YPRES , Belgium, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Ypres, Belgium, site of World War I battles 100 years ago, is experiencing a boom in tourism as centennial observances began this year.
Officials in western Belgium -- where some of the war's longest and bloodiest conflicts occurred, and which is now home to 196 military cemeteries -- expected 500,000 tourists in 2014. However, they have revised that number to 750,000; it has had 578,000 visitors thus far this year, more than double the number it typically sees. Over two million people are expected between this summer and Nov. 11, 2018, the 100th anniversary of the end of the war.
"The First World War is part of daily life here, but this year, more so than usual, everybody is realizing how important it is because we have so many people that have come from all around the world to experience the history here for themselves," said Peter Slosse, Ypres' director of tourism, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
A formal observance of the centenary in October, which amounted to a summit meeting of European political leaders, helped spur the tourist trade.
War-oriented tourism has been a part of the city since the armistice. In 1919, with the city in rubble and bodies still being removed from the battlefield, England's charitable St. Barnabas Society brought relatives of the dead to the battle sites. Commercial tours soon followed, as did anger over exploitation of the dead.
T-shirts reading "I'm a Battlefield Relic" are for sale today, as is Passchendaele Lager beer, named for a nearby town in which 500,000 civilians and combatants died. "When opening the bottle, please hold a minute of silence to commemorate those who fell on the battlefield," the label reads.
Local businesses, especially hotels, are thriving in the Ypres area, but officials note they have discouraged a construction boom to coincide with the centenary.
"This is not the Olympics where you build a completely new village and then you can use it for something else afterwards," said Slosse.
"Obviously we believe remembrance tourism will continue after the centenary, just as it has in the past, but to have the number of accommodations and other activities here go up in the same way as visitor numbers during this four-year period would not be wise."
