High-class travelers at De Beemster
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March 29, 2016 High-class travelers at De Beemster How to attract more quality tourists at De Beemster? (Laag Holland, 2016) Project team: Flors Farràs Farré Priscilla Meijboom Romano Nooitmeer Denise de Ruyter Consultant: Feico Brink Tourism Management Inholland University of Applied Sciences Minor: Destination Management 2015/2016 Project team D
Transcript of High-class travelers at De Beemster
March 29, 2016
High-class travelers at De Beemster How to attract more quality tourists at De Beemster?
(Laag Holland, 2016)
Project team:
Flors Farràs Farré
Priscilla Meijboom
Romano Nooitmeer
Denise de Ruyter
Consultant:
Feico Brink
Tourism Management
Inholland University of Applied Sciences
Minor: Destination Management 2015/2016
Project team D
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(NGW, 2016)
The project team The project team is a team of four people, all students at Inholland Diemen. Together they are
responsible for the outcome of this proposal and research.
Flors Farràs Farré
Student number: 575240
Email: 575240 @student.inholland.nl
Project role: Secretary
Priscilla Meijboom
Student number: 533029
Email: [email protected]
Projectrole: Project Leader
Romano Nooitmeer
Student number: 543145
Email: [email protected]
Project role: Communicator
Denise de Ruyter
Student number: 526067
Email: [email protected]
Project role: Archivist
Consultant
The consultant for this project team is Feico Brink. During the meetings, which were held once per
week, he answered the team’s questions on how to do this research.
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Foreword
Commissioned by De Beemster, the research team did a research on how to attract more quality
tourists to De Beemster. To give solid recommendations the research team used multiple techniques
to gain information, which could be relevant for the improvement of De Beemster on the aspects of
tourism. To compare some of the aspects of De Beemster with another UNESCO site, the research
team visited the UNESCO World Heritage Site Bois-du-Luc in Wallonia. The research team did an
interview with one of the tour guides of the mining site, which provided useful information for De
Beemster.
The research team wants to thank the following people for their contribution to the research:
Feico Brink (Consultancy)
Harry Roenhorst (World Heritage Foundation – New Organisation)
Cees van Wijnen (Municipality Beemster, in charge of economy and tourism)
Annemarie Dees (Amsterdam Marketing)
Mirna Albertsma (Resident of De Beemster)
Bois-du-Luc mining (One of the four UNESCO World Heritages Mining Sites)
The research team enjoyed working on this research and learning more about destination De
Beemster. We would like to thank the commissioning client, De Beemster, for the opportunity to work
on this research.
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Summary
The infrastructure of De Beemster is not that good for tourists. There is only one bus, which is driving
from Amsterdam Central Station to Middenbeemster, but the bus doesn’t stop in De Beemster city
centre. So the public transport isn’t adapted for the tourism in De Beemster.
The main attraction of De Beemster is the landscape. Because of the fact that the special landscape of
De Beemster is best seen from above, a museum created ‘De Beemster experience’. During this
experience, the visitors will see a short movie about the history and the landscape of De Beemster.
‘De Beemster experience’ is currently only available in Dutch.
The biggest group of the high-class travelers is between 36 and 55 years old. 70% of the luxury
travelers go on trips with a partner. The most important criteria for high-class travelers are: privacy,
exclusivity and the quality of the accommodation.
High-class travelers are nowadays more interested in the culture of the destination. They don’t just
want to see, they want to participate. So the high-class traveler is more in interested in the local
cultural experience of the destination.
De Beemster has a few attractions which could be attractive for high-class travelers. One of those
attractions is ‘the Fort Resort Beemster’. ‘Fort Resort Beemster’ has a luxury hotel, restaurant and
spa.
Another attraction which could be attractive for high-class travelers is the vineyard. The vineyard offers
guided tours and wine tastings. This fits perfectly with the wishes and needs of the high-class
travelers.
Besides the two previously mentioned attractions, De Beemster has also a chocolate factory and the
Cono factory. The Cono factory makes the famous Beemster cheese. The Cono factory has a
beautiful architecture which fits perfectly in the landscape of De Beemster.
The four major mining site of Wallonia, which are UNESCO world heritages as well, are all organising
events to attract more visitors. They have a lot of exhibitions and they promote their activities very
obvious on their website. By using exhibitions and other activities, they try to bring their UNESCO
world heritage site to a higher level. The more visitors they get, the more money they have. This
money can be invested in a new promotion strategy or a new activity to market or brand their
UNESCO world heritage site even stronger.
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Contents
The project team ...................................................................................................................................... 2
Foreword .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Summary ................................................................................................................................................. 4
1. Background information De Beemster ................................................................................................ 7
1.1. History of the Beemster ................................................................................................................ 7
1.2 Jan Adriaanszoon Leeghwater ...................................................................................................... 7
2. Problem Analysis ................................................................................................................................. 7
3. Trends .................................................................................................................................................. 8
4. Objective .............................................................................................................................................. 8
5. Critical Literature Review ..................................................................................................................... 9
5.1. Cultural heritage ........................................................................................................................... 9
5.2. The Ritchie and Crouch Conceptual Model of Destination Competitiveness and Sustainability . 9
5.2.1. Supporting factors and resources ....................................................................................... 10
5.2.2. Core Resources and attractions .......................................................................................... 11
5.2.3. Destination Management ..................................................................................................... 11
5.3. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs ..................................................................................................... 12
5.4. AIDA Model ................................................................................................................................ 13
6. Methodology ...................................................................................................................................... 14
6.1 Qualitative research ..................................................................................................................... 14
6.1.1. Semi-structured interviews .................................................................................................. 14
6.1.2. Desk research ..................................................................................................................... 14
6.1.3. Field research ...................................................................................................................... 14
7. Population .......................................................................................................................................... 15
8. Reliability ........................................................................................................................................... 15
9. Validity ............................................................................................................................................... 16
10. Relevance of the research............................................................................................................... 16
10.1. Practical relevance of the research .......................................................................................... 16
10.2. Social relevance of the research .............................................................................................. 16
11. Results ............................................................................................................................................. 17
11.1 Sub question 1 ........................................................................................................................... 17
11.1.1 Supporting factors and resources ...................................................................................... 17
11.1.2. Core Resources and attractions ........................................................................................ 20
11.1.3 Destination Management .................................................................................................... 21
11.2 Sub question 2 ........................................................................................................................... 23
11.3 Sub question 3 ........................................................................................................................... 26
11.4 Sub question 4 ........................................................................................................................... 27
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11.4.1. Blegny-Mine ....................................................................................................................... 27
11.4.2. Le Grand Hornu ................................................................................................................. 27
11.4.3. Bois-du-Luc ....................................................................................................................... 28
11.4.4. Le Bois du Cazier .............................................................................................................. 28
12. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 30
13. Recommendations ........................................................................................................................... 31
14. Gaps in the Research ...................................................................................................................... 33
Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................... 34
Attachments ........................................................................................................................................... 37
Event calendar 2017 .......................................................................................................................... 38
Content Analysis – Word Cloud......................................................................................................... 39
Presentation at De Beemster ............................................................................................................ 40
Interview at Le Bois-du-Luc ............................................................................................................... 41
Interview with Harry Roenhorst and Cees van Wijnen ...................................................................... 43
Interview with Mirna Albertsma.......................................................................................................... 48
Interview with Annemarie Dees ......................................................................................................... 52
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1. Background information De Beemster
In this chapter, the background information on De Beemster is presented. It shows the history on the
region and a very important person who was responsible for De Beemster, Mr. Leeghwater.
1.1. History of the Beemster De Beemster has been derived from ‘’Bamestra’’, the name of a small river in the area. De Beemster
is the first so-called polder of the Netherlands. Extracting water out of the lakes by windmills created
these so-called polders. Between 1609 and 1612 the Beemster Polder was dried. The landscape is
well structured with classic and Renaissance planning principles.
De Beemster is globally known by its famous cheese brand ‘Cono’. This corporation was established
in 1901 to make cheese from milk that comes from De Beemster polder. De Beemster consists of the
following districts: Middenbeemster, Zuidbeemster, Noordbeemster and Zuidoostbeemster (Van de
Ven, 1996).
Because of De Beemster has a lot of historical value; the Beemster was inscribed on the UNESCO
World Heritage Site in 1999 (Bezoekerscentrum Beemster, 2015).
1.2 Jan Adriaanszoon Leeghwater Jan Leeghwater was responsible for De Beemster polder. By using windmills, water was being drained
out of the lake. The start of draining the Beemster was in 1607. Jan Leeghwater supervised the
milling. Nowadays there’s a statue of Jan Adriaanszoon Leeghwater in front of the town hall to honor
his contribution to the Beemster polder (Poldersporen.nl, 2014)
2. Problem Analysis The problem that the commissioning client, De Beemster, has is that there are not enough tourists
visiting this UNESCO Heritage site. Their main objective is to put De Beemster on the national and
international tourism map. De Beemster is looking for quality tourists that are interested in culture and
history. The commissioning client does not want big tour buses with hundreds of tourist coming in at
the same time to the destination.
The project group conducted desk and field research on another UNESCO heritage site in order to
give De Beemster a recommendation on how to attract more quality tourists to their destination.
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3. Trends When the research was conducted, the research team looked at the current trends in the tourism
industry that are relevant for the destination De Beemster.
In 2015 the international tourist arrivals grew by 4.4% and reached a total of 1,884 million tourists. In
2015 50 million more tourists travelled to an international destination than in comparison with 2014.
The results of that year were influenced by exchanges rates, oil prices and natural and manmade
crises in many parts of the world (UNWTO, 2016).
In 2014, 12.5 million Dutch people went on vacation. Eight million people were domestic tourists and
almost half of all the trips were in The Netherlands itself, most of them taking place in the summer
(CBS, 2015).
In 2016 tourists will be looking for destinations that are less known and especially those that are
untouched or unique. These tourists want to create unforgettable memories, enjoy closer-to-home-
experiences and push the boundaries of their comfort zone (Fuggle, 2015).
Event tourism is an upcoming market. Festivals are popular, because they create a short-lived sense
of community. People are sharing an experience and they feel connected for that brief moment in time.
This trend is very typical of the networking generation. Destinations will try to make their location more
attractive by hosting events and festivals, either in the countryside or in cities (Deutsche Welle, 2016).
Luxury travel is thriving: by some estimates, high-value travelers account for over 50% of global spend
(Vivion, 2013). There has been a major shift in luxury tourism the last few years. It is not about going
on just an expensive trip anymore, but it is all about the experience. A five star hotel is no longer
enough; it needs to have something unique to it (Robertson, 2015). The luxury travelers are also
leaning towards health and wellness travel. It is not just about lying on a remote beach anymore, but
now the travelers are looking for healthful activities at their next destination (Vivion, 2013).
4. Objective In this chapter the objective, the central question and the sub questions are presented. These
questions helped the project team with conducting the research.
Objective:
The objective of this research is to gain insight into the current tourism image of destination De
Beemster, in order to give recommendations to De Beemster on how to attract more high-class
travelers.
Central Question:
What can De Beemster do to attract more high-class travelers by analysing the current tourism image
at the destination?
Sub Questions:
1. What is the overview of the destination De Beemster according to the three down layers of the
Ritchie and Crouch Conceptual Model of Destination Competitiveness?
