Sustainable tourism: from ambition to plan. A qualitative research on environmentally sustainable tourism policies in the Dutch Hanseatic cities.

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Sustainable tourism: from

ambition to a plan

A qualitative research on environmentally sustainable tourism policies in

the Dutch Hanseatic cities.

Saskia Veenstra| S4593901 | Master thesis Cultural Geography and

Tourism

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Sustainable tourism: from ambition to a plan

A qualitative research on environmentally sustainable tourism policies in the

Dutch Hanseatic cities.

Master thesis Cultural Geography and Tourism School of Management

Radboud University Nijmegen

Student: Saskia Veenstra Student number: 4593901 Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Huib Ernste

Internship: MarketingOost

Internship supervisor: Shelly van Winden

Cover: Hanzesteden Marketing, Beeldbank

Date: 30th_{of October, 2020}

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Preface

In front of you lays my master thesis about environmentally sustainable tourism in the Dutch Hanseatic cities. After a few months of hard work the end of this research is here and it is time for me to graduate. I really enjoyed doing this research and learning more about tourism in my hometown Zwolle. This thesis also convinced me even more that studying tourism is something I am excited about and I am looking forward to start a professional career in this field. I am grateful for the people who helped me during this process of my thesis.

First of all, I would like to thank my colleagues at MarketingOost for offering me the

possibility to conduct my research at their organisation. I want to thank them for making the best of the working at home situation. Providing us with everything we needed to host a nice online drink, as well as regularly checking up on how I doing. Thank you for this good care. I also want to put in a special word of thanks to my supervisor at MarketingOost, Shelly van Winden. She welcomed me with open arms and helped me during the entire process of this thesis. When we started working from home, she was always available to meet online, send me interesting articles and keep me motivated. She challenged me to think outside the box and come up with creative ideas!

Secondly, I want to thank my supervisor Huib Ernste for his guidance and professional feedback on my thesis. His critical reflections encouraged me to think more about the

research choices I made and gave me the opportunity to improve the scientific quality of this thesis. All our (digital) conversations definitely made this research more complete.

Next, I want to thank all respondents who took the time to cooperate in this research. Even though the respondents were all working hard on dealing with the consequences of the Corona crisis on the tourism sector, they made time to help out with this research. Without their willingness to help and their openness to answer all my questions I would not have been able to finish this research. Also a special word of thanks to Elizabeth Stoit, who helped me arrange these interviews and also offered me the possibility to present my results to policymakers of the Hanseatic cities.

Lastly, I also want to thank my family who supported me throughout the entire process. Many thanks to my parents who let me move back home during the lockdown in the

Netherlands and let me use the living room as a temporarily home office. Also thanks to my brother with whom I could share my thesis frustrations and who started our working days with some coffeehouse music. I also want to thank Jorian for the emotional support during the process and for dealing with me and my moments of stress. Lastly, I want to thank my friends for providing the necessary distraction and also for proofreading my thesis. I could not have done this without all of you.

Saskia Veenstra

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Executive summary

Before the Corona crisis happened, the tourism industry had been growing exponentially worldwide (Bock, 2015). This growth brings a lot of opportunities, but at the same time also a lot of problems. One of these problems is the negative impact that tourism has on its environment. To minimize these negative consequences of tourism on its environment, there is a need for sustainable tourism policies (NBTC, 2020; RLI, 2019).

The Dutch Hanseatic cities along the IJssel created a new vision on tourism for the coming years. They changed their perspective from promotion to destination management (MarketingOost & NBTC, 2019). One of their main goals is to realise sustainability goals. However, there is no clear plan for this yet. This research explores the possibilities for sustainable tourism in the Dutch Hanseatic cities and how such policies can be formulated. The main question of this research is: “What are different perspectives on environmentally

sustainable tourism policies in the urban tourism sector and how can such policies be formulated in the Dutch Hanseatic cities?” A case study design is used to come up with an

answer to this question. Several factors are distinguished which play an important role in effective sustainable tourism policies. These factors are divided into three categories of policy instruments: economic incentives, transfer of information and legal requirements (Hoogerwerf & Herweijer, 2014). This information is gathered by conducting a literature review. Other methods used in this research are documentary research and conducting interviews with policymakers of the Hanseatic cities.

The data gathered from these different methods show that most Hanseatic cities, when it comes to tourism, are trying to find a balance between benefiting from incoming tourism, whilst at the same time maintaining a high liveability standard for residents. Specific plans on implementing sustainable tourism are not yet on the agenda, but the ambition to work on it exists. Most Hanseatic cities take on a general approach to tourism and include it in many different policy fields. This research also shows that in all Hanseatic cities, there is some form of participation to involve different actors. However, in smaller cities there is more attention for involving the community in comparison with the bigger cities.

The Hanseatic cities do have all the means to set up an effective process of sustainable tourism policy-making. However, the focus should be on actual measures which could be taken. Relevant actors should be included in the process and the cities need to work together to create coherent tourism policies suitable for their cities. Working together is essential for creating effective tourism policies in the Hanseatic cities, otherwise the risk is that the municipalities may shift the responsibility away from their local government and towards their mutual marketing network. Even though, the municipalities all create their own policies, they are a unity as Hanseatic cities. The research shows that this collaboration is important and should be deepened, for example by learning from each other’s

experiences and by applying for subsidies together. Therefore, the municipalities should work together on the local level with relevant actors, as well as working on their marketing network level, to create effective sustainable tourism policies for their Hanseatic cities.

