The 2019 cruise season in Zeebrugge should amount to around 400,000 passengers when all is said and done, up from 371,000 last year, said a spokesperson for the port.

Passengers can look forward to Bruges, but other nearby destinations include Ghent, Brussels, Ypres, coastal resorts and picturesque villages.

Berth bookings are first-come first-serve, and open around three years in advance.

A new terminal opened last June, and allows the port to offer full turnaround opportunities to small- and medium-sized ships.

With just 18,000 residents, overtourism is among the topics discussed in Bruges, which welcomed 8 million visitors in 2018.

“The port authority is trying hard to convince the Bruges municipality not to introduce harmful measures such as a cruise passenger tax, which has proved to be a disaster for colleagues in Amsterdam,” said the spokesperson. ”It is likely though a tax will be imposed on tourists arriving in the city by coach (which of course includes the shore excursion guests.”

Zeebrugge has a long-standing tradition in LNG handling, storage and supply and has the ambition to be an LNG bunker port in the near future.