Barriers and advertising banners are being
erected around fields in the tulip bulb region of the Netherlands in an
attempt to deter a growing number of tourists from flattening the flowers to
take selfies.
Tourists have been seen
jumping above the tulips to secure the perfect picture, or lying down in the
middle of fields, squashing the plants.
Simon Pennings, a grower
near the town of Noordwijkerhout in the bulb region of south-west Netherlands,
was the first to erect a barrier in his field, emblazoned with the slogan of a
pilot campaign backed by the local tourist board: “Enjoy the flowers, respect
our pride.”
Now, with as many as 42 million people forecast to visit the country
annually by 2030, up from 18 million in 2018, the Netherlands tourist
board is moving its focus from promoting the country as a tourist destination
to trying to manage the huge numbers coming in by plane, train and automobile.
A country of 17 million people can have too much of a good thing, it is
suggested.
Such is the nuisance factor of some tourists in parts of the Netherlands
that the tourist board is even encouraging regions to take up a policy that might
require actively dissuading people from visiting certain areas.
Some cities and regions are very
busy. Giethoorn, a small village with a lot of windmills and about 2,500 inhabitants
is usually explored by boat through its network of small canals and visited by
an estimated 350,000 Chinese tourists every year.
Amsterdam, home to 1.1 million people, attracts more than 17 million
visitors a year.
The local municipality is seeking to halt the growth of hotels, souvenir
shops, ticket sales outlets and cheese shops. Amsterdam Schiphol airport’s
capacity will be capped and passenger vessels will be moved out of the city’s
center.
Tourism earns the Dutch economy €82bn (£70bn) and in 2018 accounted for
about 761,000 jobs – one in 13 jobs in the Netherlands.
Europeans remain the most likely to visit the Netherlands, with Germans
and Belgians making up 42% of all tourists.
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| The ‘Iamsterdam’ sculpture – a popular photo spot – was removed from the square in front of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam last year |
From The Guardian (edited)
Photograph: Merten Snijders/Getty Images/Lonely Planet Images