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1. Introduction

1.1

Background

Over the last years the tourism industry has been growing exponentially. Before the Covid-19 pandemic occurred, the number of international tourist arrivals was expected to rise in 2030 to 1.8 billion arrivals (Bock, 2015). This was also the case in the Netherlands. In 2019 the number of guests in Dutch accommodations increased with more than five per cent and also the number of overnight stays increased to a total of 124 million stays (Central Bureau for Statistics, 2020). This growth was expected to become a trend. It was estimated that in the next years the number of international tourists coming to the Netherlands would grow with at least 50 per cent (MarketingOost & NBTC, 2019). This expected growth brings a lot of opportunities, but at the same time also a lot of problems. One of the main concerns about the growing tourism sector in the Netherlands, but also on a global scale, is the impact tourism has on its environment. This impact is felt mostly in urban areas, since urban tourism is the fastest growing form of tourism (Bock, 2015). The increase of people visiting urban, high population density areas, leads to an overuse of resources, since both the residents and the tourists use these same resources. However, the impact of tourism is not only limited to urban areas, but is felt in natural areas as well. Therefore, it is important that this negative impact is minimized. Because of this, the Dutch organisation for tourism, the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions (NBTC), stated that a new vision on tourism is necessary; a vision which also takes into account the sustainability consequences of tourism (NBTC, 2020). The Dutch Council for Environment and Infrastructure also pleads for more attention to sustainable tourism, and more specifically, attention for sustainable tourism in policies (RLI, 2019). This Council states that there is insufficient interaction

between the impact of tourism on its environment and policymakers. The number of tourists is growing every year and this brings more problems for the direct environment. However, there is still very little attention for this increase in policies (RLI, 2019). To minimize this negative impact of tourism on its environment, there is a need for sustainable tourism policies. This is also the case in the Dutch Hanseatic cities, since sustainable tourism is not addressed in their policies yet.

The Dutch Hanseatic cities are cities in the Netherlands which have been working together for over 400 years. The cities started to flourish when they set up an economic alliance of multiple cities in the medieval ages: the so-called Hanseatic League (Kuipers, 2010).

Nowadays, this alliance is still reflected through the beautiful facades, old merchant houses and vibrant waterfronts of the Hanseatic cities. This is an important reason why tourists visit the cities and therefore why tourism in the Hanseatic cities flourishes. There are over 20 Hanseatic cities in the Netherlands and even more in Germany and the rest of Europe. This research will only focus on the nine cities along the IJssel and adjacent waters. Those cities are connected in their own separate marketing network, called Hanzesteden Marketing.

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In 2019, Hanzesteden Marketing created a new vision on tourism for the coming years. Where the different tourism sectors in those Hanseatic cities first mainly focused on promoting their cities as tourist destinations, they are now changing this perspective to destination management (MarketingOost & NBTC, 2019). How can the cities manage the increasing flow of tourists? And how can they achieve a more sustainable tourism sector? The Dutch Hanseatic cities have several focus points on how they want to manage this increase in tourists. These themes are strengthening the Dutch identity, increasing the quality of life, creating more employment opportunities and realising the sustainability goals (MarketingOost & NBTC, 2019). Most of these themes are worked out in detail on how to achieve them, but there is not a clear plan for the sustainability yet. Currently, they are working on improving both the economic and social sustainability by investing in the quality of life of residents and supporting local entrepreneurs (MarketingOost & NBTC, 2019). However, there is still not a clear view on how the environmental sustainability should be handled. Since the Hanseatic cities already work together for 25 years, they want to expand this collaboration to the field of sustainable tourism (MarketingOost & NBTC, 2019). The need for environmentally sustainable tourism is also reflected in a recent resident survey of residents in the Hanseatic cities. This research looked at the attitude of residents towards tourism in their city. One of the most important conclusions of this research is that there should be more attention for sustainable tourism (Conradie & de Jong, 2020). Residents believed that they would have a more positive experience of tourism in their city when there, for example, would be more stimulation of constructing green areas and conservation of the natural environment. More attention to a sustainable tourism sector would therefore lead to more positive reactions from residents (Conradie & de Jong, 2020). The Hanseatic cities want to work together in this field, but it is not clear yet how they should do this. This shows that it is important to do research on environmental sustainability in the Hanseatic cities. This research will explore what already has been done in the Hanseatic cities about sustainable tourism, and also explore what the possibilities are on creating environmentally sustainable tourism policies in the different Hanseatic cities.

In February of 2020, however, something unexpected happened. The whole world came to a stop due to the outbreak of the Covid-19. Airplanes stayed on the ground, reservations were cancelled and restaurants had to close their doors. The tourism sector in the Netherlands and in the rest of the world collapsed. Tourists cancelled their visits and stayed at home. Support packages were created and tourism entrepreneurs started adjusting to the 1,5 metres society as soon as they could. But is this the right way to go or does this pause of tourism offers an opportunity to think about the future of tourism? Will the tourism sector continue their previous direction or does this crisis offer the possibility to change to a more sustainable form of tourism? Jeremy Smith, expert in the field of sustainable tourism, mentions this in one of his articles which he wrote about the future of tourism in times of the Corona crisis:

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“It is because of this, that despite the current emergency and all it threatens, I am trying to see this terrible time not as the end of tourism but as the messy, seemingly disconnected jumble of ideas from which we fuse together the first draft of our next chapter” (Smith, 2020).

So instead of trying to go back to the original state of the tourism sector, it is time to look forward and take the first steps into sustainable tourism. Therefore, this research on formulating sustainable tourism policies in the Dutch Hanseatic cities is now more relevant than ever.

1.2 Research questions and objective

This research investigates how the Hanseatic cities can achieve a more environmentally sustainable tourism sector. The Hanseatic cities consists of nine different cities, with their own municipalities and their own policies. This results in different ideas and perspectives which create different tourism policies in the cities. Since not all Hanseatic cities have ideas on sustainable tourism policies, it is difficult to create a common perspective for all cities. Therefore, it is more important to look at the plans and ideas on environmentally

sustainable tourism that are already there.

This research will focus on the different views that the Hanseatic cities have on sustainable tourism and also investigate how the environmental sustainability in the urban tourism sector in the Hanseatic cities can be improved. This creates the following research objective:

“To make recommendations on how to achieve a more environmentally sustainable tourism sector in the Dutch Hanseatic cities, by investigating different perspectives on urban sustainable tourism and designing guidelines for creating environmentally sustainable tourism policies in the Hanseatic cities.”

The research question that follows from this is:

“What are different perspectives on environmentally sustainable tourism policies in the urban tourism sector and how can such policies be formulated in the Dutch Hanseatic cities?”

