The transition towards a sustainable marine tourism regime

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The transition towards a

sustainable marine tourism

regime

By

Carmen C. Capendale

12382000

MSc Earth Sciences

Thesis

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Details of Thesis

Applicant

Name: Carmen Capendale

Student number: 12382000

Email: carmen.capendale@hotmail.com

Date of birth: 19/10/1993

Daily-supervisor

Name: Aleksandra Dragozet

Specialization: Sustainable tourism

Institution: Seagoinggreen (seagoinggreen.org)

Examiner

Name: John Grin

Specialization: Policy science

Institution: University of Amsterdam

Co-assessor

Name: Marc Davidson

Specialization: Philosophy of sustainable development Institution: University of Amsterdam

Details of Thesis

Title: The transition towards a sustainable marine tourism regime Number of words: 50424

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Abstract

This research aims to propose action points for policy purposes with the objective to accelerate the transition towards a sustainable tourism regime to decrease the negative environmental impact of the marine tourism sector in the Netherlands and thus secure the existence of future marine tourism. The resource paradox is produced through the negative environmental impact of the marine tourism regime on a limited geographical area within the Netherlands. The origin of the marine tourism regime, the origin of the resource paradox and the different drivers and barriers behind the current trends within the regime are researched using desk research and interviews with relevant marine tourism companies. The results indicate that the structure off the tourism regime, one of the main characteristics of a transition, is less visible than the other characteristics within this transition. Furthermore, the results highlight the importance of technological development as a driver and barrier throughout the trajectory of the tourism regime. The results also show the importance of certain drivers and barriers behind the main trends within the regime. The following three points of action are advised based on these results. The first point of action is to improve

communication, to achieve a change of structure in the regime in the future. The second point of action is focused on the ever-increasing influence of the

information-sharing culture. This action point is focused on changing the image of the Netherlands to induce behavioral change among the tourist. The last point of action is focused on the increasing demand of sustainable tourism facilities. The research conducted indicates that the transition towards a sustainable tourism regime has started, when looking at the different characteristics of the transition. It concludes that this transition can be accelerated by the advised three points if action stated above. It is highlighted that, since the marine tourism regime is seen as a complex adaptive system that is continually changing,

research has to be updated as often as possible to keep track of the trajectory towards a sustainable tourism regime and thus offer sufficient management.

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Introduction

The transition from the agricultural society to the industrial society was a rapid transition. This transition still continues today and has enabled humankind, for the first time, to influence processes of environmental change on a global scale. This influence has led progressive environmentalists to calling this era the Anthropocene (Haberl, Fischer-Kowalski, Krausmann, Martinez-Alier, & Winiwarter, 2011; Stromberg, 2013). As a consequence of these processes, a new movement has originated. The underlying thought of this movement is the idea that the economy should be sustainable to stop the over excessive use of the resources of the earth, so as to secure the future of our species. Studies of humanity’s ecological footprint have attracted much attention because they suggest that humanity already consumes more resources than the biosphere can restore. The underlying thought that the economy should be sustainable has led to the start of a new transition: the sustainable transition (Haberl et al., 2011). Haberl et al. (2011) discusses that the change of the transition from an agrarian regime to an industrial society is as heavy as the change of the transition from an industrial society to a sustainable society. The transition influences the structure of society. The majority of the world population is still in the transition process from an agrarian to an industrial society. So is, for example, 15 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the sub-Saharan Africa composed of agriculture and only one percent of the GDP in North America (Makurira, 2010). Also, a large part of the use of resources and sinks can be ascribed to industrialized countries (Verones, Moran, Stadler, Kanemoto, & Wood, 2017). The highest developed countries emit 86% of the global CO2 emissions while the countries with a low or lower-middle income only emit 17% of the global CO2 emissions (Ritchie & Roser, 2017). To make it even worse, the high levels of economic inequality found in less developed countries have been associated to the penetration of their economies by investments of multinational enterprises based in more developed nations of the West (Evans & Timberlake, 1980) and the more developed countries that bear the most historical responsibility for climate change are likely to be the ones least harmed by its consequences (the economist, 2019).

The industrialized countries have shown a shift in production towards the tertiary sector, the service sector. This shift is called tertiarization and is part of the well-known “three-sector-hypothesis” which was described by Fisher (1939). Tertiarization comes mainly from the secondary sector (food processing, oil refining, energy production & manufacturing) but also from agriculture (The service sector, n.d.; Miles, 1993). The percentage of the primary, secondary and tertiary sector change within a country throughout the development from a low-income towards a high-low-income country (figure 1) (Aksentijević, Tijan, & Stumpf, 2015).

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Figure 1: The different economic sectors are visible with the percentage of primary, secondary and tertiary sectors (Aksentijević et al., 2015).

The tourism sector is a large part of the tertiary sector. Tourism is of major importance for many countries and regions. It provides jobs, tax revenue, increases the social cohesion and contributes to a variety of other economic and industrial sectors (Dinica, 2006). The tourism sector generates 10% of the GDP and represent 9% of the total employment in the European Union, and this percentage is still growing (“Eur. Union Tour. Trends,” 2018; WTTC, 2019). This is logical since the World Tourism Organization (WTO) saw an increase of 450 million tourist in 2010 to 700 million tourists in 2017 in Europe (the economist, 2018). A remarkable resource paradox exists between the tourism sector and the environment. Natural environments are the basis for a perfect tourist destination (Williams & Ponsford, 2009). The benefits that humans freely gain from the natural environment are the ecosystem services. These beautiful natural environments that tourist experience is at the same time exploited and compromised to meet the requirements of the visitor’s consumptive wishes. Consumption and production take place at the same time when it comes to a tourism context -thus, having a bigger impact. This problem becomes worse because the consumption and production takes place in limited geographical areas like natural parks, coastal areas and historical sites. This behavior increases the pressure on such an area and therefore has negative consequences on the environment in this area and thus negatively affects the ecosystem services and thus future tourism (Williams & Ponsford, 2009). Since the negative consequences of this behavior affect the natural environments which is the basis for the tourist destination, and therefore negatively affects the tourist destination desirability (Holden, 2005; Lankford, 1997).

While this ‘resource paradox’ has characterized relationships between tourism and the environment for decades, the importance of managing this paradox is bigger than ever. Never before have there been so many, severe and persistence reporting of the negative consequences of climate change. Climate change affects different levels of climate patterns resulting in areas that camp with

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droughts, areas that camp with floods and areas with extreme weather conditions (Coumou & Rahmstorf, 2012; De Sario, Katsouyanni, & Michelozzi, 2013; Meehl et al., 2000).

