Bernard Frisque
A €1.1 million logo? According to Sudinfo, the Brussels Region spent €1.1 million over two years on its international city marketing strategy, largely entrusted to an agency. An important clarification: this amount dates from the previous legislature, under Rudi Vervoort — that spending is not attributed to the new government. But it was high time this logo was put to work showcasing Brussels. Rather than add to the controversy, BXLOVE chose to pay tribute to the “BRUSSELS” brand and its famous shield-shaped U… by giving it a very practical use: helping visitors prepare their stay.
💡 In Brussels, we will have to do better with less
I have been saying it for a long time: in Brussels, we will have to do better with less. But that should never mean telling fewer stories, giving visitors a poorer welcome or letting our capital slip out of their travel plans. It is time to put Brussels back in the spotlight with today’s technologies: not to add another layer of communication, but to turn the desire to discover the city into a stay anyone can prepare in practical terms.
A logo can catch the eye. But people still need a reason to look further. Behind a visual identity, there must be ways in: a neighbourhood to explore, a table to discover, a museum to visit and stops that can be connected. The challenge is not only to show Brussels, but to make Brussels easier to discover.
Artificial intelligence does not replace residents, guides or the people who bring the city to life. It can help organise information and make it accessible, provided sources remain visible and necessary checks are carried out. No savings figure is claimed here: doing better with less is an ambition, not a demonstrated financial result.
💙 howtovisit.brussels: Brussels becomes your route
Created by BXLOVE with the help of ChatGPT, howtovisit.brussels starts from a simple fact: arriving in a city today calls for concrete information. Where to eat? Where to sleep? What is close to what? How long between two stops?
Here, you build your virtual route before you even put your suitcase down, then take it with you: printed, as a PDF or as a travel notebook with Google Maps links.
🗺️ How it works, in 4 steps
- Explore Brussels: open the site, pick your language and browse museums, neighbourhoods, restaurants and outing ideas.
- Keep your favourites: tap a place’s blue heart to save it in “Mon carnet”.
- Build your route: in “Mon parcours”, choose your days and ways of getting around, click “Ajouter mes favoris”, then reorder the stops and adjust durations.
- Take your itinerary along: “Créer mon itinéraire”, then “Télécharger mon carnet de route” (a file with Google Maps links) or “Imprimer / PDF”.
Handy detail: your favourites and route stay in your browser. Just check opening hours, tickets and journeys with the venues before you set off.
🍽️ All of Brussels in one place
- 429 restaurants to find a table;
- 364 sourced accommodations to choose your hotel;
- 1,294 shops and local addresses for the real city;
- 103 tables in the favourites guide;
- a 30-day agenda linked to the official listings;
- pages on museums, neighbourhoods, the history of Brussels and Europe in Brussels;
- and Mannekenbot, a small conversational guide that helps you find a table, a museum, a neighbourhood or a hotel among the site’s listings, with their sources.
Just in time for the holidays: a dedicated Winter Wonders page, from 27 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, already lets you pick your stops along the lights.
🤖 And of course… Mannekenbot answers your questions
And of course we could not forget our Mannekenbot: the little Brusseleer who opens big doors for you. A table near the Sablon, a hotel towards the Grand-Place, a museum for a rainy day, a neighbourhood to explore: ask your question, he digs through the site’s sourced listings and hands you the answer with its sources — nothing invented, only verifiable addresses. Curious? Go and ask: Mannekenbot is waiting for you.
🛡️ Help put Brussels on the international stage
The BRUSSELS brand is more than a logo. The official website presents a shared story to attract visitors, businesses, talent and students. The Region launched this city marketing project in 2021; 18 months of research, competitor analysis and engagement with stakeholders and citizens shaped the brand platform. Its central idea: “We dare you to be yourself”.
Who can use the brand, and on what terms?
The official usage regulations distinguish regional public organisations and public-interest organisations in Brussels-Capital (group A) and private partners with their registered office in the Region (group B). Both groups are authorised by right to use it free of charge, provided they comply with the regulations and reproduction guidelines. The Brussels Regional Public Service, the mark’s owner, charges no usage royalty.
The regulations cover information, promotion and advertising, including websites, brochures, newsletters, business documents, stationery, business cards, training materials and packaging for the relevant products or services. This is not blanket permission for any use: rights remain reserved and illegal, discriminatory, violent or fraudulent uses are prohibited. The Region maintains a user register. For practical registration arrangements or a case not covered, contact hello@internationalbrand.brussels.
The guidelines: recognisable, not reinvented
The essential guidelines set out the practical rules:
- Black is the preferred logo colour, white when greater contrast is needed; RGB files for digital use, CMYK for printing and Pantone for spot-colour printing.
- Minimum width: 150 pixels digitally or 9.5 mm in print, with clear space on every side equal to the width of the U.
- Do not distort, rotate, crop or add effects to the logo; do not replace its letters, typefaces or U.
- Two versions, the main logo and the “window” version: the U can hold photography, video, illustration, art or patterns within the applications described. The large graphic U has separate rules, not a general licence to alter the logo.
- Brussels Serif and Inter, colours, grids, animation and co-branding are also documented. In partnerships, BRUSSELS comes first, with black-and-white logos and prescribed alignment and separation. Displaying the mark does not, by itself, establish an official partnership.
Tools to get started
Resources includes the “Why Brussels?” presentation, message templates, a photo library and an event kit. Photo-library images are for non-commercial use only and must credit the photographer with ©. For access to event-kit templates, the site directs users to the team at the email above. Get involved distinguishes promotion of Brussels, of a sector or service, and an organisation’s independent communications.
The guiding approach is kind, lively, personal, useful and authentic, accepting the city as it is rather than embellishing reality. A practical starting point for anyone promoting Brussels: read the regulations, download the official files, follow the guidelines and choose a message that fits your audience.
✨ Brussels has so much to tell
Brussels has so much to tell! Its history, neighbourhoods, museums, tables and local addresses should not remain a collection of separate listings that visitors have to piece together on their own. A route helps turn “I like that” into “this is how I will discover it”: choosing favourites, arranging them in an order that suits you and taking the result along.
Technology should serve that encounter. Preparing an itinerary on a screen does not replace the walk: it gives it a starting point. The printed notebook, PDF and Google Maps links then help you leave the screen behind and meet the city, its places and its people.
To my mind, the finest tribute to the BRUSSELS brand is to bring it to life through real discovery. Less fragmentation, more useful connections; fewer isolated slogans, more ideas that become visits. And one conviction: to put Brussels back in the spotlight, we have every reason to join forces.
🤝 Unity makes strength
A big thank-you to visit.brussels, Brussels Expo, Local Guide and the Les Meilleurs Restaurants de Bruxelles guide for syncing the information and for the result. Unity makes strength: all together for Brussels! 💙
And you, what will your first favourite be?