To provide an answer to this question, five sub-questions are formulated. First, it is

important to understand what environmentally sustainable tourism actually is and what the different academic perspectives are on this concept. This results in the first sub-question:

1. How is environmentally sustainable tourism described in literature?

Secondly, the concept of sustainable tourism policies will be analysed, to get a better understanding of what those policies entail and how these are created. It is also of interest to discuss the stages of the policy cycle. The reason for this is that it is important to place this research in the right stage of the cycle. The different stages bring different problems and opportunities, so these should be identified. The theoretical foundation should be laid in order to place the different Hanseatic cities in the correct stage. Besides this, it is also

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important to understand the barriers that may arise when creating such policies. This happens by answering the second sub-question:

2. How are sustainable tourism policies created?

The third sub-question follows up on the previous question and investigates how sustainable tourism policies are realised and implemented in practice. Interviews with experts in this areas will be used to investigate these policies. The results will be analysed by answering the third sub-question:

3. What are best practices of environmentally sustainable tourism policies in the urban tourism sector?

Next, the current situation regarding sustainable tourism in the Dutch Hanseatic cities will be mapped. This will be done by investigating whether the different municipalities are already working on sustainable tourism and if so, how they are doing this. This results in the fourth sub-question:

4. What are the current views and policies on sustainable tourism of the municipalities of the Dutch Hanseatic cities?

Lastly, it is important to investigate how the sustainable tourism policies in the Hanseatic cities can be created. Since the Hanseatic cities differ a lot from each other in terms of size, structure and perspective on tourism, general guidelines have to be created for the

Hanseatic cities. These guidelines will have to focus on sustainable tourism in the urban setting, since the Hanseatic cities are all focussed on urban tourism. The following sub-question has been formulated to provide an answer to this sub-question:

5. How can environmentally sustainable tourism policies in the Hanseatic cities be formulated?

1.3 Scientific and societal relevance

Research into urban sustainable tourism in the Dutch Hanseatic cities is relevant in multiple ways. This relevance is made up of two aspects, the scientific relevance and the societal relevance.

1.3.1 Scientific relevance

Over the last few decades sustainable tourism became a growing field of interest for academics. Between 1980 and 2013 the use of the term ‘sustainable tourism’ has grown exponentially (Hall, Gössling, & Scott, 2015). This research also contributes to this field of sustainable tourism, but it looks at the specific case of the Dutch Hanseatic cities. This case provides new insights in concrete measures that can be taken to improve environmentally sustainable tourism policies. The Hanseatic cities are a special case, since the cities have their own views and ideas on sustainability, but they do work together in the Hanseatic marketing network to attract more tourists. Therefore, this research provides new knowledge on improving the environmental sustainability in such a network of cities.

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This research also investigates several important barriers that influence sustainable tourism policies. By investigating these barriers, this research acquires more knowledge on the different factors that influence sustainable tourism policies. This research also provides more information on the knowledge gap that there currently is in sustainable tourism. A lot of research has been done about sustainability and how cities can become more sustainable, but this is not always applied to the tourism context. As Maxim (2016) already mentioned there is little attention in the research field for sustainability in the urban tourism field. Urban tourism is one of the earliest forms of tourism and city trips are still very popular among tourist, but this has been neglected in the academic world for a long time (Maxim, 2016). Another gap in research is the gap that exists between the stages of planning and implementation (Zamfir & Corbos, 2015). There is already a lot of research on what

sustainable tourism is, as well as on how to implement sustainable tourism. However, what is in between there, so how do you create certain sustainable tourism policies, is a neglected study area. Therefore, this research is important to gain more knowledge and understanding about sustainability in the urban tourism policy context.

This research will also contribute to scientific knowledge by providing new empirical data on sustainable tourism. Interviews are conducted with policymakers and also examples of best practices are analysed. This creates new data on implementing environmentally sustainable tourism policies. This is necessary since there is not that much research yet on the

implementation of policies on sustainable tourism (Butler & Dodds, 2010; Guo, Jiang & Li, 2019). Over the last years, the tourism sector developed very fast and, in general, the policy makers did not respond to this development immediately. Because of this, tourism policies were developed in a rush and did not include sustainable developments (Butler & Dodds, 2010). However, since there is now a more urgent need for sustainability in tourism, policy makers have to respond to this. Policies on sustainable tourism are therefore quite new and recent, and research on this subject is not that frequent yet. This research will contribute to the knowledge on implementing sustainable tourism policies. According to Butler and Dodds (2010) this field of research has three basic elements. The first element is the examination of tourism policies and how the implementation leads to more sustainable tourism. The second element is the investigating of barriers to successful sustainable tourism policies. And the third element is creating a framework on achieving sustainable tourism on a more practical level. This research will touch upon all of these elements, but it mainly focusses on the third element. The research aim is to concretise this framework and provide concrete measures on how policy makers can implement sustainable tourism policies. Therefore, the research contributes by providing knowledge on this specific research field.

1.3.2 Societal relevance

In the Netherlands tourism falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. This creates a one-sided view on tourism, since this Ministry mainly focuses on economic benefits, instead of the opportunities and consequences for the living

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environment (RLI, 2019). There is one organisation who does try to deal with all aspects of tourism on a national level. This is the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions (NBTC). They create a national vision on tourism and translate this into concrete actions (NBTC, n.d). In this vision several pillars are claimed to be most important. One of those pillars is sustainability (NBTC, 2019). As of 2018 the tourism sector is responsible for almost 8 per cent of the global carbon footprint (Lenzen et al., 2018). Therefore, it is important for the tourism sector in the Netherlands to become more environmentally sustainable. This research contributes to this by providing useful recommendations on how the tourism sector can become more environmentally sustainable. By analysing factors from literature and assessing whether these would work in practice in the Hanseatic cities, this research contributes to some useful guidelines on sustainable tourism policies in practice.

It is also very relevant for the Hanseatic cities themselves. The goal of this research is to create guidelines to improve the environmental sustainability in the tourism sector in the Hanseatic cities. This contributes to reaching the sustainable development goals of the municipalities of the Hanseatic cities. Achieving a more sustainable tourism sector also benefits the local residents and entrepreneurs. The reason for this is that a more sustainable tourism sector gives less nuisance for the citizens, for example less plastic waste on the streets. This research brings more attention to sustainability in the Hanseatic cities and shows that the tourism sectors in these Dutch cities are really working on achieving more sustainability. Besides this, the Hanseatic cities already work together quite a lot on

achieving certain goals as they described in their perspective document for the coming years (MarketingOost & NBTC, 2019). They want to extend this collaboration to the field of

environmentally sustainable tourism, however, there is uncertainty on how they should work with this. The willingness to work together on achieving environmentally sustainable tourism is present in the Hanseatic cities, but to actually create certain policy plans for this is still unclear. This research is therefore very relevant in order to bridge this gap on what their possibilities are in the field of environmentally sustainable tourism.