These effects lead , among other negative consequences, to natural disasters, disease outbreaks and environmental pollution. Therefore, has is never been more important to think about the welfare of our ecosystems (Dinica, 2006; Williams & Ponsford, 2009).

The resource paradox in combination with climate change signals the importance of tourism stakeholders becoming proactive in creating more sustainable forms of tourism (Dinica, 2006; Williams & Ponsford, 2009). There are different methods for companies to decrease their impact on the environment. Companies can use the corporate social responsibility (CSR) to take responsibility for the impact of the company operation on man, the environment and society (CSR, 2019). The literature about CSR suggests that companies should not be led by their customers but should be inspired by them. Companies should take responsibility and manufacture socially responsible products (Ryan, 2008). Luckily, research from Miller (2003) has shown that consumers are already making decisions based on environmental, social and economic quality for day-to-day products and are keen to transfer these habits to the purchase of tourism products (Miller, 2003). Also, it appears that consumers are beginning to conceive the environmental implications of their own consumptive behavior (Hall, 2013; Ryan, 2008).

Coastal areas worldwide are major destinations for tourism, which represents the fastest growing sector of the global economy. The development and utilization of coastal zones has greatly increased during the recent decades and coasts are undergoing tremendous socio-economic and environmental changes. This trend is expected to continue on in the next years (Neumann, Vafeidis, Zimmermann, & Nicholls, 2015). Yachts, charter boats and cruise ships are the major sources of pollution. The destination areas are often not fit to handle the waste that the marine tourism companies bring along (Creel, 2003).

Water related tourism is of great economic significance in the Netherlands, with a total domestic tourism-recreation sector accounting for almost 5 percent of employment nationally and 3% of the total national annual income (Dinica, 2006). The economy has grown in the last ten year and this trend is estimated to continue. Water has become an important part of the society, nature and the environment. The Netherlands has three different ministries controlling different aspects of the different water related topics to be able to control such a body of water (Hall & Härkönen, 2006). The Netherlands has taken charge in improving European water management regulations and is the most innovative (and well-known for this over the world) solutions like using the natural environment and processes to control the water (Kimmelman & Haner, 2017). But the health of the ecosystems of these water bodies are compromised by the growing number of tourists according to Boffey (2019).

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The resource paradox, whereby non sustainable tourism the cause is to the decrease of the tourism destinations desirability, reveals a major problem: the uncertainty of future marine tourism. The transition towards sustainable tourism regime will ensure the stability of the ecosystem services that provide the desirability of the marine tourism regime in the Netherlands and thus future tourism. This thesis will focus on how to accelerate the transition towards a sustainable marine tourism regime in the Netherlands. This research will be conducted with both a desk research and interviews.

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Theoretical framework

Sustainability as a policy concept has its origin in the Brundtland Report of 1987. The Brundtland Report mainly focuses on the concept of sustainability with the focus on the pressure between the ambition of mankind for an improved life on the one hand and the limitations imposed by nature on the other hand (Miller & Twinning-Ward, 2005). The definition of sustainability has since than been used in many different contexts and has been thoroughly discussed throughout the last two decades. This resulted in different articles discussing the content of what the actual meaning of the term sustainable is and even some who question the usefulness of its definition (Brown, Hanson, Liverman, & Merideth, 1987; Johnston, Everard, Santillo, & Robèrt, 2007; Kuhlman & Farrington, 2010; Morelli, 2011). It is therefore of major importance to understand the definition in each specific article.

The concept of sustainability is used in different contexts. The context is of major importance for the interpretation of the concept of sustainability (Kuhlman & Farrington, 2010; Williams & Ponsford, 2009). An example regarding sustainable tourism is the degree of the development of the country. Sustainable tourism in a less developed country is mostly focused on the local people and their welfare (Shokirov, 2014; UNWTO, EIF, & ITC, 2017). In a developed country the focus is more on the influence of the tourism on the ecosystems (Dinica, 2008). The definition of sustainable tourism by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is “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). This thesis will use the concept of sustainability within the context of sustainable marine tourism in Western countries and focus on the environmental consequences of tourism. With the definition of tourism from UNWTO being: “tourism comprises the activities of persons traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes” (UNWTO statistics Guidelines; 2010). . The marine tourism is defined in this thesis as tourism that influences the marine environment. In the case of the Netherlands this includes all of the tourism companies with a focus on one of the waterways since everything that influences the waterways will influence the marine environment (Hall & Härkönen, 2006).

System resilience can play an important role in maintaining the conditions that will sustain the provision of ecosystem services that contribute to human well-being (Fisher, Costanza, Turner, & Morling, 2007). Resilience is defined as “the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganize while undergoing change so as to still retain essentially the same function, structure, identity, and feedbacks” (Butler, 2017). In general, the resilience of the ecosystems in the limited geographical areas affected by non-sustainable tourism decreases. This because the pressure on the ecosystems increase through the high consumption and production in these areas and can, therefore, lose its ecosystem services (Johnston & Tyrrell, 2007).

Loss of the ecosystem services will negatively affect the desirability of the tourist destination. This resource paradox is based on the idea that sustainability can be

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achieved when the natural resources are used in a way that they also can be used by future generations. To be able to understand the complete sustainability problem the three pillars of sustainability tool is often used. The three pillars of sustainability are a powerful tool for defining the complete sustainability problem (figure 2). This consists of the economic, social and environmental pillars. If anyone pillar is weak then the system as a whole is unsustainable (Purvis, Mao, & Robinson, 2019). Most national and international problem-solving efforts focus only on one pillar at a time (Hansmann, Mieg, & Frischknecht, 2012). This indicates the importance of multiple aspects of society when one is interested in any subject that has to do with sustainability.