2. How can the high-class traveler be identified?
3. What has De Beemster to offer for the high-class travelers?
4. What are the best practices at the four UNESCO mining sites of Wallonia?
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5. Critical Literature Review The critical literature review shows an overview of theories and models focus on destination
management in order to develop the research about De Beemster as a UNESCO heritage site. The
critical literatures that are going to be used for this research are cultural heritage concept, the Ritchie
and Crouch Conceptual Model of Destination Competitiveness and sustainability, Maslow's Hierarchy
of Needs and AIDA Model.
5.1. Cultural heritage “Cultural Heritage is an expression of the ways of living developed by a community and passed on
from generation to generation, including customs, practices, places, objects, artistic expression and
values. Cultural Heritage is often expressed as either Intangible or Tangible Cultural Heritage”
(ICOMOS, 2002).
On the one hand, intangible Cultural Heritage includes all forms of traditional and popular culture and
collective works made by a community. These traditions are transmitted from generation to generation
and sometimes are modified and recreated as time goes on (ICOMOS, 2002). On the other hand,
tangible cultural heritage covers the immensity of visible works created by humanity (ICOMOS, 2002).
The Heritage Cycle diagram (Chart 5) created by Thurley (2005), affirms that “an increasing
understanding of the historic environment leads to people valuing it more and as a consequence
caring for it better. An environment cared for will be enjoyed, and enjoyment normally brings a thirst to
learn more, thus completing the cycle.”
5.2. The Ritchie and Crouch Conceptual Model of Destination
Competitiveness and Sustainability “What makes a tourism destination truly competitive is its ability to increase tourism expenditure, to
increasingly attract visitors while providing them with satisfying, memorable experiences, and to do so
in a profitable way, while enhancing the well-being of destination residents and preserving the natural
capital of the destination for future generations” (Ritchie, 2003).
Ritchie and Crouch developed a model to define the destination competitiveness, which is illustrated in
Figure 1.
“Their model recognizes that destination competitiveness is based upon a destination’s resource
endowments (comparative advantage) as well as its capacity to deploy resources (competitive
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advantage). The model also acknowledges the impact of global macro-environmental forces and
competitive micro-environmental circumstances that impact the functioning of the tourism system
associated with the destination. The factors of destination competitiveness are represented in the
model clustered into five main groups. In total, the model identifies 36 destination competitiveness
attributes” (Ritchie, 2003).
Figure 1. The Ritchie and Crouch Conceptual Model of Destination Competitiveness.
Source: Ritchie, J.R.B., and Crouch, G.I. (2003). The competitive destination: a sustainable tourism
prespective. Wallingford: CABI Publishing.
This research is focused on three of the five groups: supporting factors and resources, core resources
and attractions and destination management.
5.2.1. Supporting factors and resources
Supporting factors and resources provide a basis on which can be established a prosperous tourism
industry.
Infrastructure
On the one hand, the general infrastructure of a destination involved the transport to get to the
destination and the general infrastructure. Normally the government has a lot of involvement.
On the other hand, services infrastructure is also important for the destination, which are the
services provided at the destination. Usually this kind of services is provided by the private
sector.
Finally, the quality of the infrastructure cannot be assessed with simple measures, it has to be
relievable, safety and efficient.
Accessibility
Accessibility is the level of difficulty to get into the destination and to travel around.
Facilitating resources
The facilitating resources are divided into the human knowledge resources and the financial
capital resources. Human knowledge includes aspects as the level of education of the
inhabitants and the people attitude at the destination to study tourism. Financial and capital
resources are, for example, the cost to employ somebody in the tourism industry.
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Hospitality
It is one of the most important parts to make tourists return. It consists of the residents’
attitude about tourism. Having a high service level and made to feel welcome at the
destination causes a big impact on experience for tourist.
Enterprise
Tourism businesses are enterprises from large scale to small scale. It is also important the
dynamism between them, like the cooperation, specialization or the productivity.
Political Will
It consists of the attitude of the local and national government to tourism, so it is necessary
that they recognize the importance of tourism.
5.2.2. Core Resources and attractions
They are the key motivators to visit a destination and the fundamental reasons that visitors choose
one destination over another.
Physiographic and climate
It is a destination’s natural tourism attributes, which are very important for a destination but
they are uncontrollable.
Culture and history
For many people culture and history are the reasons why they go to a destination. However,
the importance of culture is different between the tourists and the residents. Culture is a
complex aspect to define but it is comprised of gastronomy, language, religion, traditions,
music, and heritage.
Mix of activities
The real motivation to visit a destination is to experience and live the place. The mix of
activities that a destination can offer is enormous.
Special events
Special events enhance the uniqueness of a destination as they pull people from all around
the word who do not want to miss an event.
Entertainment
Entertainment should be related with some local characteristic of the destination.
Superstructure
Superstructure is composed by buildings and facilities, whose main function is to serve tourists
needs. Superstructure is divided into three elements: functional elements, enhanced built and
enhanced, natural or normal (not originally built for tourists). Superstructure is a very important
part in the case of De Beemster, due to the peculiar landscape, which was built in the past for
certain reasons and now is used for tourism.
Market ties
Market ties are connected through a personal or a professional influence. To influence the
market ties is very difficult, as they have established historically for many different reasons, so
the solution is to look after the ties and let them grow.
5.2.3. Destination Management
The destination management is the destination’s ability to implement a tourism strategy (Crouch,
2007).
Organization
The organization is based on the quality and strength of the destination's organizational
structure.
Marketing
Marketing is the destination's ability to attract visitors by advertising.
Quality of service/experience
It consists of deliver various visitor experiences and services.
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Information/research
The aim of this aspect is to search information in order to make a decision.
Human resources development
Human resources are responsible for developing programs to train the tourism employees.
Finance and venture capital
The goal is to get funding for the tourism development.
Visitor management
The visitor management is in charge of controlling positive and negative impacts produced by
the tourists.
Resource stewardship
Resources stewardship administrates and preserves fundamental attributes and possessions.
Crisis management
It is to be prepared and able to face a possible crisis or disaster.
5.3. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs The Hierarchy of Needs was developed by Abraham Maslow in 1943. According to the theory (Figure
2), humans are motivated to achieve certain needs, which are divided into five different hierarchies:
physiological, safety and security, love and belonging and self-actualization. The hierarchies are
described in a pyramid, at the bottom of the pyramid are located the lower level basic needs and at the
top there is the growth need. When a basic need is satisfied, people develop the above stage of needs
and desires, and so on. However, only one in a hundred people become self-actualized (McLeod,
2014).
Maslow's hierarchy of needs also can be applied to the tourist behavior, for example Pearce arrange
Maslow’s model to tourism in The Travel Career Ladder Model (Figure 3). “The model postulates a
career goal in tourism behavior, and as tourists become more experienced they increasingly seek
satisfaction of higher needs” (Pearce, 1982)
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(Pearce, 1982)
5.4. AIDA Model AIDA is a classical model used in marketing created by Elmo Lewis in 1898. AIDA is an acronym,
which stands for Awareness/Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. The model illustrated in Figure 4
identifies the stages that may happen when the customer is captivated by an advertisement of a
product, service or website.
Figure 4. AIDA Model
(Hanlon, 2013)
Although this model was developed based on marketing communication, it could also be applied to
selling tourism products and services as it is shown in the following points (Rodgers, 2001):
A (Attention) = Increase the customer’s awareness
I (Interest) = Set up a good relationship with the client and investigate their needs
D (Desire) = Introduce the product or service
A (Action) = Close the sale and describe after-sales service
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6. Methodology This chapter presents the methodology of this research. It presents the methods of research that were
used by the project team. The different research methods helped by answering the sub questions of
this research, which are explained in this chapter.
6.1 Qualitative research For this research project, only qualitative research was collected. The team collected data from
interviews desk-research and field research, which are non-numeric. In table 2 is shown which
research was used for which sub question.
6.1.1. Semi-structured interviews During the fieldtrips, semi-structured interviews were held with different stakeholders at the
destinations. The interviews were non-standardised and were planned to be the same at the different
locations in Wallonia. At De Beemster, it was planned to be adjusted to the different locations that
were visited. This way, it was possible to compare the interviews while analysing them for this
research. Because it is semi-structured, the project team had a chance to deviate from the
questionnaire when needed (Saunders, Soorten interviews, 2011).
6.1.2. Desk research For every sub question, desk research was used. This means the project group gathered information
from different sources like websites and booksInvalid source specified.. The results of the desk
research were analysed and compared to other results.
6.1.3. Field research
For this research, the project team conducted two research field trips. One of them was to the
destination of the commissioning client De Beemster, the other fieldtrip took place in Wallonia,
Belgium. The team planned to observe the infrastructure and visited some attractions to get a better
insight in both regions
Table 2.
Sub Questions Interviews Desk
Research
Field
Research
1. What is the overview of the destination De
Beemster according to the three down layers of
the Ritchie and Crouch Conceptual Model of
Destination Competitiveness?
X X X
2. How can the high-class traveler be identified? X
3. What has De Beemster to offer for the high-
class travelers?
X X
4. What are the best practices at the four UNESCO
mining sites of Wallonia?
X X X
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7. Population This chapter presents the population of this research. During the field trips to Wallonia and De
Beemster the interviews were conducted. In this chapter the population is explained which is different
for both fieldtrips.
Field trip to Wallonia
During the visit to the mining sites in Wallonia, the interviews were conducted. At the time of visit it
was low season, which means there were limited hours to visit the areas. This is the reason there was
only a small viable population.
At each location in Belgium that was visited, at least one person was planned to be interviewed. This
means the team planned to have at least two interviews after visiting Belgium, since the team planned
to visit a minimum of two locations. When there are more people available upon arrival, more people
were planned to be questioned. For the locations that were not visited, an interview trough the
telephone was planned to be conducted. If this does not succeed, the interview were sent by email.
The locations in Wallonia where the team conducted the interviews (on location or through telephone)
were:
Blegny-mine
Grand Hornu
Bois-du-Luc
Boise du Cazier For each location, the team visited a tourism information centre if that was possible.
The team planned to visit at least two of these locations on Thursday the 10th of March 2016, during
the day. The appointment for the time of visit was set after contacting the mining sites.
Field trip to De Beemster
During the field trip to De Beemster, the project team planned to visit the City Hall and the Visitor
Centre at Middenbeemster, where an interview was conducted. Two persons were interviewed. The
team made appointments in advance, to make sure the right people were available upon arrival.
Besides the interview, the team visited some attractions to gain insight into the destination, which were
used in the results of this interview. The visit was on the 8th of March 2016.
8. Reliability The results of the research have to be reliable. This means when this research will be conducted by a
different researcher at a different time, the outcome will be similar (Saunders, 2011).
To make sure the interviews will be reliable, the team will try to choose the right questions, which will
not lead to errors in the interview. The team will test the interview on a different person first, and adapt
the interview where needed. This way the interview will be correct before travelling to Wallonia for the
fieldtrip. The project team decided to use semi-structured interviews, because this will give more
reliable results. Semi-structured interviews allow the team to ask more questions than the pre-written
ones and this will give the team in depth information on various topics, this is why the interviews will be
more reliable.
All interviews will be recorded on smartphones of the group members, so they can transcribe them
afterwards. During the interview, all group members will be present and will contribute to the interview
when possible. The project team decided to use semi-structured interviews, because this will give
more reliable results. Semi-structured interviews allows the team to ask more questions than the pre-
written ones and this will give the team in depth information a various topics, this is why the interviews
will be more reliable.
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9. Validity The research needs to be valid. This means the obtained information needs to be relevant to give a
solid recommendation at the end. Because of that it is necessary to check all the obtained information
carefully. This will be done by two of the project members. They are responsible to check if the
obtained information is in line with the research proposal (Uni, 2016).