As mentioned before, there’s a big trend going on about sustainable tourism in the academic world (Hall et al., 2015). However, this does not just limit itself to the academic world, also in the global society sustainable tourism is getting more and more attention. The United

Nations World Tourism Organisation declared the year of 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development and also the NBTC presented sustainable tourism as their key priority (UNWTO, 2017; NBTC, 2019). This shows that sustainable tourism is getting more important and that there is more pressure for the tourism sector to respond. This research fits in very well with the trend that is currently going on and provides guidelines on how the tourism sector can respond to this trend of sustainable tourism. Therefore, this research is currently very relevant.

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1.4 Thesis structure

In the next chapter, the theoretical framework, the first two sub-questions are answered. This is done by investigating different academic perspectives on sustainable tourism policies. Also, the process of policy-making is discussed and different factors of tourism policies are elaborated. After this follows the methodology part. In this chapter different decisions on research strategy and data collection are explained. This is followed by an operationalization of the most relevant concepts, which lays the foundation for the interview guide. This chapter ends with an accountability of how the research is aiming to be as reliable and valid as possible. Chapter 4 provides a detailed investigation in the case selection of this research. Chapter 5 focusses on best practices of environmentally sustainable tourism. The analysis of Chapter 6 elaborates on the perspective of sustainable tourism in the Hanseatic cities and also looks into how the cities are working on sustainable tourism and what is possible in their cities. In the last chapter a conclusion is formulated which answers the main question. Moreover, this chapter offers a reflection on the used methods in this research and reflects upon the process.

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2. Theoretical Framework

In this theoretical framework the first two sub-questions will be answered. First of all, the concept of sustainable tourism is explored. Different perceptions are discussed and analysed. After this, sustainable tourism will be applied to the context of urban tourism. Urban tourism calls for a different approach on sustainable tourism policies, since the environmental issues that arise in urban areas are different from the issues in rural areas. Next, the role of the government is explained. In this section the need for government action is elaborated upon, as well as the process of policy-making. This is explained further by looking into different policy instruments which the governments can use in the formulation of policies. These policy instruments are still quite general, therefore in the next section more specific factors are discussed which contribute to the formulation of an effective sustainable tourism policy in urban areas. Decisions will be made and explained upon choosing relevant factors for this research. These are shown schematically in the conceptual model. Furthermore, this model will show the connections between the relevant theories discussed in this theoretical framework. Lastly, a summary is presented of everything discussed in this chapter.

2.1 Sustainable tourism

There are many places where tourism already exists for a very long period of time. Take for example the Pyramids in Egypt, the Niagara Falls or the Eiffel tower in Paris. These touristic hot spots have survived for so long partially because they enlarged their markets (Butler, 1999). However, Butler (1999) claims that big problems can arise in areas where natural sights attract visitors. The reason for this is that the visitors require suitable facilities, as well as a good infrastructure. The construction of those sites often results in the loss of natural areas. Besides this, the growth of tourism also results in the overuse of resources. This therefore requires a view on how tourism can grow, while conserving the resources and protecting natural areas, so destinations can keep on welcoming tourists. In other words, there is a growing need for sustainable tourism.

Sustainable tourism has a lot of different denotations and definitions. Many academics already pointed out this variety of views on sustainable tourism. Wheeller (1993) also

mentioned this and commented on the number of different interpretations. Because there is not one simple definition individuals are able to give their own meaning to the term

sustainable tourism and therefore claim the phrase that is the most appropriate to them. Butler described sustainable tourism as a ‘form [of tourism] which can maintain its viability

in an area for an indefinite period of time’ (Butler, 1999, p. 11). This definition has an

emphasis on maintaining tourism for a longer period of time. However, this definition is too narrow and does not take other aspects of tourism into account. For example, it fails to include how tourism competes for both renewable and non-renewable resources. Within the

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framework of the definition by Butler (1999) the most sustainable way of using resources in the long term is ignored. Therefore that definition only says something about the future of tourism and ignores the impact that tourism has on its environment.

Whereas Butler mainly focused on the long term effects of tourism, Hunter (1997) described a different view on sustainable tourism. He stated that the dominant perspective on

sustainable tourism used to be a destination area where tourism and environment is in balance (Hunter, 1997). This balance is maintained because aspects such as the needs of private and public tour operators and also the desires of the local visitors are not dominant (Hunter, 1997). However, this perspective also has its flaws. Conserving and protecting of nature is for example lacking in this view on sustainable tourism. Due to the single focus on achieving balance in sustainable tourism, details about the time frame of sustainability are left out, which creates a more vague description.

The United Nations World Tourism Organization tried to include the different remarks on the definitions and came up with a more broad definition. This resulted in a definition of

sustainable tourism as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic,

social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities” (UNEP & UNWTO, 2005, p. 11-12). According to this

definition, sustainable tourism is composed of three elements: economic sustainability, social sustainability and environmental sustainability. Sustainable tourism goes hand in hand with sustainable development. The World Commission on Environment and Development (1987, p.16) described this type of development as “a process to meet the needs of the

present without comprising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. Since

this definition was published in 1987, it has evolved ever since. In the plan of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002), the definition was divided into three

dimensions or the so-called “pillars” (International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2002).

1. The first pillar is economic development. This is about generating profit at all levels of society. It is about the ability of enterprises and activities to maintain operating in the long term.

2. The second pillar is social development. This pillar is about respecting human rights and striving for equal opportunities for all social classes. There is a focus on

alleviating poverty. This is done by supporting local communities, strengthening their life support systems and accepting different cultures.

3. The last pillar is environmental protection. This is about conserving and managing resources. The focus is on minimizing pollution of air, land and water, and preserving ecological diversity and natural heritage.

These three pillars relate to the Triple Bottom Line (Elkington, 2013). He concluded that sustainable development was organised by looking at the three p’s: people, planet and profit. He meant with this that sustainable development could be reached by pursuing economic prosperity, protecting environmental quality and also striving for social equity

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(Elkington, 2013). This model is created for the business sector and businesses which try to achieve more sustainable development. Even though, there is some overlap in the tourism sector with the business sector, this model does not fully comprise the aspect of sustainable tourism.

