Antwerp Guide Shortage as Drought Reroutes Cruise Ships
Antwerp is facing a critical shortage of city guides as an unprecedented influx of cruise ships, rerouted from the drought-stricken Rhine and Danube rivers, descends on the Belgian port city. Tour Management Belgium (TMB), the company that arranges guided tours for cruise passengers, reports that requests for guided tours in Antwerp have quintupled since July 21, reaching 1,200, according to VRT NWS.
A Drought-Driven Tourism Boom
The dry and unnavigable Rhine and Danube have turned out to be a tourism windfall for Antwerp. From July to September, 452 cruise ships will dock in the city, more than double the 220 that arrived during the same period last summer. Cruise lines are choosing last-minute alternatives on the Schelde river, which remains navigable thanks to its tidal nature, as VRT NWS reported last month.
“We have to arrange city guides in a very short time for the hundreds of extra passengers visiting Antwerp. That is not easy, because the demand is gigantic and many guides are on vacation,” said Wim Helderweert, CEO of Tour Management Belgium.
The scale of the challenge is staggering. From July 21 to the end of August, TMB must arrange 1,159 guided tours in Antwerp, compared to just 262 in the same period last year. “We normally plan those guided tours months in advance. Now we sometimes only have 48 hours,” Helderweert said. “For Saturday August 15, requests are flooding in and we haven’t found all the required guides yet. We do what we can, but this is madness.”
A Fragmented Guide Market
Complicating matters is the fragmented nature of Antwerp’s city guide market. There is no central organization uniting the city’s guides; the market is divided among various private players and non-profit organizations. “We contact everyone in the hope of booking additional tours,” Helderweert explained.
The Antwerpse Stadsgidsen, the city’s oldest and largest guide association celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, counts more than 140 active, certified guides. Yet many are part-time enthusiasts, and a significant number are on vacation during the summer peak season.
Sarah Van Steijvoort, an Antwerp city guide experiencing the unprecedented demand firsthand, confirmed the pressure. “It is indeed a very busy atypical summer. I constantly receive messages asking if I can step in to give extra tours.”
She noted a silver lining: “Instead of small German towns, tourists now discover Antwerp, and they are very enthusiastic. Yesterday I gave a tour to people who would normally visit a number of small German towns along the Rhine. They were very enthusiastic about Antwerp and even happy that their trip had changed.”
Why Antwerp Benefits
The Schelde river is a tidal river influenced by the North Sea’s tides, meaning it cannot dry up like the Rhine or Danube, which rely on rainfall and alpine snowmelt. As VRT NWS explained, the Schelde’s water level is not solely dependent on precipitation but also on the tides of the North Sea, making it immune to the kind of critically low levels plaguing Central Europe’s waterways.
The contrast is stark. The Danube in Budapest stood at only 23 centimeters, while the Rhine at Kaub ticked at 25 centimeters - levels predicted to reach their lowest since records began in 1880, as VRT NWS reported. The drought has forced nuclear power plants in Hungary and Romania to shut down reactors, exposed WWII-era German warships and mammoth skeletons, and left approximately 78% of the Danube too shallow to navigate. The crisis has disrupted river cruising across Europe, with operators like Viking, AmaWaterways, Avalon Waterways, and Riviera Travel adjusting itineraries, as Maritime Bell detailed.
Economic Windfall, Logistical Strain
The additional ships have generated over 100,000 euros in extra revenue for the Antwerp city budget through docking fees. An average river cruise ship with 135 passengers pays 442 euros (excluding VAT) per day to dock in the city.
The City of Antwerp acknowledges it cannot directly address the guide shortage. “We don’t organize the walks, so we can’t take action,” said Evelien Claes, spokesperson for the City of Antwerp. “We are of course very happy with these extra visitors. They are more than welcome, because Antwerp is certainly not saturated in terms of tourists.”
A Climate-Driven Shift in European Tourism
This story illustrates how climate change is reshaping European tourism patterns in real-time. The drought on the Rhine and Danube is not just an environmental story - it has cascading economic effects across multiple sectors, from energy and shipping to tourism. As The Sydney Morning Herald noted, river cruise companies have been adapting to climate realities since major disruptions in 2018 and 2022, using strategies like ship swaps, itinerary alterations, and motorcoach transfers.
In one striking example, 120 Spanish tourists on a TUI Danube cruise were forced to travel 1,500 kilometers by bus instead of sailing, as InSpanje.nl reported.
What’s Next
As the drought persists and river levels continue to fall, the pressure on Antwerp’s tourism infrastructure is likely to intensify. The city’s ability to serve as an alternative destination highlights how some cities can benefit from climate disruptions while others suffer. However, the guide shortage represents a logistical bottleneck that could affect the quality of the tourist experience if not addressed.
For now, TMB continues its scramble to find guides. “We do what we can, but this is madness,” Helderweert said. The situation raises broader questions about the long-term sustainability of river cruising in Europe as climate change makes extreme drought events more frequent - and about whether cities like Antwerp can keep pace with the shifting tides of European tourism.