10. Relevance of the research The research that was conducted is about the current tourism image of destination De Beemster, in
order to give recommendations to De Beemster on how to attract more high-class travelers. The
website of De Beemster (2016) describes the image of the site as follows:
“UNESCO World Heritage Beemster offers culture, history and nature. The traditional farmhouses, the
particular cross Middenbeemster, museums, an historic church and especially the typical North
Holland landscape, make a visit to the Beemster more than worthy. In 1999, the Beemster gained
World Heritage status because of that unique subdivision and because of the exceptional example of
a landscape created by man. Beemster is an example of how Dutch have reclaimed large parts of their
country.”
10.1. Practical relevance of the research This research is relevant for the commissioning client, who is De Beemster World Heritage Foundation
and it represents all major stakeholders within the destination. De Beemster World Heritage
Foundation is working on a strategy to develop the site as a tourism destination in a sustainable way,
in order to maximize benefits for the stakeholders. To achieve this aim, it wants an input and direction
to the strategic plan to attract more high-class travelers to De Beemster.
10.2. Social relevance of the research This research is relevant for the society of the Netherlands, particularly for De Beemster inhabitants.
By developing the heritage site as a tourism destination in a sustainable way, the economy of the
region will grow and the locals’ culture will be known. Moreover, a further enhancement of the image of
De Beemster could lead to inhabitants being more proud.
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11. Results In this chapter, the outcome of the research conducted for the different sub questions is shown.
11.1 Sub question 1
“What is the overview of the destination De Beemster according to the three
down layers of the Ritchie and Crouch Conceptual Model of Destination
Competitiveness?”
11.1.1 Supporting factors and resources Infrastructure
De Beemster, as an UNESCO world heritage site, must have some strict infrastructure requirements.
However, De Beemster does not receive extra funding from the government because it is an UNESCO
world heritage site (Wijnen, 2016). So De Beemster itself is in charge to finance the infrastructure.
To analyze the current infrastructure it is divided into general infrastructure and services infrastructure.
1. General infrastructure
The general infrastructure is split into the following blocks: transport, national defense,
education system and financial cultural system.
1.1. Transport
There are different means of transport to get into De Beemster for national and international
tourists and to move around the destination (Laag Holland VVV, 2016).
Airports
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
Groningen Airport Eelde
Maastricht Aachen Airport
Rotterdam The Hague Airport
Eindhoven Airport
Train stations
Purmerend Overwhere
Purmerend
Purmerend Weidevenne
Bus terminals
EBS Buurtbus 413A Beets naar Purmerend en vice versa
Busvervoer Waterland
EBS vervoersbedrijf
EBS Buurtbus 413B Purmerend naar Beets en vice versa
Busstation Tramplein
OV Regioticket Amsterdam en Waterland
To arrive to De Beemster there is a bus (306) from Amsterdam Central Station to Middenbeemster but without any stop in De Beemster city centre (Dees, 2016).
Taxi
BTC Beemster Taxi Centrale
Car - Parking
TOP Middenbeemster
E-laadpunten in Beemster
1.2. National defense
“The Netherlands Ministry of Defense comprises 7 organizational elements. The Central Staff
makes Defense policy. The 4 armed forces Services ensure that military personnel and
material are mission-ready. Support Command and the Defense Materiel Organization support
the armed forces Services by providing products and services. The Minister of Defense is at
the head of the Defense organization” (The Netherlands Ministry of Defence, 2016).
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1.3. Education system
“The Netherlands is renowned for having a strong, well-balanced education system. From age
three or four, children go to primary school for eight years and then transfer to secondary
school” (Amsterdam Marketing, 2016).
1.4. Financial cultural system
“One of the important social task of the Dutch municipality is to ensure appropriate cultural
facilities. They typically help finance theatres, art exhibitions and museums. Local cultural life
is strongly dependent on this government support: national, provincial and local”
(Municipalities, Association of Netherlands, 2007)
2. Services infrastructure
The main services infrastructure located in De Beemster can be found in the list below (Laag
Holland VVV, 2016).
ATM's and banks (Geldautomaat Middenbeemster)
PostNL
Kernpraktijken - Fysio en fitness Beemster
Library Beemster
Roel Klaassen Haptotherapie
Tromp Physiotherapy
Physicall Physiotherapy & Sports Massage
Tandartsenpraktijk Middenbeemster
Huisartsenpraktijk Kemper
Alstroemeriakwekerij Knol-Jong
Hospice Thuis van Leeghwater
Leliekwekerij Van Baarsen
Huisartsenpraktijk van Aken
Tandartsenpraktijk Wouter Sluis
Accessibility
There are no barriers to entry inside the Netherlands. The country is a member of the Schengen
Agreement, in which the border checks of the member countries are aborted. So, just a Schengen visa
is enough to get into the country.
The geographical aspects facilitate the accessibility, as almost all the country is flat and under or at the
same level as the sea.
There is a large amount of ways to get into the country, from Europe and from other continents as
well. It is possible to get into the country by plane, boat, bus, car and train. There is also a wide
variety of means of transport to get around the Netherlands, such as train, bus, boat, car, tram, metro
and bike. All the country has a well-organized and detailed public transport system. This system
includes a train and bus networks for local and regional transport, so almost all the villages have public
transport access (Expatica, 2016)
Facilitating resources
The facilitating resources of De Beemster are analysed in detail in the following aspects.
1. Human knowledge resources
Everyone at the New Organization is a volunteer, except for two professionals. There are a high
percentage of volunteers in all De Beemster, particularly there are 54 neighbourhood associations, so
almost everyone is doing something with volunteer work. The New Organization thinks that this is one
of the things that make De Beemster special (Wijnen, 2016).
The people working at the visitor centre do a regularly training to have a common knowledge about the
history of De Beemster. So employees are trained to be able to do a tour or a presentation to the
visitors.
The New Organization requires fewer requirements for volunteers than for professionals, so it is
difficult to ask volunteers for many foreign languages. Moreover, De Beemster residents are not used
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to speak English, as nearly all visitors are Dutch. However, the New Organization requires to speak
other languages and at the minimum English. For example, at the moment De Beemster experience is
just available in Dutch but they are working on an English version (Wijnen, 2016).
Hospitality
In an interview with Harry Roenhorst and Cees van Wijnen it became clear that the locals and the
people involved in tourism are not trained to work with tourists. The employees of the visitor center get
training once in awhile on what to tell the tourists about the history for example, but that is the only
training that they receive (Wijnen, 2016).
Enterprise
De Beemster has nine bed & breakfasts located in Middenbeemster, Zuidoosterbeemster and
Westbeemster The UNESCO world heritage also has two hotels. There are several businesses that
might not be connected to tourism directly, but can be used for a tour in De Beemster. These
businesses are the Chocolate Factory called Choco Beemster, a vineyard called Beemster Wijngaard
and the Cono cheese factory. Below a list can be found with all the names of the enterprises
connected to tourism (Booking.com, 2016).
Bed & Breakfasts
Nicolaas Hoeve Beemster
B&B Ons Stekkie
De Aanloop
De Oude Tuinderij
Bed & Breakfast Beemster
Vuiteplaats Langewijk
B&B de Stolp
De Molenkolk
La Corbiere
Hotels
Fort Resort Beemster (Hotel, Restaurant and Spa)
Bed & Boterham
Restaurants
‘t Beemster Spijhuis
Stoer in de Beemster
Het Heerenhuis
Sunrise
Brasserie Alles Met Liefde
Political Will
In the Netherlands the government has certain laws and regulations regarding tourism. One of the
most important one for smaller tourism attraction is the tourist tax. You pay this tax when you are
staying in town in the Netherlands where you are not registered. The amount of tax that needs to be
paid defers per town/city (Rijksoverheid, 2016).
During the interview with Harry Roenhorst and Cees van Wijnen it was mentioned that they indeed
collect the tourist tax, but it is not used for often and it is also not their goal to get a lot of money from
this kind of tax (Wijnen, 2016).
The Dutch government tries to make it easy for entrepreneurs to start and maintain a business in the
tourism industry. The government is doing this by getting rid off rules that are unnecessary
(Rijksoverheid, n.d.).
Besides from the tourist tax and the requirements from UNESCO, De Beemster does not have any
laws regarding tourism (Wijnen, 2016).
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11.1.2. Core Resources and attractions
Physiographic and climate
De Beemster is well-known for its landscape. Once it was water, now it is land. De Beemster was
dried by using windmills in the 17th century. The rich people of Amsterdam used De Beemster as an
expansion of Amsterdam. They created an unique structure. They divided De Beemster in equal
square parts which means there are only straight roads in De Beemster (Wijnen, 2016).
Culture and history
De Beemster has been derived from ‘’Bamestra’’, the name of a small river in the area. De Beemster
is the first so-called polder of the Netherlands. Extracting water out of the lakes by windmills created
these so-called polders. Between 1609 and 1612 the Beemster Polder was dried. The landscape is
well structured with classic and Renaissance planning principles.
De Beemster is globally known by its famous cheese brand ‘Cono’. This corporation was established
in 1901 to make cheese from milk that comes from De Beemster polder. De Beemster consists of the
following districts: Middenbeemster, Zuidbeemster, Noordbeemster and Zuidoostbeemster. (Van de
Ven, 1996).
Because of De Beemster has a lot of historical value; De Beemster was inscribed on the UNESCO
World Heritage Site in 1999 (Bezoekerscentrum Beemster, 2015).
Mix of activities
There are multiple activities in De Beemster. The problem is that the activities in De Beemster, only
are being visited by people from the local community most of the time. So if De Beemster wants to
attract more tourists, an essential part will be to promote their activities and to convince the tourist that
they should visit De Beemster (Wijnen, 2016).
A few activities which are organized yearly in De Beemster:
Partyweek
‘Muziek aan de middenweg’
Autocross
Horseraces
Stone throwing (Typical cultural game of the Beemster)
An art-route(Several art studios are open every Easter)
.
Special events
During summer, special events are held at De Beemster, but most of them are focused on local
inhabitants. In July, the Beemster has a “Feestweek”, which means, Party Week. In this week several
events are organized, but it is mainly focused on local people or not known by tourists (Albertsma,
Interview with Mirna Albertsma, 2016). Throughout the year other events are organized, such as
theater shows, small concerts and art exhibitions (Laag Holland VVV, 2016).
De Beemster also hosts its own, typical events which are very local. These events involve games such
as stone-throwing, rope-pulling or other local games. The stone-throwing event welcomes over a
thousand people every year (Wijnen, 2016).
Entertainment
De Beemster has different locations to offer different kinds of entertainment. De Beemster has its own
small theater (only 66 seats) called “Onder de Linden”, where different theater shows, small concerts
and jazz-shows are held (Cultureel Centrum Onder de Linden, 2016). Besides a theater de Beemster
also has a few restaurants and lunchrooms. The restaurants vary from luxurious restaurant at the Fort
Resort Beemster to the more kids-friendly pancake-house ‘t Beemster Spijshuis (Iens, 2016).
21
Superstructure
De Beemster is an example on how the Dutch ‘made’ their own land. The landscape of De Beemster
is the result. The Landscape itself was not build for tourism purposes, but for financial and agricultural
reasons. De Beemster is still used for agriculture, but tourism purposes came over the years (Wijnen,
2016).