The definition of sustainable tourism as created by the UNWTO combines a lot of different aspects. It takes into account the long-term perspective of tourism and its environment, as well as the current demands. This definition is therefore the most complete and will be used in the remaining of this thesis, when talked about sustainable tourism.

2.2 Urban tourism

Urban tourism is regarded as one of the first forms of tourisms that emerged in the world (Maxim, 2016). Today this form of this is still very popular, since most of the tourism activities that are taking place in the world are situated in urban areas, for example in big cities such a Barcelona and Berlin. (Andari, 2019). The UNWTO defined this type of tourism as an “tourism activity which takes place in an urban space with its inherent attributes

characterized by non-agricultural based economy such as administration, manufacturing, trade and services and by being nodal points of transport. Urban/city destinations offer a broad heterogeneous range of cultural, architectural, technological, social and natural experiences and products for leisure and business.” (UNWTO, n.d.). The UNWTO also

distinguishes two different types of urban tourism. First of all, there is recreation tourism. This refers to tourism that is clearly aimed at visiting cultural attractions and can have some educational aspects to it (UNWTO, 2004). The other type is business tourism, which refers to the type of tourism where businessmen visit trade shows, conventions or other meetings related to the business (UNWTO, 2004).

Tourism impacts the urban landscape in different ways, mainly because cities were in the first place designed to live in and not for tourists to visit (Andari, 2019). However, since the tourism industry in those urban places started to grow, the cities had to adjust their own management of the city. Therefore, the concept of sustainable urban tourism started to arise, which referred to the fact that “tourism activities are expected to be enjoyed up to

future generations” (Andari, 2019, pp. 27).

As described above, urban tourism is a very specific form of tourism. This ultimately leads to very specific sustainability challenges for the urban tourism sector (Wise, 2016). These challenges include waste pollution, lack of resources, a poor air and water quality and traffic issues and congestions, but every urban destination has its own environmental challenges regarding sustainable tourism (Wise, 2016; UNWTO, 2004). Local authorities have the role to manage these challenges and find suitable measures to minimise the negative impact on the environment created by urban tourism (Wise, 2016).

González, Fosse and Santos-Lacueva (2018) also discovered several specific environmental issues regarding sustainable tourism in cities. Residents in urban areas are expected to share

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the limited urban space they live in with tourists visiting. Due to the arrival of tourists in those cities there is a higher population density. This has a direct impact on several environmental issues. As mentioned before, the quality of air decreases, there is a higher waste production, which leads to waste pollution and there is also an increasing pressure on public services and infrastructure (González et al., 2018). A final issue they found in their research was the limited access to water and energy resources, due to the coming of tourists.

2.3 Role of government

In general there are four main reasons as to why having a government is important. These are to maintain public order, to provide for public goods, to maintain social equality and lastly to prevent the disappearance of non-renewable resources (Hoogerwerf & Herweijer, 2014). This last function of the government is important to preserve natural resources, such as clean air, fossil fuels and groundwater reserves. Less biological factors, such as preserving cultural heritage, are also a part of the governments’ task. This is the most important reason as to why governments should create policies on sustainable tourism. Cultural heritage attracts a lot of tourists, so it is important for the economy to preserve this. On the other hand, the tourists that are visiting use a lot of the natural resources, such as energy and water and this should be regulated to make sure the resources do not dry up. It is, therefore, up to the government to prevent the disappearance of non-renewable resources by

regulating these resources (Hoogerwerf & Herweijer, 2014).

Other research also shows that it is important for governments to have a clear plan on sustainable tourism in order to achieve more sustainability (Maxim, 2016). Governments should design a vision on sustainable tourism and build a policy upon this view. This would lead to more interaction between important actors in the tourism sector and the

governments. Besides the role as policy makers that governments have in the sustainable tourism field, it is also important that governments think about allocating resources (Maxim, 2016). The resources necessary for achieving more sustainable tourism, should be allocated in order to use them in practice.

2.3.1 Need for government action

There are many different stakeholders in achieving sustainable tourism, such as tourism enterprises, local communities and tourists themselves (UNEP & UNWTO, 2005). All the different actors are responsible for taking action to improve the sustainability, but according to the UNEP and the UNWTO (2005), local governments should take a leading role in this process. There are several reasons for this. First of all, the tourism industry is divided into a lot of small businesses. This makes it harder to achieve a difference. Local authorities have the ability to integrate sustainable tourism into different policy documents and therefore create a wider understanding and acceptance of sustainable tourism in the fragmented businesses (Maxim, 2016). Secondly, sustainability is often related to public properties, such

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as air, water and natural heritage. Governments are already responsible for managing these resources and it is therefore easier to integrate sustainability into these areas. Governments also already have more competences in the policy areas that influence the sustainable tourism development (Maxim, 2016). Lastly, governments have access to effective tools which can make a difference (UNEP & UNWTO, 2005). Governments and local authorities have the power to implement policies and provide certain frameworks which are necessary for sustainable tourism (Maxim, 2016).

However, creating sustainable tourism policies is not an easy task for governments. It is a complex policy field, due to several reasons. First of all, tourism policies interact with other policy fields. This complicates policy-making since it has to correspond with the already existing policies. Also geographical settings play an important role in the policy making. The sustainable tourism policies should take geographical differences of regions and places into account, since there is a big difference in sustainability in urban areas and in natural areas (Guo, Yiang & Li, 2019; Wise, 2016). Another issue that complicates the field of tourism policies is the increasing importance of governance. Research shows that there are a number of different actors influencing the tourism policy-making process (George, Hsu & Inbakaran, 2013). Those actors shaping the tourism policies are interest groups, institutions, significant individuals and institutional leadership. Concrete this means that for example unions of local entrepreneurs, nature conservation groups or citizen groups influence the policy making process. An important aspect of policy-making is therefore mapping the relevant actors for the process in the tourism sector and involving them in the policy-making (George et al., 2013). The relevance of involving these actors in the process, mainly comes from the fact that governments responded relatively late to the urgent need for tourism policies (Butler & Dodds, 2010). The important actors had by then already worked out their own tourism plans, before the governments started working on them. This shows that it is important to involve relevant actors, to learn from their ideas and come up with a widely accepted policy.