Figure 2: Visualization of the three-pillar theory. The social pillar, environmental pillar and the economic pillar have to be considered when dealing with a

sustainability issue (Twink.org, 2020)

The sustainability issue within the tourism regime is affected by different facets within the tourism system since systems are defined as the whole of practices and associated structures created around us to fulfill our societal needs. These systems seem stable but systems change. A system might go through fundamental changes. The concept of transition has been studied in several disciplines. All these interpretations have their (multi)disciplinary function and added value, but most of them are not applicable to the complex nature and multiple dimensions of societal transformations implicated in sustainable development. But, Grin, Rotmans & Schot (2010) research transitions from a multidisciplinary approach in their book: “Transitions to sustainable development”. There are five characteristics that belong to transitions according to Grin, Rotmans & Schot (2019): Firstly, they are multi-actor processes, which entail interactions between different social groups, secondly, they are radical shifts from one system or configuration to another, thirdly they are long term processes and fourthly they are macroscopic. The last characteristic of transitions are co-evolution processes that require multiple changes in socio-technical systems. Transitions also require the development of novelties evolvement within the societal system. Which includes the smaller societal structures as the selection by consumers of the new novelty or change in the legislation that might oppose this novelty (Grin, Rotmans, & Schot, 2019, 22). And thus, a transition is a radical, structural change of a societal (sub)system that is the result of a co-evolution of economic, cultural, technological, ecological and institutional developments at different scale-levels (Rotmans et al., 2001).

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There are three underlying concepts when interpreting transitions. The first underlying is co-evolution, shortly described above as one of the characteristics that belong to a transition.

The second underlying concept is the multi-level perspective originally emerged from a connection between science and technology practitioners with evolutionary economics. There are three socio-technical levels within the multi-level perspective. The bigger structures are called the landscape trends, these are (exogenous trends), that form a broad exogenous environment. The middle level is called the regime, the regime is a system made out of structures and practices that meets the need of society. A niche, the lowest level, is a collection of innovative socio-technical practices. The three levels are intended as functional scale levels, degrees of structuration (figure 3) (Grin, Rotmans, & Schot, 2019, 19).

To be able to understand why transitions happen it is important to know that new ideas and innovations start small. There are different ways a transition can happen, but sufficient landscape pressure and a well-developed niche are required. Therefore, there needs to be movement in the landscape and regime level of the multi-level perspective. The regime and niche are similar structures, although of a different level of aggregation. Competition takes places between these two levels (Grin, Rotmans, & Schot, 2019, 19).

Figure 3: Shows the interaction between the niches, regimes and landscape (Geels and Kemp, 2000 in Loorbach, 2007)

According to De Haan & Rotmans (2011) a societal system is considered to more likely to go through a transition if its functioning is compromised in some way. There are three ways that a system can be compromised, a system can undergo tension, stress, and pressure. A system falls under heightened tension when the survival of the very system itself relies on a sustainable environment that no longer is assured. One speaks of stress in the case that the regime is

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incompetent or inconsistent with providing the most common societal needs. The system is pressured when alternatives to the functioning regime emerge and become viable competitors or simply take away the need for certain aspects of the functioning regime (Hans de Haan & Rotmans, 2011).

The three concepts, landscapes, regimes and, niches, can be seen as a nested hierarchy. The regimes are embedded within the landscapes and the niches within the regimes. Each level is a heterogeneous socio-technical configuration but the three levels variate in size and stability. In niches, the social networks are small, unstable and precarious. The actors need to put in a lot of work to uphold a niche. The niches provide variation, which is selected by the regime and landscape levels. The socio-technical regimes are more stable. Socio-technical landscapes involve broader background structures that provide gradients from actions. Alignments between levels have evolutionary characteristics: niches provide the locus for the generation of radical novelties (variation), but the selection and broader diffusion of these novelties depend on alignments with regime and landscape levels (Grin, Rotmans, & Schot, 2019, 18).

The last underlying concept described is the phase concept. The multi-phase concept will be more extensively discussed since a tourism regime is a complex adaptive system and the theory of the multi-phase concept is rooted in the theory of complex adaptive systems. Most of the time, complex adaptive systems are in a period of dynamic equilibrium, with ongoing variation and selection, but with selection as the dominating mechanism. External stimulation forces the system to shift to a relatively short phase of instability and chaos where variation predominates. The multi-phase concept describes transition in time using four different phases. These phases differ in fast en slow dynamics that form a S-curve from one dynamic state of equilibrium to a different dynamic state of equilibrium. Figure 3 shows that the first phase is predevelopment. The system is changing but without showing any consequences. The second phase is the take-off phase. This is the point of ignition after which the process of structural change picks up momentum and structural change becomes visible (the breakthrough phase, the third phase). Finally, in the stablization phase, a new dynamic state of equilibirium is attained (figure 4) (Grin, Rotmans, & Schot, 2019, 25).

Thus, a transition can be charactarized by multiple processes that are involved in the transition, it is a change that does not happen gradually but on a relatively short time scale, it influences the structure of the regime and institutions are becoming involved in the matter of the transition. A regime exist because It produces a certain wanted activity or product. But, persistent problems nestle within the regime, which indicate the unsustainablity of the regime. The persistent problems are complex because they are embedded within the different layers connected to the tourism regime. Therefore, a transtion is needed to remove the persistent problem from the regime (Grin, Rotmans & Schot, 2019, 3). This research focuses on the unsustainable negative environmental consequences as the persistent problem within the marine tourism regime.

There are different drivers and barriers that influence novelties to enter the socio-technical regimes. It is, for example, possible that the existing regime has legislations that oppose the new novelty. Or the structure from the socio-technological systems is not there to support the novelty (Grin, Rotmans, &

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Schot, 2019). A simple example of a structure not being able to support a novelty are the existence of the charging poles for the electric cars. The electric cars were a novelty and got accepted by society (Volkswagen, 2019). Still, this was difficult since the structure in society was not ready yet. Influence of the government can help. So is Germany planning to install a million new charging poles for the electric cars (Fingas, 2019). In less simple terms, there are more systematic changes involved here. For instance, cars are likely to become part of the (emerging) storage capacity needed in the system to deal with the intermittency challenge. Grid management will thus also be adapted. And so on.

Figure 4: graphic display a transition regarding the multi-phase concept (Rotmans, Grin & Schot, 2010 in Loorbach, 2007).

Discontent from civilians or changes from the government can lead to a higher chance of the novelty becoming a regularity. These different drivers and barriers influence the system. According to De Haan & Rotmans (2010) there were three different kinds of patterns in transition. The first one is reconstellation. This is a top-down constellation change. Governmental led structural changes typically are reconstellation processes. The second one is called empowerment. This is bottom-up constellation change. A new constellation emerges, or an existing one gains power, either by itself or through interacting or merging with other constellations within the societal system. The third type of pattern is called adaption. This pattern is internally induced constellation change. A constellation alters its functioning either through interacting or merging with other constellations within or from outside the societal system (De Haan & Rotmans, 2010).

