Netherlands Will Continue Tourism Promotion Despite Media Reports
Skift Take
Forget the flashy headlines; destinations need time to respond effectively to overtourism with the cultural fabric of popular locations at stake. The intelligent move is to thoughtfully adjust policies to limit the negative impact of tourism.
Tourism professionals and avid travelers probably saw the headlines a few weeks ago. "Netherlands revolts against over-tourism as sites trampled by influx," read the initial story from the Telegraph, asserting that locals and authorities alike were fed up with overtourism.
The story went on to say that the Netherlands, and Amsterdam in particular, were "buckling" from the impact of tourism growth and angry locals were ready to start banning tourists from their cities altogether. A decline in travel promotion would be the first step toward fighting back.
The rest of the travel media quickly posted follow-up stories based off of the report, claiming that the Netherlands would stop promoting tourism.
The only problem? Nobody bothered to ask officials in the Netherlands whether any of it were true, because it wasn't.
The Netherlands, in fact, released a nuanced 10-year-plan dubbed Perspective
