On Friday 15 January 2016, Luxembourg's Secretary of State for the Economy, Francine Closener, participated in the official opening of the 'Vakanz' 2016 Fair at Luxexpo in Luxembourg-Kirchberg.

The annual travel and tourism fair represents the biggest of its kind in the Greater Region. Over the course of the next three days, more than 200 exhibitors from around the world will present the latest trends and travel products across a 15,000 m2 space. Luxembourg itself is represented with a booth to highlight its offers within the tourism industry.

"The groundwork for the future development of the sector was laid with the recent launch of the new national tourist promotion structure Luxembourg for Tourism, which replaces the National Tourism Office," Francine Closener remarked at the official Fair opening. "In the last quarter of this year, the professionalisation of the structures will materialise further with the creation of a Regional Tourism Board (ORT) in the Central West region. Through the creation of this fifth ORT, the country will now have a professional regional structure."

In the field of business and conference tourism, the Secretary of State spoke of the creation of a single ticket office with the aim of guiding and supporting the organisers of such events in Luxembourg.

The overview of tourism for 2015 was reported to by promising, with latest figures from Luxembourg for Tourism showing that overnight stays in hotels had increased by 1.4% in January-October 2015, compared to the same period of 2014 which had already been a record year.