Complex systems are defines as constituted by non-linear interactions (Grin, Rotmans, & Schot, 2019, 23), and thus are frequently subject to “surprise”. The surprises are created in cycles of long phases of increasing growth, efficiency and predicatability followed suddenly by brief phases of reorganization and surprise (Miller & Twinning-Ward, 2005).

For the qualitative techniques of the non-linear science part it is of importance that the knowledge regarding interviews is up to date. The international bestseller “thinking, fast and slow” describes the basic elements of a two-systems approach to judgment and choice. It distinguishes the automatic operations of the so called System One and the controlled operations of the so called System Two. The book states that a lot of research has been done to system two but that the actual wonder of the brains lies in System One (Kahneman, 2011). The general argument of the book is the explanation of how it

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is possible that profesionals use System One when making difficult decisions. We avoid cognitive overload by breaking up current tasks into small steps to be comitted to long term memory; we are naturally drawn to solutions that use as litte mental effort as possible. One of the main functions of System two is to monitor and control suggestions from System one, however it is often lazy and places too much faith in intuition. System one provides impressions that often turn into beliefs and actions; even the most insignificant of ideas can trigger other ideas and so on (Kahneman, 2011).

This concept is well-known as bounded rationality. The idea that in decision making, rationality of individuals is limited by the info they have, the cognitive limitations of their minds, and the finite amount of time they have to make a decision. The influence of this concept on the decision making process from the different stakeholders within the marine tourism regime has to be kept in mind when looking at the trajectory of the marine tourism regime (Grin et al., 2019; Simon, 2001).

Multiple articles suggest that good communication between the different stakeholders is key in the transition towards a sustainable tourism regime (Breman, Luttik, & Vreke, 2009; Jonge de, Tuunter, Gijsbertse, & Goossen, 2008; Rijksinstituut, Zoetwaterbeheer, & Rikz, n.d.; Williams & Ponsford, 2009). Grin & Van De Graaf (1996) suggest a model based on the idea of communicative-interaction, which is the interaction between policy actors and their target groups. It is described in the article “implementation as comminicative action” that the first issue is that policymakers, implementers and target groups will form their own interpretations of the language used in the implemenation plans, legislation content and the implemenation actions” and that these differ from each other. The second issue that they state is that the background theories from which different actors interpret policy objectives, ends and means are of major importance. The implementation of a plan can be achieved through the right communication between the different stakeholders (Grin & Van De Graaf, 1996).

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Research aim

Non-sustainable tourism causes tension in the marine tourism regime. The decrease of the ecosystem services negatively affects the tourism destination desirability. In its turn the decline of the destination desirability has negative impact on future tourism. This research aims to propose guidelines for policy purpose on how to accelerate the transition towards a sustainable tourism regime to decrease the negative environmental impact of the marine tourism sector in the Netherlands and thus secure the existence of future marine tourism. The different dynamics within the Dutch marine tourism regime is researched using desk research and interviews. The desk research and interviews give insight into the different dynamics within the tourism regime and give insight in which drivers and barriers in the transition towards sustainable tourism regime are of the most influence.

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Research questions

Central research question:

How to accelerate the transition towards sustainable marine tourism regime, in the Netherlands when looking at the different dynamics within the tourism regime and relate these dynamics to the different drivers and barriers received by marine tourism companies to resolve the resource paradox?

Sub questions:

- How did the current Dutch marine tourism regime emerge?

- How does the Dutch marine tourism regime produce the resource paradox? - What are the dynamics within the Dutch marine tourism regime?

- What do marine focused tourism companies receive as the different drivers and barriers in the transition towards a sustainable tourism regime?

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Methodology

The aim of this thesis is to understand how to overcome the barriers and stimulate the drivers that companies receive in their transition towards sustainable tourism, to accelerate the transition towards a sustainable tourism regime. Since the tourism regime is considered to be a complex adaptive system, a non-linear science approach is used.

A combination of using different methods from different disciplines is used in non-linear science. An interdisciplinary view on the research topic takes shape by switching through these different methods. The research topic is better covered by all disciplines and thus the solutions or recommendations from this research method can universally be applied because of the interdisciplinary view. Linear analyses are characterized by the assumption that individual effect can be unambiguously traced back to particular causes. The fundamental assumption of non-linear science is to reject this idea (Yoshida, 2010). Therefore, this thesis consists of a methodology including a desk research and qualitative interviews with the most important stakeholders.

The sub-questions are answered using desk research and sources from different marine tourism related companies. The desk research was a dynamic process. The interviews indicated subjects that needed to be integrated, subjects that needed more or less to be brought to the attention, and subjects that had to be secluded with regard to the different sub-questions.

Besides adding to the dynamic character of this research, the data from the interviews is used to help bridge the data gaps within the literature. In case of the personal opinions of companies especially since businesses often do not like to publicly expose personal data about sustainability unless it is a cornerstone of their business (Herold, 2018). It is mentioned in the results when data from interviews strengthen or contradict the information from the desk research. The dynamics that influence the trajectory of the tourism regime towards a sustainable tourism regime and the drivers and barriers received by the tourism companies are integrated in the trends found in the literature. This to see if the drivers and barriers received align with the dynamics of the tourism regime. The policy elaborates on how to overcome the (most important) barriers and how to strengthen the (most important) drivers in the transition towards sustainable tourism. The policy guideline, can be used by different institutions that are involved in regulatory practices regarding the transition towards sustainable tourism, on how to accelerate the transition towards sustainable tourism.

Desk research

The sub-questions are answered using desk research and interviews. The non-linear research methodology is focused on marine tourism sector within the Netherlands to be able to understand the specific impact on the environment. Articles with tourism in the Netherlands as a subject were used as a

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representative of articles with marine tourism as a subject only when necessary during the desk research. This is clarified for each article throughout the answering of the sub-questions. When the article is specifically focused on marine tourism, the information states marine tourism. If not, only the word tourism is stated.

Literature description use of search engines

Google Scholar and Library Genesis, both online bibliographic search engines, and PubMed, an online bibliographical database, are used for the desk research part of this thesis. While choosing which literature to use, the following points were considered. First, the motivation of the author of the article or site for publishing was considered when validating the information. Secondly, the reliability of the scientific magazine in which the article was published was examined. Thirdly, the literature referenced in this thesis was as up to date as the literature could possibly be. New information and publications were given priority to ensure that the analysis is up-to-date with the current trends and findings.