Market ties
De Beemster has no direct connections with any cultures other than the Dutch culture, but it does
represent a lot of techniques used in the history throughout the Netherlands. Rumors are that the
landscape structure of Manhattan (NY, USA), but none of this is true. This means that De Beemster
has no direct international market ties with other countries or cultures other than the Dutch (Wijnen,
2016).
11.1.3 Destination Management
Organization
De Beemster has set up a new company called the New Organization. This company was created to
improve the tourism at De Beemster. The New Organization consists of eight stakeholders: The local
government, the entrepreneurs association, Beemster erfgoed foundation, the landscape renovation
foundation, Beemster welvaart (welfare), historic society, Stichting Onder de Linden and the church
(de Keizer) (Wijnen, 2016).
Marketing
The visitor center advertises in the local magazine, because the visitor center is not only meant for the
tourists, but also for the locals. De Beemster also advertises in German magazines. An example is the
German National Geographic. De Beemster also has its own website that should be available in
Dutch, English, French and German (Wijnen, 2016).
Amsterdam Marketing has a fee of € 300.000 per year for promotions of other attractions. Amsterdam
marketing will then promote that location/attraction on the Internet, social media, visitor centers, etc.
(Dees, 2016).
Quality of service/experience
The local government gives a training once in a while to the employees of the visitor center to ensure
that the tourists get the same quality of information. There are no additional trainings for other locals
that work in tourism (Wijnen, 2016).
Information/research
The New Organization of De Beemster is working with the local government to improve the tourism in
the area. They have used research in the history to improve aspects in the area, but they have not set
up special research activities. They are also able to use the research that is conducted by Amsterdam
Marketing when they need to (Wijnen, 2016).
Human resources development
The people who are working for tourism purposes at De Beemster are mainly volunteers. This includes
the employees at the Visitor Centre, The Agricultural Museum and the New Organization (Wijnen,
2016). The City Hall and New Organization both want to train the volunteers as much as possible, but
have to keep in mind they are volunteers. Therefor the qualities and skills they need from the staff are
not always possible.
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Finance and venture capital
On the one hand, when tourists go to De Beemster, the local businesses receive incomes, especially
the restaurants.
On the other hand, the town just receives incomes from the tourist taxes, which are used as a financial
instrument to cover the costs and to get their mission and vision. As the New Organization is a non-
profit organization, it is not making any profit.
They are working to find a way to get more kind of taxes and more often, for example the tax that
restaurants pay to be allowed to have tables outside. For example, this money would be used for
infrastructure (Wijnen, 2016).
Visitor management
The visitor management does not have any specific program to control positive and negative tourism
impacts, just some mandatory conditions required by the UNESCO.
The farmers are in charge of the preservation of the landscape. Furthermore, Het
Hoogheemraadschap has the responsibility to maintain the water and the roads outside of the town.
The way De Beemster is working to get positive tourism impacts is attracting quality tourists instead of
mass tourism coming by big buses (Wijnen, 2016).
Resource stewardship
Because of the fact that De Beemster is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the landscape must be
maintained. Multiple parties are responsible for this. The main company who is responsible for the
landscape of De Beemster is called ‘Hoogheemraadschap’. They are responsible for the dikes and the
water canals. But there is another important factor to maintain the landscape of De Beemster, which
are the farmers. The farmers are the owners of a lot of the land in De Beemster. Therefore it is
important that the local government maintains a good relationship with the farmers.
The local government is responsible for the infrastructure in De Beemster (Wijnen, 2016).
Crisis management
Every year, De Beemster needs to create a management report for the organization UNESCO. One
part of that report is ‘crisis management’. De Beemster need to indicate which threats are realistic for
De Beemster. De Beemster doesn’t have a lot of threats. The main threat in De Beemster is to have a
flood. Because of that threat, De Beemster developed a crisis management plan in the case a flood
will really happen (Wijnen, 2016).
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11.2 Sub question 2
“How can the high-class traveler be identif ied?”
To identify the high-class traveler the team did desk research on what luxury travel entails, what kind
of trends exists and what kind of luxury travelers there are.
“Luxury travel today is defined less by thread count and Michelin stars and more by access to the
people, places and experiences that represent all that is authentic about a destination. There’s no
denying that comfort factors still apply and high standards of accommodation and dining will always
feature on the luxury traveler’s wish list. However, today’s luxury traveler seeks more depth of
understanding and immersion into local culture than ever before. People don’t just want to see, they
want to participate” (Morgan-Grenville, 2013).
Luxury travel is increasingly linked to culture. Nowadays, there is an emerging type of high-class
travelers who are redefining the luxury travel with new motivations as living local cultural experiences
(Ardhi, 2014).
In order to describe luxury travel, a study was done by Pangaea Network (2014), called Luxury Travel
Trends, which analyses the luxury travelers’ profile.
Firstly, as shown in chart 1, the biggest age group is the travelers between 36 and 55 years old (68%)
(Pangaea Network, 2014).
70% of the luxury travelers go on trips with a partner, followed by families and friends (Chart 2). The
group families has increased by 7% from 2013, however the group friends has reduced around 4%
(Pangaea Network, 2014).
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Luxury travelers are attracted by privacy, exclusivity and the quality of the accommodation. Otherwise,
as illustrated in chart 3, family facilities and nightlife are minor aspects to consider (Pangaea Network,
2014).
As it is shown in chart 4; 38% of the travelers get information from websites. It is the first time that
travelers prefer to look for information on a website than using word of mouth. “Half of the respondents
of the Netherlands rely on advice from other people (39%) while the other half (39%) get information
via the web” (Pangaea Network, 2014).
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A study conducted by the International Luxury Travel Market revealed that four distinct profiles of
luxury travelers could be defined. These profiles are:
- The independent minded – seeking the active, authentic and personalized
- The explorer – seeking incredible experiences at limitless budgets
- Candidates to luxury – seeking high quality, high-service
- Streetwise purchaser – younger, social media experts
The independent minded wants a commitment to the local environment, paying interest in closer
contact with local culture as an integral part of their experience. The explorer is ready to pay a high
price for an outstanding experience. The candidates to luxury there is a need for all elements of their
travel plans to work seamlessly. ‘Knowledge is power’ is equally important to all of these three groups.
The last group, streetwise purchasers, are utilizing social media in the decision making process. They
are using it to compare rates and obtain information. These travelers are seeking value for money as
well as a return on their personal values (Luxury Travel Magazine, 2016).
Trends
Luxury travel is thriving: by some estimates, high-value travelers account for over 50% of global spend
(Vivion, 2013). There has been a major shift in luxury tourism the last few years. It is not about going
on just an expensive trip anymore, but it is all about the experience. A five star hotel is no longer
enough; it needs to have something unique to it (Robertson, 2015). The luxury travelers are also
leaning towards health and wellness travel. It is not just about lying on a remote beach anymore, but
now the travelers are looking for healthful activities at their next destination (Vivion, 2013).
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11.3 Sub question 3
“What has De Beemster to offer for the high-class traveler?”
To answer this sub question the team did desk research, held an interview with Cees van Wijnen and
Harry Roenhorst of the local government and the New Organization and Mirna Albertsma.
De Beemster currently has a hotel in a unique location: a fort that was used in both the First World
War and the Second World War. Fort Resort Beemster has a luxury hotel, restaurant and spa. There
is also a possibility to hold a wedding here or to have a party (Fort Resort Beemster, 2016).
De Beemster also has a vineyard located in this UNESCO world heritage. This is called the Beemster
Wijngaard (vineyard). This vineyard offers guided tours and wine tastings, after the tour the guest is
able to bring home a nice bottle of Beemster wine (Beemsterwijngaard, 2015).
The UNESCO world heritage site also has a chocolate factory that has been at De Beemster since
1964. The chocolate factory, called De Beemster, combines Belgian chocolate with nuts, fruits and
other delicious ingredients into high quality products (Chocoladefabriek "De Beemster" B.V., 2016).
Other high-end product that has been produced since 1900 is the famous Beemster cheese. The
Cono factory at De Beemster has beautiful architecture and has the highest point at this polder
(Beemster Kaas, 2016)
In an interview with Cees van Wijnen and Harry Roenhorst, Harry mentioned that the Fort is officially
the only luxury product they currently offer at De Beemster and that they are not really able to offer a
new kind of luxury product to this UNESCO site. He also mentions that when a tourist visits De
Beemster they will be aware of the unique activities and produces that De Beemster has to offer
(Wijnen, 2016).
In the interview with a local, named Mirna Alberstma, she confirms that the Beemster doesn’t have a
lot to offer for luxury traveler except for the Fort Resort Beemster. She mentions that the fort is a big
attractor in De Beemster, because it is one of the best saunas/wellness centers in the Netherlands.
She also mentions that there is a wine import organization, which is called Bart. Bart offers wine
tastings and such. There are also a few places where you can buy local and organic products such as
honey (Albertsma, 2016).
Amsterdam marketing mentioned to the project that they have seen that art is a big attractor for luxury
travelers. There needs to be something exclusive/special at a destination for luxury travelers to visit
that location (Dees, 2016).
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11.4 Sub question 4
“What are the best practices at the four UNESCO mining sites of Wallonia?”
This sub question presents the best practices at the four UNESCO mining sites of Wallonia: Blegny-
mine, Grand Hornu, Bois-du-Luc and Bois du Cazier.
“Best practices are a set of guidelines, ethics or ideas that represent the most efficient or prudent
course of action” (Investopedia, 2016)The best practices of each mine will be analyzed based on five
key pillars: promotion, special events, main attraction, target group and added value. The four major
mining sites in Wallonia are recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage site since July 2012
(Unesco, 2012).
11.4.1. Blegny-Mine
The Blegny-Mine is located in Belgium, between Liège and Maastricht. It is one of the few mines
where the underground galleries are still accessible for visitors (Blegny-Mine, 2016).
Promotion
o The Blegny Mine have their own website. The mining site is also promoted by the
other three major mining sites, on the other locations flyers are available of the
Blegny-Mine (Blegny-Mine, 2016).
Special events
o The mining site hosts exhibitions. For example: They have an exhibition from 27th of
February 2016 until 18th March 2016. The exhibition is called: ‘Droit dans les yeux’.
Throughout the year, different exhibitions take place (Blegny-Mine, 2016).
Main attractions
o The main attraction is the mine itself. The Blegny-Mine offers guided tours in French
and Dutch (SOURCE). To make the tour attractive, they did some adjustments to the
mine to attract more visitors. For example, they have made a movie about the history
of the Blegny-Mine. They also have a road-train excursion for groups Invalid source
specified..
Target group
o The Blegny-Mine has more than one Target group. They offer tours for families,
groups and schools.
Added value
o The added value of the Blegny-Mine compared to the other mining sites is the
accessibility of the underground galleries. Also the events they host for their target
groups.
11.4.2. Le Grand Hornu
Le Grand Hornu is a mining site located near a town called Hornu.
Promotion
o The Grand-Hornu mining site can be found on the website of Visit Mons. There is an
article that describes the mining site (Visit Mons, 2016).
o Their brochure is posted on the Meet in Belgium website. This website offers locations
for conventions or meetings (Meet in Belgium, 2015).
o Le Grand-Hornu has a brochure that has been distributed to the other three mines
that are part of the UNESCO World Heritage site (Grand-Hornu, 2016). All of the
brochures are in French, Dutch, English and German.