2.3.2 Policy cycle

Research into policies about sustainable tourism in the urban setting can have different approaches, depending upon the phase of the policy cycle. When the plans are still in the phase of policy preparation it is more important to focus on a plan of action, however, when the policies are already implemented it is better to look into policy evaluations to see how effective the policy is. Hoogerwerf and Herweijer (2014) described these different phases of the policy process. A policy process, according to them, is the dynamic course of actions, arguments and interactions concerning a policy plan. Within such a policy process are different sub-processes distinguished.

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The first phase in this process is the agenda setting. This is a process which brings attention to certain societal problems. The agenda setting phase focusses on getting attention about the problem for both policy makers as well as the public (Hoogerwerf & Herweijer, 2014). The second phase is the policy preparation. This phase is about collecting and analysing information. With help of scientific knowledge on the subject and examples from practice a plan will be made to create the policy in a certain field. Policies will be thought through, formulated and explained. The next phase is the policy formulation and during this phase decisions will be made (Hoogerwerf & Herweijer, 2014). Goals, instruments and timeframes are decided upon in this phase. After this it is time for the policy implementation. Most important is the execution of the chosen instruments in order to reach the policy goals. After this comes the phase of enforcement. Policymakers have to make sure that there is a way in which the policy implementation can be enforced, in order for people to reach the certain behavioural changes (Hoogerwerf & Herweijer, 2014). The last phase in the policy cycle is the policy evaluation. This is about measuring the content of the policy, the process and mostly the effects of the implementation. The results of the evaluation can be used to make changes to a policy plan or even to end the policy (Hoogerwerf & Herweijer, 2014). This policy process is shown schematically in Figure 1.

This research focusses on the second phase of the process. Sustainability is in the different Hanseatic cities already on the agenda. The municipalities decided together that they should work on sustainable tourism as they described in their vision documents for the coming years (MarketingOost & NBTC, 2019). This means that sustainable tourism is on the agenda, but the policymakers are not yet sure on how they should work this out. This research focusses on this missing knowledge gap, by providing knowledge and information on this policy field. Both scientific knowledge and best practices are used to come up with guidelines for the policymakers of the Dutch Hanseatic cities.

Agenda setting Policy preparation Policy formulation Policy implementation Policy enforcement Policy evaluation

Figure 1: Schematic overview of the policy process as created by Hoogerwerf and Herweijer (2014)

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According to Dodds (2007), destinations can be placed in a certain continuum from unsustainable to sustainable. This continuum describes how the transition from an

unsustainable destination to a sustainable destination goes in general. The starting point is the theoretical approach that all three pillars of sustainable development, economic, social and environmental, are equally important (Dodds, 2007). In Figure 2 this is shown in Situation A. However, when a destination starts to develop itself, it is often the case that economic developments is the priority. Public spaces, such as natural areas and beaches are often neglected in the first stage of development and the focus is mainly, if not only, on economic growth. This is shown in Situation B. At some point this neglect of social and environmental development comes at the cost of economic growth (Dodds, 2007). Tourist attractions are become less and less attractive due to this neglect. Beaches that used to be clean are covered in waste, local people are less hospitable and the unique local craft businesses have been taken over by big chains. This leads to an economic decline, which is shown in Situation C in Figure 2. At this point there comes a need to invest in the social and environmental aspects and bring more attention to this in policy plans, which is shown in Situation D. The model of Dodds (2007) continues with the question what happens with the environmental and social policy implementations when the economic growth is in balance. The assumption is that attention for those implementations will decrease a bit, as portrayed in Situation E in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Development Continuum by Dodds (2007)

This research on environmentally sustainable tourism in the urban setting is situated in the phases between Situation B and C on the continuum by Dodds (2007). It focusses on the phase in which the shift is happening from attention for economic purposes to attention for environmental conditions.

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2.3.3 Barriers to sustainable tourism policies

Even though governments should play a leading role in achieving sustainable tourism, the actions they can do are mostly limited to the public sector. It is therefore important that governments try to influence the private sector as well to take action and minimize the negative impacts of tourism (UNEP & UNWTO, 2005). An important issue that may arise when governments present new policy plans on sustainable tourism is that it can trigger some barriers. Research concluded that sustainable policy plans often suffer from barriers coming from both the public as well as the private sector (Dodds, 2007). Those barriers to implementing policy plans have different focus points. First of all, the economic focus is a barrier. This is because in most cases the short term economic focus is deemed more

important than concerns about the social or ecological environment in the long term (Dodds, 2007). This is strengthened by the relatively short political terms in local governments. Four years of political rule is not enough to fully accomplish sustainable development goals and therefore often the decision is made to focus on the short term economic growth (Butler & Dodds, 2010). Governments should make plans beyond the “demands of day-to-day politics” to create long term sustainable tourism policies (Bramwell & Lane, 2010, p. 4). A second barrier that is present in creating sustainable tourism policies is the lack of stakeholder involvement. Local communities, businesses and NGO’s are often excluded from the policy making process, which can lead to resistance (Butler & Dodds, 2010; Dodds, 2007). Relating to this, is also the lack of coordination between different government levels and

organisations. Policies created by different levels may contradict each other. Lastly, an important barrier investigated by Butler and Dodds (2010) is ambiguity. This means that the lack of a clear definition of sustainability is often also the cause for an unsuccessful creation of sustainable tourism policy

2.4 Policy instruments

There are many different measures governments can take to create policies on sustainable tourism, these are so called policy instruments (Hoogerwerf & Herweijer, 2014). These policy instruments are aimed at reaching certain policy goals by influencing the behaviour of

individuals, companies or other private organisations. Hoogerwerf and Herweijer (2014) created a tripartite division within these instruments. These are legal requirements, economic incentives and the transfer of information. Bramwell (2005) also distinguished different types of policy instruments that governments can use in their policies. These can be categorised into the policy instruments from Hoogerwerf and Herweijer (2014).

2.4.1 Legal requirements

Legal requirements are about creating certain principles regarding wanted and unwanted behaviour. The government has the power to explicitly forbid or allow certain behaviour. This can be done through laws, regulations or providing permits (Hoogerwerf & Herweijer, 2014). Bramwell (2005) also includes this type of policy instrument, in regard to sustainable

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tourism policies. He described this type as government regulation, which either prohibits or compels certain actions. These measures are not driven by financial incentives or

expenditure from the government, but are supported by the law (Bramwell, 2005). An example of this is certain environmental quality standards that the government sets or regulations on the number of tourists by imposing a maximum number of hotel rooms in a certain area.