Qualitative research

Qualitative research is primarily exploratory research. Used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It usually emphasizes gathering and analyzing words, language, and acts rather than quantitative data. The research strategy was broadly inductivist, constructionist, and interpretivist, but not always subscribed to all three of these features. An inductive view of the relationship between theory and research is one whereby the former is generated out of the latter. The feature constructionist implies that social properties are outcomes of the interactions between individuals, rather than the phenomena ‘out there’ and separate from those involved in its construction. The last feature, interpretivist means that in contrast to the adoption of a natural scientific model in statistical-inferential research, the stress is on the understanding of the social world through an examination of the interpretation of that world by its participants.

The qualitative research ensures a widened view of the (sub)questions in this thesis. Qualitative research is choses as method to complete the desk research. This to be able to not only narrow it down to desk research and not only use what already has been stated. Reliability of the research is achieved by ensuring that the measures that are devised for concepts in this thesis are consistent. Replication is achieved by ensuring the methodology is as detailed as necessary. Validity is achieved by ensuring internal validity and external validity (Windows, Corporation, Hori, & Sakajiri, n.d.).

List of interviewees

Purposive sampling was used to choose different interviewees. Purposive sampling is a non-probability form of sampling. This to ensure the relevance of the interviewees to answer the research questions. The interviewees were chosen

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after the desk research of sub-question one. This because the more knowledge gained the better the understanding of the marine tourism regime. Which ensures a better choice of the interviewees.

The use of theoretical sampling was chosen as sampling methodology in this thesis. This ensures an ongoing process rather than a distinct and single stage. Theoretical sampling is the process of data collection for generating theory whereby the analyst jointly collects, codes, and analyzes the data and decides what data to collect next and where to find them, in order to develop the theory as it emerges.

It is difficult to estimate the number of interviewees needed for theoretical saturation. The key idea is that until no new or relevant data seems to be emerging regarding a category, the category is well developed in terms of its properties and dimensions demonstrating variations and the relationships among categories are well established and validated (Strauss and Corbin 1998) the number of interviewees rises.

The interviewees are different people from different marine focused tourism related communities and strongly related stakeholders based on the analysis of the marine tourism regime. The overview can be seen in appendix 1.

Set up interview

Semi structured interview

Semi-structured interviews were used for all interviewees that can be conducted either in person, skype or through a phone call. If this was not possible an equivalent stakeholder was searched to be able to do a semi-structured interview anyway. This can be seen in Appendix 1.

Open questions

With the use of a closed question interview the possible answers are limited to the writer’s imagination. This is why this thesis employed open questions in this research. The questions were adjusted for each interview, the general set up is shown in appendix 2.

The idea that the social world must be interpreted from the perspective of the people being studied, rather than as though those subjects were incapable of their own reflections on the social world is important. This is why the interviews were composed using background literature with regard to decision-making knowledge to improve the understanding about the decision-making process in society.

The main literature used is from March & Olsen: rediscovering institutions, Kahneman: Thinking, fast and slow and from Grin & Graaf: Technology Assessment as Learning & Implementation as communicative action. This literature was used to get a better understanding of the way professionals make decisions, the way institutions have influence and the importance of communication between all layers of society

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The interviews were analyzed to be able to use the information in this thesis. The first step towards analyzing the interviews was the transcribing of the interviews. This is necessary to be able to code the interviews on the basis of a coding scheme in the next step. Different types of coding are possible, like deductive and inductive coding. This thesis has used inductive coding, which allows for creating the codes while transcribing the interviews. This method was chosen to ensure that all possible drivers and barriers are used in the coding if new ones pop up in the interview. Coding involves reading and re-reading the text (data) and identifying coherent categories. The first part of this process is to:- identify themes or patterns- ideas, concepts, behaviors, interaction, etc. Organize them into coherent categories that summarize the data. As each segment of text is read, the text will be pulled apart and the subjects that jump out as important were highlighted. The program ATLAS.ti was used. This software allows systematic arrangements and the creation of “code families” to identify the overarching themes that emerged from the interviews. 36 different codes were identified which were divided within 8 different code families. See appendix 3 for an overview of the different codes. The interviews conducted are in appendix 4.

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Results

The tourism regime is considered to be a complex adaptive system. Many different actors influence the trajectory of the transition of the tourism regime towards a sustainable tourism regime. Also, sustainability is not an independent concept in itself, sustainability in the context of a tourism regime has different aspects. The well-known tool called: “the three pillars of sustainability” is used to define the complete sustainability problem. This tool is a powerful tool for defining the complete sustainability problem since it considers multiple aspects of society. It consists of the economic, social and environmental pillar. The theory states that if any one pillar is weak then the system as a whole is unsustainable. Most national and international problem-solving efforts focus only on one pillar at a time (Purvis et al., 2019). To understand a complex adaptive system, it is important that multiple aspects of society are considered. Therefore, the following chapters elongated on the social, economic and environmental aspects of the transition.

Origin of the tourism regime

Origin of the tourism regime in the Netherlands

The beginning of tourism for the middle class (the bourgeoisie) in the Netherlands started with the “General Dutch Bicycle Union” founded in 1883 (Lesisz, 2004). At first, it was an elitist club for cycle enthusiasts but soon became a general travel organization, now famously known as the ANWB (= acronym of its name in Dutch) (ANWB, 2008). Afterward, other forms of leisure and activities became the basis for specialized organizations and leisure clubs. The objective of the organizations reflected an overall conceptual mixture of leisure, sports, recreations, and tourism which lasted for at least eight decades, making it difficult to identify “genuine” tourism policies, let alone studies, for a long time (Dinescu, 2011).

Tourism increased in the Netherlands although important social structures, landscape trends, changed (Gyr, 2008). Namely, the catholic church regained part of its social and political power in the 19th_{century in co-evolution with a}

liberal movement that came up and overtook the parliament around mid-century, finally socialists started to organize themselves into a political party. Free time was seen as a social problem at the beginning of the 1900s, this changed throughout the century in co-evolution with the change of these other social structures (Dinescu, 2011). The first Dutch labors travel society dates back to 1928 – 1932 (Lesisz, 2004). Tourism was still regarded as a leisure activity and mostly synonymous with domestic tourism (Dinescu, 2011). The tourism regime shifted from the middle class to the emerging working class, imitating and aiming at the values of the privileged class. 1930s legislation of paid holidays extended over all Europe largely as a result of the enlightened government thinking. In which the goals of rational humanity were considered to be knowledge, freedom, and happiness (Dinescu, 2011).

