We have to take into account that modern tourists are very proactive and that they search for the information in advance. That is why there exist numeorus web pages, where we/they can check about all of the neccessary information they need about the destination, travel, sightseeings, stories connected to the destination etc.
However, some researches have been made about tourists who are coming to Holland. They were asked about their views, interest and associations connected to Holland.
To get that information NBTC has conducted an image survey in the five most important countries of origin of foreign tourists who visit the Netherlands: Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium, United States and France.
One of the general conclusions that may be drawn might be helpful for our research and our project.
The respondents associate the Netherlands mainly with the old icons, such as tulips,
cheese, windmills and bicycles. The 'soft' attributes like friendliness/friendly people also score well;
The Inbound Tourism Research shows that for seven in ten international visitors, leisure is the main purpose for their stay in Holland (over 6.9 million visitors). Over a quarter stay overnight in Holland for a business reason (over 2.5 million visitors) and almost 5% name other reasons, such as visiting family or friends**, attending sports events or a study or school trip.
Main activities in Holland
Activities most undertaken by incoming tourists in Holland are walking (57%) and visiting bars or cafés (55%). Half of the tourists visit landmarks and historic locations and an equal percentage go fun shopping. There is an important difference between the undertaken activities and the main activity. Although many visitors visit a bar or café, this is rarely the main activity during a visit to Holland. Walking and visiting
landmarks and historic locations are most often mentioned as the main activities.
Compared to 2005, incoming visitors more often visit museums, landmarks and historic locations and more visitors make trips on acanaltour.
With regards to the main activity during the visit to Holland, there are big differences between visitors from various countries:
• Germans and Belgians often prefer outdoor activities. They like to go cycling and walking and to visit nature areas or the beach.
• Art and culture however, are more popular with Americans and Italians. Their main activities are visiting museums, landmarks and historic locations.
• With the French and the Spaniards, these cultural activities are also in the top 5, but walking is the main activity. Considering the many city trips that these tourists take to Holland. This often means walking in and exploring a city.
• This also applies to visitors from Great Britain and the Scandinavian countries. However, they relatively often mention that visiting a restaurant is their main activity
besides walking.
• The tulip fields, a classic icon of Holland, only ends up in the top 5 of main activities of two countries. Of visitors from Great Britain and France, 7% and 9% respectively, consider visiting the tulip fields the main activity during their stay in Holland.
Culture and museum visits
Museum visits are a popular part of a leisure visits to Holland. Of the 9.9 million incoming tourists who visited our country in 2009, no less than 41% say they visited a museum at least once during their stay in Holland.
“Lost in time” is new and fresh application which have not been launched before, so we cannot really predict what will happen and what do the tourist expect from the application. However, based on some previously made researches we can assume and estimate some preferences of tourists who visit to Holland.
As previously mentioned, people usually associate the Netherlands mainly with the old icons, such as tulips, cheese, windmills and bicycles. Since they expect all of the mentioned things, it is important to present them in a nice, interesting way. This might be an opportunity for “Lost in time” application, because they could develop stories and adventures strongly connected to these Holland icons.
The fact is that half of the tourists visit landmarks and historic locations and they like walking and visiting at the same time. That means that “Lost in time” should really connect with the historic locations, where tourist could explore the landscape and stories (real or unreal) that happened there in the past. From this we can conclude that big cities may not be the best option for the adventure Lost in time. It should be located somewhere in the rural areas, where the children and the parents (or other users of the application) could carefree enjoy their stay and adventure.
Compared to 2005, incoming visitors more often visit museums, landmarks and historic locations. This is again connected to the previous paragraph, where we emphasize the importance of landmarks and historic locations. Another important thing that we can add are museums. They can be one of the main destinations where tourist could “buy” or apply for the “Lost in time” application.
There are some differences between the Dutch and foreign visitors of course, but probably developing an application for two slightly different audiences would bring to much expenses.
However, Dutch visitors would be probably more interested in the details, because they already have some basic knowledge from their education or from media. Foreign visitors might be more interested in the “Icons of Holland” and would like to know stories behind them. As previously said, we have to take into account that all of the visitors are nowadays proactive, that means that one UK tourist might know as many information about the Dutch destination as average Dutch visitor, because they will look up for the informations on the internet or in tourist guides. It is really hard to generalize all of the tourists, but so far it is not essential to separate the content of application for national and foreign visitors.
Some suggestions:
Landmark, rural adventure - windmills for example, tulips fields,
Consider bicycles.
Sources:
http://www.visitholland.nl/
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