2.4.2 Economic incentives

The policy instrument regarding economic incentives influences behaviour by either providing financial stimulation or financial consequences (Hoogerwerf & Herweijer, 2014). An example of this is the possibility that governments have to alter prices (Bramwell, 2005). Using this type of policy, governments can for example change intentions, by either adding a tax or providing more subsidies for certain activities. This way they can change the use of resources as well, by making them either more expensive or more cheap (Bramwell, 2005). A good example of this is providing subsidies to hotels who use energy-saving techniques or invent ways to encourage water conversation. Another example that Bramwell (2005) describes, relates to the government expenditure. This is about action taken directly by the government or other stage-owned agencies in order to improve the sustainability of the tourism sector. This could be done by investing in public transport, initiatives from the community or waste management.

2.4.3 Transfer of information

The policy instrument about transferring information has the purpose to convince people to change their behaviour (Hoogerwerf & Herweijer, 2014). One of the most common ways to do this is to use communicative means. The government wants to convey information about possibilities to change the behaviour. Bramwell (2015) described this as government

encouragement. This is mainly aimed at persuading actors in the tourism sector to take up a more sustainable approach, for example through distributing information and providing education on possibilities. This is mainly aimed at changing behaviour, caused by ignorance. The policy plans focus on creating awareness for sustainable tourism.

2.5 Factors influencing sustainable tourism policies

According to Chelidze (2011, in Huang, 2011) four factors contribute to environmental sustainability. Those factors are (Cheldize, 2011, in Huang, 2011; UNEP & UNWTO, 2005):

- Physical integrity: to preserve and improve the quality of urban and rural landscapes and to avoid the degradation of the environment, both physical and visual.

- Biological diversity: to support the conservation of natural areas, habitats and wildlife and minimize the damage to them.

- Resource efficiency: to minimize the use of scarce and non-renewable energy resources in the tourism facilities and services.

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- Environmental purity: to minimize the pollution of air, water and land and the production of waste by tourism operators and visitors.

2.5.1 Factors influencing the natural environment

Governments have the ability to respond to those factors by including several action points in their policy plans. Next, the factors as mentioned before will be discussed with a special focus on how governments can use policy-making to bring changes and enhance the environmental sustainability.

1. Physical integrity

This factor is about both maintaining and enhancing the quality of landscapes. Tourism development should be consistent with local environmental conditions, but it should also minimize the impact that tourism has on its environment (UNEP & UNWTO, 2005). In order to do so, governments should focus their policies on several things. It is important that there is a focus on reusing existing buildings and sites, instead of building on new green sites. Policies should also include ways to preserve the quality of public spaces, so for example prevent degradation caused by dropping trash.

2. Biological diversity

Biological diversity refers to the conservation of national parks, promoting ecotourism, practicing sustainable land management, minimizing damage to natural heritage and raising awareness among tourists and enterprises (UNEP & UNWTO, 2005). Governments can address this by encouraging landholders to manage their land in a more sustainable way, for example by producing local, organic products. Visitor management is also a key aspect. Controlling the number of visitors and their behaviour can prevent tourists from damaging and spoiling the natural environment. Creating awareness of biodiversity, but also support for conservation can be included in policies as well. For example, by organising educational activities amongst locals, as well as integrating conservation activities in tourist experience (UNEP & UNWTO, 2005).

3. Resource efficiency

Resource efficiency focusses on decreasing the use of non-renewable resources in the tourism sector (UNEP & UNWTO, 2005). Examples of such resources are land, fresh water and fossil fuels. There are ways in which policies can address minimizing water and energy consumption. For example, re-using water where possible, encouraging water efficient technology, promoting other transport options or encouraging tourism business to generate their own energy supply. It is also important that the governments promote recycling and reusing of materials, for example by providing economic incentives to return bottles.

4. Environmental purity

Environmental purity is about decreasing waste and damaging emissions to preserve the quality of the environment (UNEP & UNWTO, 2005). One of the biggest pollutions in tourism is transport, mainly because of air transport and the use of cars. Policies should therefore

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find a way to promote more sustainable transport, such as travel by train. There are different measures to do this, for example more clear time tables and creative marketing. Also promoting cycling can be an effective way to improve the environmental purity. Another aspect that influences the environmental purity is the waste production. Policies should address minimizing waste and encouraging recycling (UNEP & UNWTO, 2005). It is important to note that these factors have a main focus on the natural environment in the tourism sector. However, this research focusses on the urban setting of tourism, since the Hanseatic cities are urban areas. Tourism in the Hanseatic cities is therefore not that focussed on the natural area, but mainly on how to make the urban areas more

environmentally sustainable. Factors relating to conserving the biodiversity and protecting natural areas are therefore not that relevant for the Hanseatic cities.

2.5.2 Factors influencing the urban environment

In urban areas there are other environmental problems which have been discussed in Chapter 2.2. Maxim (2015) created a model which investigated different factors which should be included in sustainable tourism policies to create a more sustainable tourism sector. These factors are more relevant for the urban tourism sector and do not just include the content of the policies, but they also focus on how the policies should be created. Tourism policies are not just a product solemnly created by the government, but it is the product of interaction between the local government and other relevant stakeholders. The factors described by Maxim (2015) also include this interaction as an important aspect of how sustainable tourism policies should be created.

The first factor identified by Maxim (2015) is about stakeholder cooperation, partnership and support. This describes the cooperation with other actors, both internal and external. The internal actors refer to actors from other departments within the same local

government. External actors refer to organisations within the tourism sector, such as local organisations involved in tourism development. It is therefore important for local

governments to work together and support different stakeholders in order to create sustainable tourism policies (Maxim, 2015). This argument is also supported by Butler and Dodds (2010) who argue that successful policy implementation depends on participation of the local community. When the local government involves the different actors in the policy process, the assumption is that there will be more support for the policies. Bramwell and Lane (2010) also stress the importance of this factor in the creation of policies. They recognise a trend in government procedures where other actors are gaining more input. The second factor relates to “policies, strategies and plans for tourism development” (Maxim. 2015, p. 41). Coming up with effective sustainable tourism policies requires a careful plan about how to manage the tourism sector in terms of sustainability. This requires coordinated strategies, shared visions and connections with the main actors in the tourism sector (Maxim, 2015). This factor is intertwined with the first factor about stakeholder cooperation. In order to create the policy plans, involvement from all relevant actors is

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important. This is also supported by other research, which states that strategic plans for tourism development should include participation of private actors (González et al., 2019). It is up to the local policymakers to ensure cooperation between the public sector and private actors in the planning stage of sustainable tourism policies.