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The change in social structures further developed towards the society we know today. The movement towards a pillarized society through the constitutional amendment of 1917 made two things possible: general electoral law and the financial equivalence of special education to public education (Verzetsmuseum, 2020). Each of the social divisions around religious convictions and (thus) political views (Protestants, Catholics, liberals, and socialists) started to secure power and influence based on their own social back-up. These included schools, leisure activities, commercial connections, and social services. This pillarization led to the polder-model in which points of interest are discussed until an overall understanding is achieved. The pillarization of the Netherlands faded away after the 2nd_{world war, but the polder-model stayed (van Dam, 2015).}

The economies of Western Europe grew during the years between the two world wars in terms of per capita income. Due to the effects of continuous technological change that stimulated new niches and created an increase in investment and raised productivity (Dinescu, 2011; Eichensteen, 2014). As far as lifestyle was concerned with new demand by the middle and working classes for technical and luxury items could be described as a quest for “nonessential consumer goods”. This new consumer trend towards consumption beyond first life needs, coupled with an increase in free-time, created a mixture of elements exactly right for a tourism regime to form. The different facets of today’s tourism emerged.

A radical change in policy took place in 1960. The so-called “free Saturday” was approved by the government and gradually implemented. 80 percent of the Dutch inhabitants were part of a collective labor movement which indicates the eagerness of getting paid holidays (Kleijer, Laermans, & Tillekens, 1992). Outdoor recreation became in 1965 a major policy domain of the new Ministry of Culture, Recreation, and Social Affairs. Economic development, again in co-evolution, with technological development was an important step towards the tourism regime we know today. Rapid urbanization, the restoration of the housing supply, and agricultural restructuring— all for taking care of the needs of the population—led to the creation of a large-scale infrastructure for day tourism or, in the terms of that time, ‘‘outdoor recreation. The implication of bringing domestic tourism under one common policy category that it shared with outdoor recreation had the advantage that this policy was considered as clear, one-dimensional, and socially important. The underlying idea for this was the assumption that the state took responsibility for all citizens, providing what was needed on the basis of collective taxes. The emerging welfare state took this realm of civilian life as one of its core objectives. Free time was no longer a problem, but a collective concern for ‘‘self-development.’’ This concept became an important policy objective in the 1970s, when the welfare state started to expand at a high rate. Holiday travel was no longer regarded as a luxury, but, in sociological terms, became a “social norm” (Dinescu, 2011).

During this period, mass recreation and mass tourism increased. From the early 1950s the ANWB argued strongly for ‘‘tourism for all’’ and for camping as an undertaking for the public and private sector. The Ministry of Economic Affairs supported these efforts with a Directorate of Tourism (1954) and subsidies for tourism infrastructure (Dinescu, 2011). An extra stimulation was the breakthrough of the car. The mobility of people highly increased and could, therefore, travel easier (techniek in Nederland, 2020).

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The institutional background of the different ministries of culture and welfare on the one hand, and economics on the other, illustrates a rising conceptual distinction between recreation (welfare, collective goods) and tourism (commercial, private enterprises) (Dinescu, 2011).

The introduction of the sustainability concept within the Dutch Tourism

Regime

The early 1960s ushered in the birth of a global environmental movement that pressured many industries and governments to address ecological concerns. (Buckley, 2012; Williams & Ponsford, 2009). Initially, because of its relatively limited scope and magnitude, tourism faced little criticism. For the most part, it was characterized as an ‘environmentally friendly’ activity and ‘smokeless industry’ hardly worthy of harassment.

Perspective concerning tourism’s environmental consequences shifted with the industry’s rapid emerge as a global economic force in the late 1960s and 70s. This period witnessed unprecedented growth in international tourist arrivals, an explosive development of tourism activities and a general lack of regulation on development. What was once perceived to be small and primarily non-invasive economic activity became a massive global phenomenon.

By the mid-1970s, researchers were questioning tourism’s environmentally gentle character. These initial critiques were followed by research that delivered increasing evidence of tourism’s pressures on natural environments at destinations in both developed and developing nations (Williams & Ponsford, 2009). This resulted in an increase of the term sustainable tourism (Buckley, 2012). Specifically, researchers pointed to land use and infrastructure development, natural resource extraction and waste & pollution generation as principal sources of tourism-induced environmental degradation. The findings from these early research efforts demonstrated that the relationship between tourism and the environment as far more tenuous than initially thought (Williams & Ponsford, 2009).

At the end of 1970s, the world bank and UNESCO organized the first international seminar on tourism and development (Hummel & van der Duim, 2012). The two UN earth summits, in 1992 and 1999 further increased the concern about the environmental impact of (mass) tourism. The environmental consequences of non-sustainable tourism since then has been discussed. The start of the transition towards a sustainable society, and thus also the start of the transition towards a sustainable tourism regime had begun (Miller & Twinning-Ward, 2005). This has led to the understanding of the importance of the tourism’s resource paradox

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The origin of the resource paradox

The emerge of the tourism regime created additional employment, it ensured an increase in interaction between different cultures, it even was a reason for the further improvement of the infrastructure within the Netherlands (Dinescu, 2011; Dinica, 2006). The tourism regime evolved into the dynamic equilibrium we know today through changing landscape trends, upcoming niches and, movement within the regime.

As explained in the theoretical context, regimes exist because they deliver certain wanted productivity or function. But also, persistent problems are produced within the regime. The resource paradox is a persistent problem within the marine tourism regime. The negative effects of the resource paradox are noticeable in every level of the system since the multiple levels are a nested hierarchy. Therefore, the resource paradox is rooted within the system and thus a transition is needed to solve the resource paradox.

Figure 5: A visualization of the multiple levels, the landscape level, the regime level and the niche level as a nested hierarchy (Geels, 2002, 1261).

The negative environmental side effects in the current tourism regime show that the system is unsustainable. Pressure from exogenous trends in the landscape level, a regime that is incompetent or inconsistent with providing the most common societal needs and niche experiments that need to be nurtured in a safe environment can ensure this transition.

Consumption and production take place at the same time when it comes to a tourism context, and the limited geographical area in which marine tourism takes place reinforces this negative impact (Williams & Ponsford, 2009). Therefore, is the persistent problem in this regime, the resource paradox, the negative impact of marine tourism on a limited geographical area within the Netherlands.

