in 2023 for its innovative promotion of regional identity through tourism.

Against the backdrop of a record year and impressive figures, the Minister noted that the industrial and cultural heritage of the south is becoming key to the development of regional tourism. Supporting local initiatives, engaging volunteers and effectively utilising historic assets strengthen both the economy and the cultural fabric of the region.