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Esch-sur-Sûre’s mayor Mireille Welter is developing a master plan to attract visitors year-round.

Mireille Welter has been mayor of the municipality of Esch-sur-Sûre for six months. Her plate has been full, given that the Upper Sûre Lake was overrun with visitors this summer. Looking ahead, plans are being drawn up to make the town of Esch-sur-Sûre more attractive outside the main tourist season too. It is a known fact that more people have been making their way to the lake during summer, but this year's heatwave meant the crowds were already extreme from April through to July. Residents were, initially, concerned that visitors were parking wherever they could and sometimes driving far too fast. Against that backdrop, new measures were rolled out, Mayor Welter stated.

To help handle the situation this year, the municipality deployed security guards along the beaches for the whole of July. She added that it has made a real difference, since the guards direct visitors and point them towards the two free car parks. A shuttle also runs between the car parks and the beach. Things have quietened down noticeably in August, in part because a different type of tourist tends to come along, and in part because of the blue-green algae. When it comes to the risk of forest fires, however, there is some cause for concern. The beaches are close to the woodland, and strong winds could quickly help a fire spread into the vegetation.

Turning to the town of Esch-sur-Sûre itself, the municipality is well aware that things are extremely quiet outside the peak tourist season, to the point where even the restaurants sometimes close their doors altogether. That is something the local council wants to now work against. A number of working groups have been set up to tackle various aspects of the challenge, Welter said. One is focused on the village centre and its infrastructure, another on the castle, the town's showpiece attraction. A master plan is now being drawn up, and the municipality is looking at how to roll it out over the coming years.

Also today

• The Government Council approved two Grand Ducal regulations on Monday to govern relations between the CNS and the AMMD.
• Several MPs have questioned the Home Affairs Ministry over whether citizens were warned soon enough about the air-quality impact of the forest fires in the Belgian High Fens.
• The funeral was held last night to the victim fatally attacked outside a nightclub in Sangineto by two brothers based in Luxembourg.
• French prosecutors have opened a probe into a suspected Russian disinformation campaign.
• A student livestreamed himself shooting another schoolmate dead before taking his own life today at a high school in the Philippines.
• French astronaut Sophie Adenot became the first Frenchwoman to conduct a spacewalk today, exiting the ISS with American Anil Menon.

On air

Tom had a new Algorhythm – spoken word artist, Josh Idehen – who was in concert just the other day. T dog also had a Luxembourgish quiz for John and Devon listener Rick had another killer question for the boys!

Figure of the day

The number of tax-favoured participation bonuses in Luxembourg tripled over five years, surging from 14,000 employees in 2021 to over 43,000 last year

• Participation bonuses (primes participatives) have gained significant popularity among employees in Luxembourg. When the tax-favoured scheme was introduced in 2021, around 14,000 employees benefited from the measure. By last year, the number had soared to more than 43,000, indicating that over three times as many people took advantage of the bonus in just five years.
• Employers can offer their staff a participation bonus, which, under certain conditions, can be up to 50% tax-free. The regime was expanded in 2025, making the measure even more attractive for both companies and employees. As a result, the total value of related tax exemptions has increased sharply, from around €63 million to €215 million. The resulting tax shortfall for the state, calculated at an average rate of 25%, has also grown significantly, from €16 million to nearly €54 million.
  

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