This problem has different components and can, therefore, be divided into three sub-problems. The first one is focused on the limited geographical area in which marine tourism takes place (Williams & Ponsford, 2009). The second sub-problem

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is focused on the individual impact of each tourist on the environment. The tourism facilities they use determine their impact on the marine environment (Mason, 2012, 130). If a tourist chose to use tourism facilitation with a minimum impact their impact is minimum and the other way around. The third sub-problem is focused on the spread of the number of tourists throughout the year. Tourism in the Netherlands peaks among the main holiday season within the Netherlands, and extra throughout the whole summer because of the nice weather (Vermeulen et al., 2017, 188,193).

The three sub-problems are summarized as followed: 1. Marine tourism is geographically unevenly spread

2. The negative impact of each individual tourist is too high on the environment 3. Tourism is not evenly spread throughout the year

To understand the complicity and the trends of the tourism regime it is important to understand the different dynamics that influence the tourism regime (FIT4FOOD2030, 2018). These different drivers and barriers are of influence on the main trends found within the regime. Policy advice can be made when understanding the different dynamics behind the trends that influence the trajectory towards a sustainable tourism regime.

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The different drivers and barriers

The different dynamics of the landscape trends, the movement within the regime and the dynamics with regard to the nurturing of the sustainable tourism niche are discussed separately. To understand the socio-economic levels of the tourism regime. First, the pressure from landscape trends found in the literature and interviews on the marine tourism regime is discussed, secondly, the dynamic movement within the regime is discussed and lastly, the nurturing of the sustainability niches is discussed. This to fully understand the trends within the tourism regime.

Landscape dynamics

Influence of safety

History shows the same pattern of a decrease in tourism in the past, often due to global events like the first Gulf War in 1990 and 9/11 in 2001 (Breman et al., 2009). The terrorist attacks claimed by ISIS in 2015 were of influence on the tourism import from mostly intercontinental countries (Sönmex & Graefe, 1998). And, this trend showed again in 2016 when there was a decline of Asian tourist due to the terrorist attacks in Western Europe (NBTC, 2017).

Prosperity

There is a strong connection between economic welfare, personal income on one hand and international travel on the other hand (Mensink, 2012; NBTC, 2017). The growing wealth in developing countries will influence the relative number of intercontinental tourists in the Netherlands (BRON). In reaction to the change of relative growth of prosperity in the world, the government of the Netherlands released a letter called the “tourism letter” in 2008 with the announcement that the future of the tourism policy will have an increased focus on new incoming tourism from the so-called “BRIC countries”. The new economic powerhouses Brazil, Russia, India, and China were expected to have a higher than average growth in their economy. The percentage of intercontinental tourism was therefore expected to increase (Breman et al., 2009).

Precise numbers of the different originating countries are not available since not all tourism data is and can be collected. Stays in overnight accommodation are used as a representative for the percentage of the different originating tourism countries. These numbers show that the expectations from 2008 were correct. Although most overnight staying tourism is still Dutch citizens, the foreign tourist numbers had a higher percentage increase. With an increase of 13 percent in 2017 in comparison with the year before against an increase of 6 percent of Dutch tourists staying in overnight (figure 6) (Statistics Netherlands, 2018).

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Figure 6: A visuallization of the percentage of Dutch Guests and Foreign guests and the number of overnight stays of both (Statistics Netherlands, 2018). Nearly 80% of all foreign visitors were Europeans, with half from neighboring countries such as Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. Visitors from these accounted for altogether 64% of all overnight stays by foreign guests. Which indicates an average longer stay from the tourist originated from neighboring countries. The growth in tourist arrival from Germany continued with 14% in 2017 relative to 2016. Germans were also the longest staying guests with an average of 3.4 nights spent in the Netherlands. Still, 20 percent of the foreign tourist staying at Dutch overnight accommodation came from outside Europe. Most intercontinental tourists came from the Americas (11 percent) and from Asia (8 percent). The number of arrivals from these two continents grew by 22 -and 25 percent respectively. Other rapidly growing groups include tourists from Taiwan (79%), Iceland (40%), China (26%) and Russia (36%). The non-European guests only stayed on average 1.8 nights (statistics Nederland, 2018).

The cultural differences from the different originating countries of the tourists

There seem to be cultural overarching preferences regarding landscape destination areas, which seem to be more important than macro-cultural (nationality) and micro-macro-cultural (education, living environment). The preference for the water-related environment and some sort of relief seem universal and might be traced back to certain evolutionary preferences of humankind (Breman et al., 2009). A difference in cultural preferences can be seen between tourists from different originating countries. These differences are mostly rooted in the education level and in the level of urban contact back home (Breman et al., 2009). This results in tourists from neighboring countries preferring to have a nature-based holidays and the intercontinental tourist prefer city trips (de Jonge et al., 2008).

Demographic changes in Europe

Throughout Europe the long-term process of ageing decades ago. Long-term low birth rates and higher life expectancy change the shape of the population

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pyramid. The trend is visible in the change in the age structure of the population. The percentage of elderly people is increasing, and the relative percentage of people with occupational disability in the total population is falling. Population pyramids show the distribution of the population by gender and in age categories of five years. Each bar corresponds to the proportion of the relevant gender and age category in the total population. The population pyramid of the European Union in 2018 is narrow at the base and is given more of a diamond shape because of the cohorts of baby boomers, due to the high birth rates in various European countries in the mid-1960s. Baby boomers still form a large part of the working population. The first of these large groups, born in a period of 20 to 30 years, are now reaching retirement age, and have more free time on their hands. The bulge caused by the baby boom moves upwards in the population pyramid, making the lower part of the occupationally suitable population and the base narrower (figure 7)(Eurostat, 2018).

Figure 7: A representation of the European demographic pyramid (Eurostat, 2018)

Change of dynamics within the regime

Influence of infrastructure

A factor within the tourist-recreative infrastructure is the imbalance between the different regions and the number of touristic services they offer. The distribution of the tourism product-market combinations and the different tourism destinations are not equally distributed in the Netherlands and therefore is the tourism regime not equally distributed (Breman et al., 2009). Figure 8 clearly shows the difference in the number of people between the provinces (CBS, 2018).

