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Iconic cars from the beloved TinTin comic strip are on display at Autoworld Museum in Brussels. /Moulinsart/Autoworld
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A new exhibition of motorcars from the Belgian comic strip, The Adventures of Tintin, is aiming to bring international attention to Autoworld Museum in Brussels.
Sebastien de Baere, the museum's general manager said: "The museum lost 50 percent of its visitors in the first year of the pandemic, and 30 per cent last year."
Across the cultural and tourist sector, venues like Autoworld need overseas visitors in order to recover. Some are already here. One man admiring the vehicles said: "I'm from Greece, I'm here with my friends, we are on a small vacation. After coronavirus, we didn't have a lot of opportunities to travel.”
"I am from Brazil," said a woman strolling around the collection. "I am on vacation and visiting a friend who lives here. It's my first trip since the beginning of the pandemic. I am really excited about the museum."
Created by Belgian cartoonist Herge, TinTin was one of the most popular cartoons in the 20th century. /Brendan Hunter/Getty Creative via CFP
But as visitors return, there's another crisis. The annual inflation rate in the Euro area rose to 5.8 percent in February. During that time energy recorded the biggest price jump of 31.7 per cent. The vehicles on display at Autoworld may be the only cars in Brussels untouched by the rising cost of filling the tank, but where they're parked is suffering.
De Baere explained: "We are in a classified building, it's 15,000 square meters. It has heating in the floor, by gas, and my bill has tripled in January. You need to anticipate the fact that the energy crisis is happening now. You need to find a way to pay the bills."
Belgium is only just emerging from restrictions on life caused by the pandemic. This week brought an end to the mask mandate in most public places, meaning visitors in the museum can wander without face coverings.
Across Europe, the relaxation of coronavirus measures, combined with the EU's $1.2 trillion economic recovery fund, promised the continent's emergence from financial hardship. Only last month, growth of four percent was forecast for the EU economy this year. But the bloc's economic chief now says conflict in Ukraine has changed that to "a more negative situation."
Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for Economy, said: "On economy, recovery as usual is not an option. We all know this crisis will weaken our growth."
And Autoworld, along with many other sectors of the economy, will suffer if the brakes are slammed on.
