The Netherlands tourist board NBTC is switching gears, and will—at least for now—stop actively promoting the country as a holiday destination.
Instead, it will focus on trying to spread the waves of visitors around the country by putting a spotlight on less-known and less-crowded areas of the country, especially in the busiest periods.
NBTC says its new strategy is the way to go between now and 2030 because “To control visitor flow and leverage the opportunities that tourism brings with it, we must act now. Instead of destination promotion, it is now time for destination management.” The organization expects 29 million visitors a year by 2030, up from last year’s 19 million.
A big part of its strategy is pushing the concept of HollandCity, promoting the Netherlands as if it were one city with many neighborhoods to be visited, similar to Amsterdam’s strategy of getting visitors to look outside the central canal ring.
The need for a change became even more clear during this year’s Easter season, when so many visitors headed for the Keukenhoff flower displays and the windmills of Kinderdijk that many never arrived due to traffic and overcrowding.