The infrastructure influences the accessibility of certain destinations within the Netherlands but is also dependent on a supply and demand basis (Jonge de et al.,

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2008). It is noticeable that tourists from different originating countries travel differently within the Netherlands. Tourists from neighboring countries tend to be more diversely spread than the tourists from non-neighboring countries

(Statistics Netherlands, 2018). This is strengthened by the data from the interviewees. The interviewees from less-visited areas like Vlieland and Zeeland stated that most guests originated from either the Netherlands or neighboring countries like Germany and Belgium (anonymous, 2019; Mulder, 2019; Nelis, 2019). While the tourism companies from the more well-known areas experienced a higher diversity in the origin country of their guests (Kazemier, 2019; Veldt, 2019).

The outbound coastal tourism stagnated because of the high competition from similar beaches in North Germany and Denmark (Breman et al., 2009; Edzes & Rijks, 2012). With Amsterdam and most Beach places the North of Netherlands, called Noord Holland has the most tourist destination in the Netherlands. Still, not only did Amsterdam show an increase in tourism numbers in 2007, but also the rest of the province (Noord Holland) showed an increase (Breman et al., 2009). This increase in coastal tourism can be explained by the increase of inbound tourism over the last years (Vermeulen et al., 2017).

Figure 8: the light blue bars in the diagram represent the foreign guests and the dark blue bars represent the Dutch guests in millions for each province

(CBS, 2018).

Influence communication

The touristic regime is fragmented and relatively small sector and does not have enough resources to ensure the participation of the different stakeholders when discussing issues. It is simply not possible for the different stakeholders to be present in every meeting (Van Golen & Tuunter, 2003). Mostly regional

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representation is needed since decisions with regard to the recreative sector are taken on a provincial or local level because of the decentralization policy in the Netherlands. The positive aspect of the decentralization policy is the possible effect the local people can have and thus the possibility to influence their region with specified solutions. Decentralization, on the other hand, is the cause of the many different regulations within the country and the more complicated relation between the many different stakeholders (Fao, 2018). To make things even more complicated, part of the advocacy is still in the hands of private organizations. So is, for example, the ministry of Economic Businesses (EZ) and agriculture, conservation and fishery responsible for the touristic regime policy on the national level (Ryan, 2008).

In general, the interviews showed discontent with management and enforcement of their municipality with regard to communication towards the tourism sector and individual companies, on the subject of the enforcement of the law and the uphold of agreements. This results in, among other things, in discontent with regard to the division of responsibilities towards the municipality. A strong example was given by Stephan Pouw, co-owner of First Wave Surf School (2019). The responsibility of the litter on the beach in Zandvoort is for the owner of the property on that stretch of beach. Even if the litter goods are not from this property. This feels unfair and creates negative feelings towards the municipality. This could negatively affect cooperation possibilities in the future (Pouw, 2019). Future corporation is indeed highly likely. A first important step has been taken. The first national tourism conference was held in October 2018. 120 experts from different sectors worked on a 2030 policy plan. The focus of this policy plan is on the balance of the locals and the tourism related companies. The common belief is that companies, inhabitants and management have to work together and invest in projects with common interest to achieve their goal (Tourisme top 2018, 2020).

Nurturing of the tourism sustainability niche

Influence technological development

The origin of the tourism regime indicates the importance of the new technological innovations with regard to change within the regime. First due to continuous technological change that stimulated new niches and created an increase in investment and raised productivity between the two world wars and again with the breakthrough of the car which increased the mobility of the common people. Technological innovations can stimulate new niches and nurture them (Dinescu, 2011; Echensteen, 2014; techniek in Nederland, 2020). The co-evolutionary process of technological development concerning clean energy, recycling and the improvement of waste management reinforces the transition towards a sustainable tourism regime (Allesch & Brunner, 2015; Bilgili, Dybek, Arastoopour, & Bernstein, 2003; Grandell et al., 2016; Onwosi et al., 2017). These developments can be influenced by the government and other institutions with taxes on pollution and subsidies on matters with regard to sustainability.

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Influence cost effectiveness of sustainable policy

These technological improvements stabilize, wide and strengthen the sustainable tourism niche. The interviews indicate that the reason for a sustainable policy is a mixture of ethical values and cost-cutting choices. It seems that people are willing to pursue a more sustainable policy when the costs are favorable. If the costs of implementing a sustainable policy were higher than this was seen as a reason not to pursue a sustainable policy (Kazemier, 2019; Pouw, 2019; Veldt, 2019).

Influence institutions

The increasing involvement of different institutions with the sustainable tourism concept is one of the main characters of a transition. This is clearly visible within the transition towards a sustainable marine tourism regime within the Netherlands.

The increase of the involvement of institutions with regard to sustainable tourism is in co-evolution with not only technological development but multiple processes. There is a general increase of the use of the sustainability concept in general (Dinica, 2009; Kuhlman & Farrington, 2010; Smith, Voß, & Grin, 2010). The combination of these co-evolutionary processes and the increasing involvement of different institutions strengthens the stability of sustainable tourism niche. An example of co-evolution process is the increase in awareness of the impact of humankind on the environments reflects in the (global) demonstrations and sustainable awareness movements. With Greta Thunderberg leading a worldwide movement, yearly climate strikes and the rise of extinction rebellion as obvious examples (Laville & Watts, 2019)

Examples of the co-evolutionary processes with regard to the increase of the use of the sustainability concept within the Netherlands are the start of the sustainability week and the increase of sustainability awards, not only in the tourism regime but in different aspects of society (Eventbrite, 2020). Examples within the tourism business are the number of companies that achieve the accreditation of the travel life certification and are travel life certified. The travel life initiative certificated was funded with the financial support of the European Union during the EU-LIFE Environmental project “Tour-Link” between 2004 and 2007 (Travellife, 2020). It ensures the decreasing barrier for companies regarding the involvement in the transition towards a sustainable business. According to Gert Nieuwboer, CEO of SNP natuurreizen, this travel life certificate can be used as a tool when companies are interested in the transition towards a fully sustainable policy (2019).

To decrease the negative impact of the companies on the locals the first national tourism conference was held in 2018 (Rijksoverheid, 2020).

Influence branding

The presentative of the offer is becoming increasingly important, certainly in a tourist market where most destinations are already “pre-selected”, as the internet is the most important source of information and choice making and when tourist often do not have enough time to get to research the place of destination (Breman et al., 2009). Research from the Deutsche Bank (Ehmer, 2008 SOURCE) indicated that the future of Europe and in particular the Netherlands is favored because of the central location and because the Netherlands is a favorable point

The transition towards a sustainable marine tourism regime