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Special events
o Grand-Hornu mining site has different exhibition throughout the year. The art
exhibition changes ever other week or month, depending on the exhibition (Grand-
Hornu, 2016). They also host a special ‘Youth and Heritage Week’, where they invite
schools to visit the site. During this week they host special events and interactive
activities (Le Grand-Hornu, 2016)
Main attractions
o The mining site was built between 1810 and 1830 by Henri de Gorge. The mine
started operating during the height of the industrial revolution. The early years were
very hard, but Le Grand-Hornu soon became one of the largest mining companies in
Belgium. Right now it is owned by the province of Hainaut. The mine now hosts
temporary exhibitions throughout the year (Grand-Hornu, 2016).
Target group
o The target group is groups of children that visit the mining site with school. But also
art-lovers, because of the variety of exhibitions they have throughout the year (Grand-
Hornu, 2016). The target group is also business people, since they offer meeting
rooms and a location for a convention (Meet in Belgium, 2015). Le Grand-Hornu
welcomes 75,000 visitors from across Europe every year (Grand-Hornu, 2016).
11.4.3. Bois-du-Luc
Bois-du-Luc is located in La Louvière, Belgium. It is one of the oldest coalmines of Wallonia, whose
activity ended in 1973 (Voy, 2016).
In the 19th century, the Société des Charbonnages set up the Saint-Emmanuel mining pit and built a
village. Nowadays, the mine illustrated the industrial period, as it shows the impact of industry on
technology, architecture and society (Voy, 2016).
Promotion
o Bois-du-Luc uses brochures, television programs, special events, the web page and
the UNESCO fame to promote the mining site.
Special events
o Bois-du-Luc has social and culture events, such as concerts or exhibitions. For
example, in April the mine hosts the Cités Métisses festival, which shows different
kinds of cultural and artistic expressions by little known artists.
Main attractions
o The main attractions that visitors like the most are the shaft, the manufactory and the
neoclassical style of the buildings, as everything has been preserved.
Target group
o The most important target group is school trips, followed by Flemish people.
Added value
o The added value of the mine is the village next to the site and the machines that are
still working today. Also the specific tours for each target group add extra value for the
visitors of the site.
11.4.4. Le Bois du Cazier
Le Bois du Cazier is located in the south of Charleroi, Belgium. It is mostly famous for the tragedy that
took place on August 8th 1956, when there was a big fire at the mining site. It is the biggest disaster in
mining history in Belgium (Le Bois du Cazier, 2016)
Promotion
o Le Bois du Cazier has their own website, where they promote the mining site and all
attractions surrounding it. The website is only available in French, although it does
show possibilities in Italian, Dutch and English but it does not work. The mining site is
29
also promoted on different websites like “België-Toerisme” (België Toerisme, 2016),
where they offer discount on the entrance fee for adults.
Special events
o On the mining site, different events are hosted. They offer sports events like ‘Sport
Terrils pour tous’ where families can join for different sports activities (Le Bois du
Cazier, 2016). Besides sports events, different art galleries are open throughout the
year and theater shows are held (Le Bois du Cazier, 2016).
Main attractions
o The main attractions on the mining site are the memorial of the big disaster in 1956,
the mining site itself and the different museums. Also the workshops are a main
attractions, where the crafts of the blacksmith and foundry workers can still be
practiced (Le Bois du Cazier, 2016).
Target group
o The target group of the mine is families, but also schools and tourists interested in
history and culture. The mining site offers different activities and sights for all the
different target groups. In total they welcomed 50.000 visitors in the year 2015 (Le
Bois du Cazier, 2016).
Added value
o The added value of this mine compared to the other mining sites is that this mine is
the memorial of the tragedy. The tragedy was an important and horrible moment in the
history of the Belgian miners, the memorial gives visitors a chance to honor and
remember the mine-workers involved in the accident.
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12. Conclusion
The research was focussed on finding how De Beemster can attract more high-class travelers, by
analysing the current tourism image at the destination. The outcome of the research shows that it
could have a positive effect if De Beemster creates a touristic product to sell to possible visitors. Also
events and improved facilities could improve the visitor numbers in the area. All the recommendations
are explained in chapter 13.
The results of the research show interesting outcomes. The research done according to the Ritchie
and Crouch model shows that the Beemster has some good aspects to offer for tourism, but it is not
easy to reach the destination or combine it with other destinations in the metropolitan area of
Amsterdam. Also, it does not have many facilities for tourism such as bus parking spots or bike
rentals. It does have some hotels and restaurants, even a theater and museum.
Comparing the outcome of sub question 1 and 4, it is visible that there is a difference in the approach
at the mining sites and the approach of De Beemster. The mining sites are cooperating with the other
UNESCO sites in the area a lot and are advertised in different ways throughout Belgium. De Beemster
does not have much promotion. The mining sites in Belgium offer a variety of events for different target
groups as well, to gain more visitors at the sites. De Beemster does not offer events for national or
international tourism, but focusses only on the local inhabitants with their events. Another aspect at the
mining sites that is different than De Beemster, is the main attraction. At the mining sites it is very clear
what people are going to see and visit, also online there is a lot to be found in different languages
about these locations history. This makes it approachable for tourists and makes it very clear what
they will find. At De Beemster, a lot of information is only in Dutch and by looking online it is not very
clear what the main attraction is.
According to (Ardhi, 2014), Luxury Travelers focus more on living local cultural experiences these
days, which could be positive for De Beemster. There are local farms and places (like the Winery) that
offer local goods, which could have a positive effect on attracting Luxury Travelers. According to
Morgan-Grenville, luxury travelers are more interested in local cultures than ever, they want to be part
of the culture and participate.
Luxury Travelers are very pleased with quality of accommodation and privacy and exclusivity. De
Beemster does have the luxury wellness resort and has a few hotels that could fit these qualifications,
but they will have to find a way to promote it. Luxury Travelers get 38% of their information from the
web and 31% of their information by word of mouth. This means the focus should be on these aspects
of promotion.
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13. Recommendations
The following recommendations are made based on the research of the previous parts of the project.
The objective of this part is to make recommendations regarding areas of weakness of De Beemster in
order to attract more high-class travelers.
Our approach when creating the following recommendations is to think locally and act globally. So
when implementing these recommendations to the reality, firstly it has to be focused in local/national
tourism and step by step applying into international tourism.
Visitor center
First of all, the new visitor center that they are working on, it should be more attractive and with a
bigger parking to be able to park more cars and taxis. All the information that the tourists can find in
the visitor center should be at least in Dutch and English, as well as De Beemster Experience.
Human knowledge resources
In regards to the human knowledge resources, De Beemster should offer free English courses to the
locals, especially to the volunteers working in the visitor center and also to the employees working in
the service sector, such as the restaurants.
Infrastructure
Furthermore, the infrastructure to get into De Beemster should improve. We recommend creating a
bus from the city center of Amsterdam to the city center of De Beemster and the way back. This bus
should be accessible for everyone, including a map with a clear route and also in two languages.
Focusing on high-class travelers, we suggest creating a taxi service with the same route as the bus.
Product
The main weakness of De Beemster is that there isn’t any clear product to sell to tourists. That is why
we suggest joining all the existing services to create products to sell. We come up with a possible
product for the high-class travelers. The following product is based on the luxury travel trends exposed
in the research proposal, so people between 36 and 55 years old, normally couples, who want to
participate in authentic local experiences.
The first element is the accommodation, which does already exist: The Fort Resort Beemster, which
combines luxury and wellness. During the day we propose a list of activities to enjoy. Firstly, to rent an
electrical bike and do a private tour around De Beemster landscapes with a guide. Then, a picnic in a
luxurious table will be prepared in the middle of the landscape next to a farm. The tourists will have the
opportunity to try local food and do a cheese and wine tasting in a unique environment.
All this experience will be recorded from the sky with a drone. So then the visitors will be able to see
their own experience in De Beemster that will be issued in De Beemster Experience. Thereby, each
experience will be unique. Moreover, tourists can buy the video like a souvenir and share it through
the social networks.
The activity will be achieved with help from locals. Some local farmers can arrange the picnic and the
electric bikes tours can be done with the company Cycle Amsterdam.
The research team also recommends De Beemster to team up with a touroperator that is focused on
“zen-travel”, boot camps and active holidays. De Beemster is perfect for workouts in the outdoors and
a great place to combine for example yoga and wellness at Fort De Beemster.
Another possible activity would be an exclusive tour through the chocolate factory Choco Beemster,
the Cono cheese factory or to the vineyard Beemster Wijngaard. All the tours also include a tasting of
each product.
Finally, the team suggests doing more with art in De Beemster region. In the interview with Amsterdam
Marketing it became clear that luxury travelers are attracted by art exhibitions. One of the mines in
32
Wallonia is attracting a lot of tourists to their mine, because they have different art exhibitions
throughout the year. The art can be local, made by an art student or someone that is more famous.
All the activities mentioned would be promoted together with the activities exposed in the event
calendar 2017.
Promotion
Regarding the promotion, our first suggestion is to improve the web page. A disadvantage is that the
option to change the language is not working correctly in all the tabs. In addition, it should be added
some pictures about people enjoying De Beemster, so it would seem more attractive to visit. Focusing
on luxury travelers, the web site should offer a personalized help to organize a trip to De Beemster
depending on the motivation of each visitor.
To attract visitors to the online promotion, our recommendation is to invite some popular blogger
specialized in wellness and luxury travels to enjoy De Beemster for free and in return the blogger
would promote the experience in their blog and in the social networks.
When the destination is visited more by tourists in the future, the research team recommends that De
Beemster invests in letting Amsterdam Marketing do some promotion for them. As they are tourist
experts of the Amsterdam metropolitan area and they do consultancy to help the development of
tourist sites.
33
14. Gaps in the Research
During the research, the project team encountered some difficulties and some aspects went differently
then hoped, but in the end the goal the team wanted was reached. Stated below are the gaps in the
research that has been done.
The first gap that the team encountered was discovered when the preparations for the field trip to
Wallonia started. The team contacted two mines at first to arrange a meeting, unfortunately only one
replied. In the end the team visited only one of the four mines of Wallonia. The back-up plan was to
conduct phone interviews instead, but after contacting the other three mines, again no one answered
or replied.
The second gap was when De Beemster was visited. The original plan was to have a meeting at the
visitor center and at the city hall, but the visitor center was closed on the day the team wanted to go,
but in the end the team arranged a meeting with Cees van Wijnen and Harry Roenhorst at the City
Hall.
The third gap is that initially the team had planned to have two interviews from the mines (with a
possibility for more interviews) and two interviews at De Beemster. In the end the team gathered one
interview at the mine, one interviews at De Beemster (with two people), one with a local from De
Beemster and one interview at Amsterdam Marketing. At first this might be seen as a gap, because
the first intended interviews were not really obtained, but the team believes that the currently obtained
interviews give different views on this research.
The last gap is that the interviews were transcribed and translated by the research team, but were not
labelled. Since the research team only has four members, there was not enough time to label all the
interviews. The focus has been on gaining information and working on the results. The interviews have
been used as sources for the results in this research, so the outcome would have been the same if the
interviews were labelled.
34
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37
Attachments
38
Event calendar 2017 This section presents a calendar for 2017 with some events taking place at De Beemster. The event
calendar is created based on some existing events of De Beemster in 2015 and also some new events
created by the authors. Furthermore, all the events are targeted to high-class, luxury and wellness
travelers.