It is important to note that these two factors described above are not about the actual content of the sustainable tourism policies, but these relate to the process of the creation of the policies. An effective policy can be created when the local governments work together with all important actors of the tourism sector. Cooperation between municipalities is essential, as well as cooperation between actors outside of the public sector. Including all relevant actors in the process will lead to more effective polices for tourism development. Another factor that should be incorporated in sustainable tourism policies is access to good public transport. This is a very important factor, since transport is often “the main

contributor to the CO2 emissions produced by the tourism industry” (Maxim, 2015, p. 41).

Improving the infrastructure of the tourist destinations, as well as promoting options for walking and cycling contributes to a sustainable tourism sector. This is also supported by research conducted by the Department for Culture, Media and Support of the United Kingdom. This research addressed several challenges of sustainable tourism, including the challenge of the impact of tourism transport (DCMS, 2009). Transport for tourism impacts the environment in the tourism sector, for example by creating a poorer quality of air, due to emissions. These negative impacts on the environment should be minimized by reducing the emissions, promoting more sustainable travel modes and investing in efficient transport networks (DCMS, 2009). An example for improving sustainable travel options is investigated by Jan Henrik Nilsson (2019) in his research on urban bicycle tourism. In order to minimize the negative impact caused by urban tourism and tourism transport it is essential that governments promote non-motorised transport, such as cycling. If there is already a local bicycle culture in a certain destination it is easier for the government to attract attention to it. Cycling can then be seen as “part of the destination identity”, which will make more visitors excited to engage themselves with this culture (Nilsson, 2019, p. 1659).

A fourth factor which Maxim (2015) mentions is the role that tourist attractions play in creating a more sustainable tourism sector. Promoting the attractions by using different campaigns could lead to an increase of visitors which can also bring a contribution to sustainable tourism. However, Maxim (2015) argues, this factor could also be about just economic growth. Attracting more visitors is about gaining more economic benefits for the local community, which means it has a focus on economic sustainability. This factor is therefore not that representative for this research, which solely focuses on the environmental sustainability.

The next factor which came forward relates to the availability of funding and resources. These resources can be used to develop and implement sustainable initiatives. In the policies government should make sure that the possibility is there to apply for funding or for

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resources (Maxim, 2015). This is correlating with another factor about political will. If sustainable tourism is on the political agenda it is more likely that there is such funding available for sustainable tourism. A strong political leader with the intention to achieve sustainable tourism would help those factors (Maxim, 2015). The political leaders would take up a more long term focus, devote their time to raising public awareness and address the urgency of the sustainability problem, in order to create more support for this political turn (Bramwell & Lane, 2010).

Two other factors which are related to each other in order to achieve more sustainable tourism are strong community support and knowledge and understanding of the tourism industry (Maxim, 2015). Having the support of the local community and a positive attitude from them towards tourism in their area is very important to implement the sustainable tourism policies. When there is more understanding about the tourism sector in the living environment of inhabitants, it is more likely that they are supportive of tourism

developments (Maxim, 2015). It is therefore important that policies address the

communities as well to get them on board with the plans. Bramwell and Lane (2010) also agree with this since their research points out that there should be more attention to the promotion of input from the community in government planning.

Other factors mentioned in this research were first of all promoting best practices. This is important to see what has been successful in sustainable tourism and would that work in the local government’s own policy as well. Also having a long-term focus in the policy plan is of value. This is due to the fact that the government is working on a proactive planning and is therefore able to respond to upcoming issues better than when a reactive response is in order (Maxim, 2015). Lastly introducing fee-charging attractions is also considered as a factor to improve sustainable tourism policies. However, this is mainly to limit visitor numbers, so it is in case when there is over tourism. In the Hanseatic cities this is not the case yet, so this factor is not important for the policy plans yet.

Maxim (2015) mentions a few more factors, such as promoting education on the policies and legislation. These plans, however, mainly focus on a successful implementation. In this research the focus is on an earlier phase in the policy cycle, namely the policy preparation (Hoogerwerf & Herweijer, 2014). The research focusses on what the policies could entail and not so much on how these could be implemented. Therefore, these factors will not be taken into consideration in this research.

González et al. (2018) came up with some more factors as well, based on a research on sustainable tourism policies in some of the bigger cities of Europe. A factor that this research mentions, which is not included in the research of Maxim (2015) is the reduction of

environmental impacts and resources consumption. The tourism sector is a big consumer of resources, such as water, energy, food and land and it is important these overuse is reduced. An important cause of this overuse is the mobility of the tourism sector. This relates to the factor on providing access to good public transport (Maxim, 2015), but it goes further.

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Besides providing good public transport, it is also important that there is a proper waste prevention plan, for example by banning the use of single use plastics (González et al., 2018). This can be done by informing tourists on these issues and making them aware of their behaviour.

2.6 Conceptual model

This research will focus on providing guidelines for creating environmentally sustainable tourism policies in the urban tourism sector. The literature discussed in this chapter can be used to create these guidelines. The relevant theories selected from this literature is shown in the conceptual model in Figure 3. As mentioned before, this research is situated around the policy preparation phase, a phase in which theories and best practices form a solid base for the creation of the policies, which is the next phase of policy formulation (Hoogerwerf & Herweijer, 2014). In this research the steps leading towards policy formulation will be investigated. The relationship between the policy making process and the content of environmentally sustainable tourism policies is looked into.

Figure 3: Conceptual Model

In the policy making process, there are three instrument distinguished which can be used in the formulation of policies: legal requirements, economic incentives and the transfer of information (Hoogerwerf & Herweijer, 2014; Bramwell, 2005). Within these policy instruments, several factors can be distinguished which lead to the creation of effective sustainable tourism policies. Some of these factor are related to one or more specific policy instruments, whereas others are influenced by the context of the situation. The factor about ‘political will’ is such a factor. Whether the policy instruments on sustainable tourism are effectively formulated depends on the position for this subject on the political agenda. If

Sustainable tourism: from ambition to plan. A qualitative research on environmentally sustainable tourism policies in the Dutch Hanseatic cities.