TOPOSOPHY PARTNERS WITH THE DESTINATION NETHERLANDS KNOWLEDGE NETWORK TO GUIDE DUTCH DESTINATIONS THROUGH TOURISM GROWTH

Our work will result in a new strategic vision for Dutch destination marketing organisations, seeking to turn the country’s sharp tourism growth into an opportunity for local communities. 

For some years now, TOPOSOPHY has been helping international tourism organisations including the Pacific Asia Travel Association and European Cities Marketing to navigate the challenges of tourism growth and plan ahead for the future.  

While the word ‘overtourism’ is commonly used to describe the acute pressure of tourist numbers on a destination’s infrastructure, cost of living and quality of life, it is only really accurate to describe the concentration of visitors in highly popular locations at particular times of the year. Meanwhile, tourism growth is pretty much taking hold across the world. 

In the case of tourism growth in the Netherlands, Amsterdam immediately comes to mind as an attractive, historic city that is having to rapidly find new ways to ease the pressure of rising tourist numbers and encourage visitors to ‘Enjoy and Respect’ the city during their stay. However, according to a report by the Dutch bank ABN AMRO, in the year 2016-2017, other Dutch cities such as Rotterdam, the Hague, Maastricht and Utrecht actually saw higher growth in overnight stays than the capital. 

The Knowledge Network Destination Netherlands (KNDN) -the knowledge-sharing forum for the country’s network of domestic tourism marketing and visitor information centres- is aware of this situation. It is also aware of the challenges it could present in the future, especially since residents of smaller cities may fear a replication of Amsterdam’s success. For this reason, the Knowledge Network has partnered with TOPOSOPHY to set out a new strategic vision for Dutch DMOs. Through a process of workshops, individual consultations and analysis of international best practice, we will produce a pioneering paper that sets out the new vision for Dutch DMOs, helping them to assert their role towards local and national government. 

Wendy Sieger Kintzen, of the Knowledge Network explained why they were keen to work with TOPOSOPHY on this project. “We have chosen Toposophy to give guidance to the vision on the role of the DMO’s in the Netherlands because of the wide experience Toposophy has in this field, especially their work within an international context with European Cities Marketing and their member DMO’s which led up to the creation of the ECM Manifest in 2017, and their work on the strategic document ‘Managing Tourism Growth’. We believe that this experience is valuable in future proofing the role of DMOs in the Netherlands and we look forward to the co-creation process with Toposophy and our network of Dutch DMOs”.

The new strategic paper will be launched in the first quarter of 2019, and will be used by the KNDN and its members as roadmap for organisational change in the coming years. 

Looking for more guidance on tourism growth? 

TOPOSOPHY has produced a wide range of resources in recent years to help the tourism sector to plan ahead for tourism growth: 

• European Cities Marketing: Manifest on the Future of DMOS
  
• European Cities Marketing: Toolbox on Tourism Growth in Europe 
  
• Pacific Asia Travel Association: Stepping Out of the Crowd – encouraging dispersal for Asian outbound markets