January All weekends Art travelling exhibition
February 25th Carnival
March 18
th – 19
th Beemster art route
31st Jazz concert in «Onder de Linden»
April 15th – 23
rd Museum weekend at Betje Wolff
May
4th Beemster Open Day
5th Jazz concert in «Onder de Linden»
7th Beemster Heritage marathon
June
4th Walking in and around De Beemster
10th – 11
th Beemster garden weekend
17th Cheese tasting day in Cono factory
July
2nd
Walking in and around De Beemster
15th Wine tasting day in Beemster Wijngaard
23rd
– 30th
Beemster festival week
August
5th - 6
th Wellness weekend in the Fort Resort Beemster
19th Cheese tasting day in Cono factory
20th Live music in the Middenweg
September 16th Wine tasting day in Beemster Wijngaard
October 14th – 15
th Wellness weekend in the Fort Resort Beemster
November All weekends Art travelling exhibition
December 16st Chocolate tasting day in De Beemster Chocolate Factory
Sources for the Event Calendar:
(Laag Holland VVV, 2016)
(Dees, 2016)
(Wijnen, 2016)
39
Content Analysis – Word Cloud
40
Presentation at De Beemster
The research team will present the outcomes of the research in a presentation for the commissioning
client, De Beemster and for Inholland teachers. Three out of four members of the team will attend this
presentation, Denise de Ruyter will not attend.
Since Denise will not be attending she will do some more in the preparations for the presentation:
- Denise will make a planning for the presentation and all that needs to be done. - Denise will make the powerpoint.
- Denise will help the team to gather information on what they will be presenting.
41
Interview at Le Bois-du-Luc 10
th of March 2016 at 12:00PM
Interviewee: Jeff Voy
Attending: Denise de Ruyter, Romano Nooitmeer, Priscilla Meijboom and Flors Farràs
1. How are you attracting tourists to the mine?
We are attracting tourists to the mine using brochures and new tools as the Internet. Moreover, we
have appeared on some television programs and documentaries from Belgium, France and Germany.
As we are an UNESCO heritage site, many people come here because we are on the UNESCO list.
Last year, Belgium was the European Capital of Culture. We were partners, so they advertised us. In
addition, in 2015 was the 200th anniversary of the battle of Waterloo so lot of people also come to visit
the mine.
2. What is the main target group visiting the mine?
The main target group visiting the mine is school trips.
Our season for individual tourists is from May to October.
The main visitors are from Belgium, from the south (Wallonia) and from the north (Flanders). Flemish
people are attached to the history of the mine because they were the first foreign workers to come to
work in the mines. Nowadays, many Flemish families still living here. Furthermore, there are also
visitors from all around the word, as Canada, Israel or America.
3. How are you different from other UNESCO sites?
We are different from other UNESCO sites because we have the village, so this is the main peculiarity.
In addition, this mine has some machines which still working today, such as the lift and the workshop.
We can also do specific tours depending on the type of public, so we can personalize the tours. For
example, if the visitors are interested in technology, we offer a tour focused on this topic.
4. Are you attracting enough visitors?
Yes, we are.
The Commissariat Général au Tourisme of Wallonia region has given us the certification of three suns
as a tourism attraction. This means that we receive 10.000 visitors per year. However, 2015 was a bad
year because of the crisis and we only receive 8.000 visitors.
5. Do you host special events?
We host different kind of events. For example, we have a festival with concerts, music, expositions,
exhibitions, a market with products from all around the word... It is a social festival. This year the
festival is called “Welcome” in different languages because we have a lot of immigration for the
industry and we accept refugees from Syria.
We only host social and cultural events focused on a special theme (art, culture, society, expositions
about photography, contemporary art…).
6. What is the main attraction when people visit this mine?
The shaft is really impressive for the visitors, as well as the manufactory.
The buildings are very beautiful as they are design in a neoclassical style. The Neoclassical style can
be found everywhere: in the workers’ houses, in the boss’ house and in the boss’ office, where stand
out the furniture and the walls. Visitors are impressed by the neoclassical style.
At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, it was very important to build and preserve nice buildings
as they did not want to destroy the ambience neither the atmosphere. This is the reason why they
used to work with artists and architects. As opposed, at the beginning of the 20th century the society
had to produce a lot so they did not have time to spend in the preservation of the buildings.
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I think this preservation is good for us today because we have a complete site formed by technology,
art and society. Many people prefer this mine instead of others because nothing has changed, so
people feel like being in the past and they can see the history with their own eyes.
By contrast, if you go to the Bois du Cazier, they have changed everything and all has been
modernized.
7. Are there aspects/things that could go better?
Our big problem is the money. It is very expensive to restore and preserve the buildings.
This mine has been recognized twice. The first time by the region of Wallonia, that has classified the
mine as a Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance. Afterwards, in 2012, the mine was
recognized by the UNESCO.
In conclusion, the thing that could go better is to have more money and to ask for money to the region,
to the country and to Europe, as UNESCO doesn’t give us money.
8. Do you have any offers for high-class/luxury travelers?
No, we don’t. Everybody has de same offers.
9. Since there is more terrorism in Europe last years, have you seen a decline in tourism here?
No, we haven’t. Brussels is the only place in Belgium where you can see a decline of tourism, but not
here.
10. Which is your relationship between the other Wallonia UNESCO mines?
We do combined visits, so we work together. For example, the tourists start they visit here and in the
afternoon they go to another mine. Besides the other mines, we also work with a manufacturer that
produces beer.
43
Interview with Harry Roenhorst and Cees van Wijnen
Present: Priscilla Meijboom (Project Leader of Group D)
Flors Farras Farré (Secretary of Group D)
Denise de Ruyter (Archivist of Group D)
Romano Nooitmeer (Communicator of Group D)
Harry Roenhorst (World Heritage Foundation – New Organization)
Cees van Wijnen (Municipality Beemster, in charge of economy and tourism)
1. Is the government investing on the infrastructure of De Beemster (roads, train
stations...)?
Cees van Wijnen: “The way you have to see it is that De Beemster is a town that is UNESCO
world heritage and UNESCO has strict requirements that we need to meet. Harry Roenhorst is
one of the makers of the management report that we need to have. We live and work in a
museum, but it shouldn’t be the case that we have to walk on eggshells.
To answer your question, we are not getting extra funding to create a better infrastructure in
De Beemster. The town has some money to finance the infrastructure. But De Beemster is not
getting extra money from the government, because it is a UNESCO world heritage.
2. Does the tourism industry creating revenue for De Beemster?
Harry Roenhorst: “if more tourists come to De Beemster than the entrepreneurs will receive
more money. Especially the restaurants. When tourists are staying at a hotel, they will pay
tourist taxes to the town. This is a source of income for the town. Besides that, we don’t really
get money from the tourism industry.
Cees van Wijnen: “The town is not making a profit, but it always needs to cover the costs. We
are a non-profit organization. The tourist tax is not bringing in the money. We are not getting
money from the tourism tax, because there are not a lot of activities/facilities that we can ask
this kind of tax for, but the New Organization wants to apply this tax more often. This money
will be used for example for infrastructure
Denise de Ruyter: “ So, you want to get more tourist tax, so, you can spend it on the
town?
Harry Roenhorst: “ It is not the case that we want more tourist tax, because it is actually a
normal kind of tax used in the Netherlands. We are looking for a way that we can apply more
kind of taxes, for example the tax restaurants need to pay when they want to have tables
outside.
Cees van Wijnen: “ You need to see the tax as an financial instrument to get to our vision and
mission. It is not the goal to get more money through tourist tax. Because if we do that then we
need to look at stuff like paying for a parking spot, to cover the finances. We think that is
ridiculous. The money that comes from tourism will be used to get to our mission and vision.
Romano Nooitmeer: “Is it also the goal the get more ‘Quality Tourists’ instead of the bis
busses full of tourists?
Cees van Wijnen: “ We want more quality tourists at De Beemster, so not like the Voledamse
Dijk. You really paid close at attention at the kick-off. We want more quality tourists, so, yes
that means no big busses full of tourists.
Romano Nooitmeer: “And is it your goal to get those quality tourists to stay
overnight?”
Cees van Wijnen: “We want to keep them at De Beemster. We don’t want tourists just
stepping out of the bus for a quick picture and then back in the bus again. We want them to
get to know De Beemster, the culture, acvitites and the kind of produces that are created
here.”
44
Harry Roenhorst: “ What we do offer is that there are currently some coaches that drive
through the town to get to de Zaanse Schans from Amsterdam. They drive through De
Beemster and go to the cheese market in Alkmaar. When I see those busses I think: ‘Can’t
you stop here for like an hour?’ But what we are trying to do is getting people here that are not
coming with a bus like that, and offer them a special arrangement. The things we offer for
example, think of the lunchrooms and restaurants. We want to offer something for groups and
we are really working on that right now. Not the kind of groups that come with the busses
though, but I also think that won’t happen at De Beemster. For example that De Beemster is
less interesting for children. That is also because we don’t have like a theme park. It is the
older tourists that comes for quality and culture.
Romano Nooitmeer: “We have the target group ‘luxury travelers’, we couldn’t really kind luxury
products, except for the Fort with the spa.
Harry Roenhorst: “Yes that is correct, the fort is one of the exceptions we have. But the tourist
that comes here will be made clear about the unique activities and produces we have. But we
are not able to offer something new in the luxury business.
Cees van Wijnen: “But we are busy with this and that is also one of your assignments, to see
what the target group really is. Where are the opportunities to get this target group to De
Beemster? We did do research with another company, to look at what De Beemster has to
offer for certain target groups. You have more to offer than you think, for example with the
UNESCO world heritage; we actually have two in one. We have De Beemster and de Stelling
van Amsterdam.
Right now, we have a target group that comes to De Beemster anyways, despite any
promotion. De Beemster is a great place to walk around and hike or even jog, because of the
straight lines of the polder. De Beemster is a great place to work out at. But those activities
can be done on many locations and we want to develop new activities. When we do this, we
will be able to get a new target group to De Beemster. We are currently very busy with this and
also with creating a nice entrance for the tourist with for example the visitor centre. We now
busy with creating a new visitor centre, this centre needs to be very attractive
Harry Roenhorst: “One of the things we are looking for is: ‘How do you make this world
heritage visible?’ We want to know this, because we you arrive here you can’t directly see
what the world heritage actually is. If you look on a map then you will be able to see what the
world heritage is, but you don’t see this when you are just standing here. The uniqueness of
De Beemster is the way the land has been divided. This can be done in an interactive way at
the visitor centre. We have a start and that is the Beemster experience. The experience gives
you a clear idea what De Beemster is, but it needs to be updated. But also at the museum we
would like be more about De Beemster than the agriculture.”
Cees van Wijnen: “We have one idea that we want to create a drone that we can use here at
De Beemster. When we let the drone fly, we want tourist to be able to see what the drone
sees, at the museum or on their own smartphones.”
Harry Roenhorst: “The poles we have in the ground to read how high the water was, is already
impressive. You will be able to see how far below sea-level we are. This might not be
impressive for the Dutch, but foreigners think this is weird and very impressive.”
45
Cees van Wijnen: “Do you know the museum Nemo? We want something similar here at De
Beemster in the visitor centre. Show people in an interactive way how De Beemster is
connected to science.
Harry Roenhorst: “The Hoogheemraadschap can help us with this. They control the water at
De Beemster. They are very interested to invest in updating the visitor’s centre. We want to
show the people how everything works at De Beemster.”
3. Do the people working in tourism have any specific knowledge/course/training/skills
about tourism
Harry Roenhorst: “Yes, we have guides. They can do a tour with groups when they are here,
but they can also give presentation. The people that work at the visitor centre, they kind of
know the history and how everything works, but besides that we train them regularly to make
sure that everyone has the same knowledge. Because sometimes people intend to tell
different stories to tourists. For example when tourist ask for the history of De Beemster than
everyone can tell the same story. We can give the tourist a flyer, but the people that work
there need to be able to tell them. We have trainings days a few times.”
Denise de Ruyter: “What about the languages? Do the people that work at the visitor
centre need to speak English, German or French?”
Cees van Wijnen: “That is a very difficult requirement when it comes to volunteers, but we do
ask them if they speak other languages and at the minimum English.”
Cees van Wijen “ Yes this does happen. We have brochures in different languages such as
English, German and French. We are even trying to create a brochure in Chinese, but that is
for the future.
Denise de Ruyter: “We were just at the Lunchroom and the waitress didn’t speak
English. When tourists are coming right now and they are not able to communicate with
the locals then they will probably leave. Did you think about this?
Cees van Wijnen: “Yes that is correct, in Amsterdam and Volendam they are used to speak
English. Here at De Beemster we are not used to this. This does not fit the with tourism
environment. Actually, we don’t really have a tourism environment. Mainly elderly people come
here. They are mostly Dutch. Foreigners are coming in very slowly right now, but for example
nobody speaks Japanese here. But anyways, this is a good question en something that we
need to work on if we want more tourists to come to De Beemster. I think it is a really good
idea.”
Romano Nooitmeer: “But also when it comes to the museum, for example. We got a
tour in Dutch, even though a museum is something that is visited by (international)
tourists and because of this it is important that the people there speak at least English.”
Cees van Wijnen: “I completely agree with you. In a museum you can expect that people
speak more than one language.”
Harry Roenhorst: “I think it happens when you look at the other museum at De Beemster
called ‘Betje Wolff’, I live right next to it. Groups of Germans visit it, for example. It can be done
in English, but not everyone is good at it.”
Cees van Wijnen: “I think this needs to be worked on, I really would like to see this back in
your recommendation.”
46
Denise de Ruyter: “Another example is De Beemster experience. For the Dutch students this
was fun, but the international ones didn’t understand it.”
Harry Roenhorst: “We are working on an English version.”
Romano Nooitmeer: “Are there only volunteers working at the visitor centre? If this is
not the case, then you can set a requirement that people need to speak more than one
language.”
Cees van Wijnen: “Harry used to be my colleague, and he just retired, but he is also a
volunteer. Everyone at the New Organization is a volunteer, except for Janneke and me; we
are the only two professionals. This is what makes De Beemster special, because the
percentage of volunteers is very high. Not only in the policymaking, but also with many other
things. I was surprised to here that with an inhabitant count of 9000 that is spread out in a big
landscape, we have 54 neighbourhood associations. Almost everyone is doing something with
volunteer work. It is very special that people are doing this. The New Organization wants less
requirements for volunteers than we have for professionals.”
4. Are there any local events during the year?
Harry Roenhorst: “Yes, once a year we have an event called ‘muziek aan de Middenweg’
(music in the Middenweg). This event gets a lot of visitors. This takes place on the third
Sunday of August. We have an event that takes place on May 5th this year (and takes place
on the holiday called Hemelvaartsdag). On this event people can visit places that are normally
closed to the public in De Beemster. There are a lot of exhibitions and people that offer their
local product.”
Cees van Wijnen: “On this day people make their gardens very pretty.”
Harry Roenhorst: “On Easter we have a so-called art route. Several art studios are open en
advertisements are made for this.”
Cees van Wijnen: “At the party week in De Beemster there is carnival and a lot of drinks.
During this party week there are many activities, most often connect to the local culture such
as an autocross game and something called stone throwing. There are 400 teams competing.
Every year we also have a horserace, with this race the whole Middenbeemster will made in to
a horse race field, and people gamble on the races.”
Romano Nooitmeer: “De stelling van Amsterdam also has like an activities week with a
free entry, right?
Harry Roenhorst: “Yes that is correct, but the stelling is doing that themselves. Here in De
Beemster the Fort Spijkerboor is open.”
5. Are there any advertisements?
Harry Roenhorst: “Yes, the visitor centre advertises in the local magazine. The visitor centre is
not only meant for tourists, but also for the locals. We are also posting advertisements in
German magazines, but this is more because of UNESCO. An example of a magazine is
National Geographic
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6. Who is responsible for the (landscape) conditions of De Beemster?
Harry Roenhorst: “Het Hoogheemtaadschap maintains the water and the roads outside of the
town. Everything else is privately owned. As a local government we own some land, but we
mostly built houses on this land. The farmers are maintaining the landscape that is also the
reason why we need to have a good relationship with those farmers. One important aspect
that comes from UNESCO is that we need to maintain the relationship with those farmers.”
7. What kind of activities are currently organized to attract (more) tourists?
Harry Roenhorst: “Not at this moment, no. We have the activities that we already mentioned
before, but there are no activities focused on attracting more tourists.”
Cees van Wijnen: “It is correct what Harry just mentioned, but we are definitely working on this
with the New Organization. For example we are trying to find a sponsor that wants to help us
organize some hiking trails. So we are really working on this.’
8. Do you have any local laws or regulations regarding tourism?
Harry Roenhorst: “No, not really. Only UNESCO has requirements that we need to meet. This
nor a law, but it is a necessary requirement.”
9. Is De Beemster connected to any other culture besides the Dutch culture and history?
Harry Roenhorst: “No, that is why De Beemster is so unique. I always say ‘De Beemster is an
ideal city in a landscape’. There are many polders in the world, but nowhere is the landscape
designed as here. There is nothing like this in the world.”
Cees van Wijnen: “There is connection with Amsterdam. The polder was made for the lords in
Amsterdam. So, it doesn’t seem like it, but there is definitely a link with Amsterdam. De
Beemster basically provides Amsterdam with food. It had a high efficiency rate. Amsterdam
used to be the golden city. In that way we are connected to Amsterdam.
Romano Nooitmeer: “Who are the eight parties that are part of the New Organization?”
Harry Roenhorst: “ The local government, the entrepreneurs association, Beemster erfgoed
foundation, the landscape renovation foundation, Beemster welvaart (welfare), historic society,
stichting onder de linden and the church de Keizer).”
Romano Nooitmeer: “Do you have a crisismanagement plan? Is something happens
right now, do you have a policy?”
Harry Roenhorst: “Yes, we need to have a management report, this is a requirement from
UNESCO. We have to explain what could be a potential risk for De Beemster. The risk for us
that De Beemster will have a flood.”
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Interview with Mirna Albertsma Friday the 18th of March 2016 at 11.30AM, at Inholland Diemen.
Attending: Mirna Albertsma, Romano Nooitmeer, Dylan Heinen en Denise de Ruyter
The interview:
Denise: So once again, thank you very much for your time.
Mirna: Yes, of course, no problem, no problem at all.
Denise: We have a few questions for you, not too many so it won’t be too long.
Mirna: Oh yes, don’t worry. I have time until 12.15, so I guess that will give it enough time.
Denise: Okay good, well our first question is, how long have you been living in De Beemster?
Mirna, Eh, I was actually born and raised in De Beemster, so that’s 43 years ago. I was born in De
Beemster, and then I left De Beemster when I was 18 but I kept coming back since. And four years
ago I moved back to De Beemster, so I am actually back in my hometown. So I have lived for 18 years
in De Beemster, but during those years after I kept coming back because of my parents and my family.
Denise: Ok, so you know a lot about the area?
Mirna: Yes. Yes. Yes.
Denise: And are you involved in any tourism related projects in the area?
Mirna: Not really, no. I was asked to be involved in the project between Inholland and De Beemster.
Then I was also asked to volunteer in the visitor centre, or new organisation. But I said no, I don’t have
time at the moment because I am too busy with children and studies and everything else but I am
actually volunteering in the corporation between InHolland and De Beemster. Also two years ago I
supervised a student who did a thesis on De Beemster. So I also learned about the situation more
from a tourism perspective. But I am not actually involved but I do know a lot of people and I do see
the new projects and I remember when De Beemster became a world heritage site, because the
mayor back then. He set that up; he had that idea because he wanted it to stay the way it was. He
went through that whole process to become a world heritage destination. Yes, I remember that. And I
see in all the projects what they do to become a more known destination. So that’s interesting to see.
Denise: I can imagine! Do you think De Beemster currently has enough to offer tourists and visitors?
Mirna: No, I don’t think so. I think it is still very low key. It is, you know, I live there and I see very few
American tourists on bikes with helmets on, and we see very occasionally a bus with tourists and
some people biking around. But apart from that, there is not much happening. But they need much
more. They are trying their best and have their own small projects and have rebuilt the mill and they’ve
done several things but they need a bigger visitor centre, and they need to find a way to experience
De Beemster. Because when you bike through it, you cannot see a thing. You don’t realise why it is a
world heritage destination. And then facilities, you can’t even park a bus in de Beemster; there is not
really a parking space for a bus. So you need facilities. And also communication wise, marketing wise,
you need much more. I mean, they are so close to Volendam, and Zaandam, Zaanse Schans.. So
close to Amsterdam, it’s a twenty minutes’ drive. So in my opinion they can do much more. I know they
want to keep it low key, they don’t want big buses. But to make it ecomically more attractive you could
do with more visitors. But at the moment they are not facilitated to receive a lot of tourists. Is that what
you mean? Is that what you wanted?
Denise: Yes for me it is. For you guys?
Romano: Yes, the only thing we know about is the fort resort. It attracts people and you can do an
overnight stay right?
Mirna: Yes. The fort resort is fantastic. It is such a big attractor in de Beemster, they get people from
all over the Netherlands. Because it is one of the best sauna’s / wellness centres. So that’s great. So
they also have a mill, the old houses, the old farm houses, a couple of small museums, but apart from
that there is not much to do. I think you could do biking tours or something. Or a higher building where
you can overlook over De Beemster. Yes, I think they can do a lot more, at the moment there is not
that much. Or combine it with …..
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*** Knock on the door, recording stops and the group changed to another room. Then recording
continues ***
Denise: Ready?
Romano: Where were we?
Mirna: So yeah , there are a couple of interesting places but they should have a good museum about
the history of De Beemster and now the museum is actually about the farming and the..
Denise: Agriculture?
Mirna: Yes the agriculture, but not so much about the history of De Beemster. But also things like
renting out bikes or bike tours... Or do, offer more stuff. I think there is a bus in summer, that takes you
to… did you find that?
Denise: Yes, the bus takes you to 17 different places
Mirna: Ok, so that’s great. That’s very initiative. But my opinion is to work together with Zaanse
Schans, which is overloaded with tourists, or Amsterdam, or Volendam. Try to also get them to De
Beemster. But I don’t think De Beemster wants that kind of mass tourism. But there is a limit you
know. And you can get more money so you can build some more stuff.
Denise: Too make it more attractive?
Mirna: Yes, to make it more attractive. So it’s, I think you have seen that. They work with volunteers.
So it’s all on voluntary basis. So it’s a challenge to get a professional organisation. Promoting De
Beemster, well all the stakeholders do their bits and pieces but yes, you know it’s …
Romano: Do you think it is smart to cooperate with the Stelling van Amsterdam?
Mirna: yes, for sure, for sure. Definitely. I think they do that a little bit. And actually one fort is inside de
Beemster, it is a unique situation to have two world heritage sites in one. So it sort of over lapses. And
that’s a unique situation so they could do much more. Maybe they could do it also with the
Amsterdamse grachtengordel, maybe a small tour, a UNESCO tour yes. Definitely. I think they already
do that a little bit.
Romano: Yes, they told something about it, but I think they are just plans for now or so... There was
not really cooperation or something. Because the new organisation is still beginning I think.
Mirna: Yes, they are really trying to get started.
Romano: Yes, they have a lot of plans but it is not working at the moment.
Mirna: True, yes.
Denise: What do you think about the current marketing strategy at De Beemster?
Mirna: Eh, well, from my perspective as..?
Denise: As a local..
Mirna: As a local.. ehhhh..
Denise: Do you know anything about a marketing strategy?
Mirna: Not really. If I look at local papers, local yeah. . Well I know they have a new website and on
Facebook they are pretty active so that’s okay, well that’s okay-ish. For us as locals there is not much
exposure actually, there is not much, we don’t get a lot of information about that. They don’t make you
aware that you are in a world heritage destination. From destination management perspective I think
we need to judge how they do right now, I still think they could use some advice on how to... yeah...
but as a local you don’t feel like you live in a heritage site, you don’t get much information about it. Is
that what you mean?
Denise: Yeah, that’s it. In your opinion, what could De Beemster do to stimulate tourism?
Mirna: What would be an idea... I think they should work together... maybe not with the biggest
attractions, but still they have Schermer, which is very close to the de Beemster, and just outside De
Beemster they have great windmills. For international tourist this is very interesting. Work together with
the surrounding areas, I think that could be a chance to combine attractions. Also to work together with
the fort resorts. Get the visitors out of the wellness centre and into the Beemster. There is a lot to win,
I think those are the chances... and also from a marketing perspective... people do not know De
Beemster, that’s one thing, they need more exposure. You could do a lot with social media which does
not cost a lot, there are a lot of smart ways to promote De Beemster, like cooperation, social media,
and also facilities should be improved so you get more of an experience when you visit De Beemster.
Bullet points I would say are the chances. And the underlying factor is the organisation, but I don’t
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think that that is really in your… you do not have to advice on that. But it is quite difficult to get focus in
that organisation where they work with volunteers with different goals and different perspectives so
that is a challenge for de Beemster. But once they have that up and running there are a lot of chances
they could work on.
Denise: Okay, let’s see, so for our project group the target group is High Class tourists, we can think of
luxury and wellness, like the fort, but is there anything else that could attract the high class travelers?
Mirna: Eh, okay, let’s see, let me think about that one. The fort resort is fantastic. I visited it last night,
the restaurant is really nice. They have a wine import organisation which is really well known…
Denise: Is that in De Beemster?
Mirna: Yes, that’s in De Beemster. Just on the border, it is called Bart. Which is where you could do
tastings and such. Which is nice. Also, you have a couple places where you can buy local products...
local biological products, that could be interesting. You can buy a lot of local honey, vegetables and
local, well all kinds of products which is all local, all products from De Beemster which could be
interesting for your target group. And let me see what else. In de Beemster itself, there is de
Herenhuis, which is for meetings etc. it is nice. Thinking about the restaurants, a couple more
restaurant but they are more locally... a really nice restaurant but that one is closed now, that’s in De
Herenhuis as well in de Beemster, they used to have a really high class restaurant.
Denise: Is this in the street of the visitor centre? Then the side street with the big house?
Mirna: No it is not, if you go up to the traffic light, there is only one in de Beemster I think, from the
visitor centre, to the left are a couple shops, on the left side.
Romano: Is that where the statue of Leeghwater is?
Mirna: Yes, that’s it. That’s the place that used to have a really high class restaurant but they closed it.
And the restaurant they are going to open next week will be more informal so not really for your target
group I think. So I am trying to think of a fort resort, it is really big. But also biological food etc. There
are also a couple shops where you can buy the foods, that’s really interesting. Apart from that I
wouldn’t know really.
Denise: that’s ok, this is new information for us so that is good.
Mirna: Yeah, there was another restaurant that was really very luxurious and expensive but they
closed that too.
Denise: Dylan, I don’t see any questions for your target group, did you want to ask anything?
Dylan: No, you gave some insights about renting bikes and those things so that’s..
Denise: There are no bike rentals right?
Mirna: Not that I know of, I don’t think so.
Denise: Are there any organised walking tours?
Mirna: No, there are a few, that’s a good example maybe. There are a few walking groups but that is
soooo local. No one knows, that’s really local. So there are no organised walking or biking tours. There
must be a way to find tourists to come to de Beemster and do nice little tours, which could be really
low key as well but you got to get the tourists in de Beemster, that’s the problem I think.
Romano: There is also a party week in de Beemster right?
Mirna: Yes, in the summer there is.
Romano: Do tourists visit this party week?
Mirna: No it is very local, it is very local. Yeah... What it could do for the target group, there is kind of a
music festival in august. Really nice, to visit for tourists as well. It’s very unique. Then you can do it in
different farm houses, you can do it in little tours, but it is very local as well. So it’s something that
could be really nice for your target group. And they also did an Amuse Tour, so you can eat different
bites in different restaurants with a glass of wine. But that was really local as well, it was for us really.
So there are a couple of events but that is just very local.
Denise: Like the stone throwing?
Mirna: Yes ha-ha, like the stone throwing. Yes, yes, there might be some chances as well to get in
tourist involved in very local events. They do some small tours and things which are really nice but
they are not open to, or not known by the tourists.
Denise: Okay, and what do you think is currently the main sight or attraction at de Beemster?
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Mirna: Eh, when I see a tourist, or when I happen to speak to one, they find the landscape as it is with
the straight roads and the square lay-out as the main sight. But they can only appreciate the story
when they know the history of de Beemster. I would say the landscape is still the biggest asset, but
you need to frame it in a way that people will understand or have an explanation with it. Maybe bike-
tours could give some more explanation. And then you’ve got the visitor centre and the museum, but
there isn’t really that much to see, from the perspective as a tourist. I do think for your target group
definitely the fort resort would be really really nice.
Denise: We have one more question, but we already asked it, so...
Mirna: Oh, can I ask one more thing to the last question, they have restored a windmill just outside of
de Beemster. I think for an international tourist that is special, really unique. I also find that foreign
tourists, they really like the small village and the farm houses. American tourists just love the old
village and the small houses.
Romano: And there is one famous house with the unicorn right?
Mirna: Yes, the oldest farm with the unicorn. They like those buildings.
Denise: Well, those were our questions, did you guys have anything else to ask?
Dylan: No I think we have enough insights to ehhhh..
Denise: Yes it was very helpful. Thank you very much.
Mirna: You are welcome and good luck with the project.
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Interview with Annemarie Dees Thursday the 24th of March 2016 at 14:00PM.
Attending: Annemarie Dees, Denise de Ruyter and Flors Farràs Farré
- Do you work together with De Beemster to attract more visitors?
Not directly but indirectly because De Beemster participates in a project we called “Visit Amsterdam,
See Holland”. It is cooperation with a lot of governments and provinces (27 local governments and 2
provinces) to promote the whole region for international visitors. We’ve though that it wasn’t really
interesting to give the names of all the local governments but it is nice to know how to experience each
region. There are 17 different characters and the region of De Beemster is called Amsterdam
Waterland. In this region you can find very typical Dutch things to see and experience, like cows and
mellows. Waterland is really difficult to promote because it is difficult to get into this area. It is mostly
interesting for bicycles. Moreover, it is not easy to get into De Beemster by public transport.
Regarding the characters, the local communities have to make a product, so we can promote them.
There are many good examples of products which are improving in the region and De Beemster is in
development. It’s difficult to get marketing for certain characters because when someone is here in the
centre, it is really difficult to say that there are lots of things you can do in the region. So our new
director, when he started in 2013, he said that we have to make it easier for the tourists, so now we
have 6 marketing themes. The whole region above Amsterdam is called Old Holland, with the
windmills, the cows, the cheese… It is interesting because all the marketing activities we do are by
these themes. For example, we have some maps for all the regions. You can find the public
transportation in this map from Amsterdam city to get into the regions. To get into De Beemster you
have to walk from Middenbeemster to De Beemster city centre. We made examples to show how you
can spend 4 hours in a region. We have done research and if people stay 4 days in Amsterdam, they
will go 4 hours into a region. It is a very short period. So if you want to develop the product, you have
to think about something to do for 4 hours (transportation included), so you have just 2 hours to do
something.
For De Beemster is difficult to say what you can do over there. There is the story of De Beemster
polder and the Fort Resort Beemster. So there are two items to see and do in De Beemster. It is not
the easiest region to promote. We do a lot on consultancy also in the region to help people with the
development. What we say when we do the consultancy is that the region has to reached public
transport, has to be in English and tourists have to experience something. These are the basic things
to make it a visitable place.
There is a ticket that includes public transportation for 24 hours in the whole region and you also get a
map of the region. We have the promotion of this different areas, it is not only geo base so it’s also
time base, so at this moment we promote “Flowers of Amsterdam”, next month (April) we promote Old
Holland, summer time we promote Amsterdam Beach… So it’s not only that we give the tourist a
direction to go to but also promoting for months because we help people to make a choice because
there is a lot of information available.
De Beemster could take more profits from the system we have built. If there is an attractive product,
we can promote it as we have many ways to do it (Internet, social media, visitor centre…).
- For this promotion, do the areas need to pay anything?
Yes, they do. The cooperation of all the regions is paying as well. In total it is 300.000€ per year. It
seems a lot but it’s also a lot of work.
- At the visitors centre the visitors can get this map, but is there any other promotion for De
Beemster?
No, there isn’t. If you are in Amsterdam we give advice of how you can do in the region. But
information of the product has to be locally based. If they have nice products we can recommend it but
it is not our responsibility to build a product.
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- What does De Beemster need to do to be able to get more promotion from the visitors’ centre
for example? Is it possible?
Yes, it is possible but they need to do a product to develop. I always say, you have always to give in
three lines: people have to know what you can do, to experience and how you can get there.
- What do you think if they make flyers of for example an event calendar?
There is not enough. You have to experience something there. At first, you have to make products to
make it visitable and then you can promote it. I guess that the history of De Beemster has to be seen
somewhere in an attractive way.
- What do you think that De Beemster can do to attract more visitors?
Maybe for Resort Beemster there is a nice place to stay and from there you can rent a bike and
explore the region because the history is quite nice but you have to make the story of the landscape
more visible.
Maybe you have to start with the local and the national visitors and then grow. So first look for starting
points, like the fort resort. People would not come to De Beemster only to bike because there are
many places to bike.
- Our target group is the luxury travelers. Do you have any idea to attract them?
Well, you have the Fort Resort and maybe you should add electric bicycles. Also you can find a picnic
place and there are maybe farmers who would arrange it. You should think about something exclusive
and you have the accommodation to begin with. You should have more artists in the Netherlands
focused in landscape art and you have to put it on De Beemster. You can use art students as well.
Maybe that could be attractive. You have to develop it locally.
In regards to the facilities, they can maybe get into De Beemster by taxi, do taxi arrangements where
you can picnic somewhere in the landscape…
It is quite difficult to find something for the luxury travelers in De Beemster. But I think the Fort Resort
is a good start.
You have the web site of the region “Laag Holland” and you can promote De Beemster there. They
have bicycle routes. And you also have another company: “Cycle Amsterdam”, which has cycle routes
to the region so it could be a change to get people to De Beemster. They have nice brochures. There
are elements, like the Fort Resort Beemster, cheese, wine… So they can make a tour which could be
nice maybe. You can also make a lookout point!
I think it is quite interesting.
- Do you know anything about luxury travelers in Amsterdam?
No, I don’t know. The only thing I know is that now there is more attention in the luxury group because
of the diamonds factories.
