Blauwestad

Bachelorarbeit von Thomas Töppel

The following report is a customer research about visitors and residents in the Blauwestad area, therefore the title ‘Recreation and Tourism in the Blauwestad – Monitoring and Customer Research” has been chosen. The following report gives information about visitors to and residents of the Blauwestad, their origin, activities, image, points of improvements, an assessment and other information. The outcome will be compared with the different groups of respondents, as well as with the outcome of the ‘Consumentenonderzoek Toerisme 2005” made by Toerdata Noord. This report will give a first insight view for the Blauwestad about its visitors and residents. As the title says, monitoring is part of this report but monitoring is a cyclical process which gives the Blauwestad the opportunity to compare the outcomes in this report with outcomes of researches done in the future.

Similar researches have been done by Toerdata Noord in the northern part of the Netherlands, in the provinces of Groningen, Friesland, and Drenthe. These researches have been used as a basis for the survey done in the Blauwestad. The author of this report used similar questions to compare the results with each other, but for more information about the visitors and the residents, questions have been added. The purpose is to find out similarities and differences between the two different researches but also between the different groups interviewed. This gives the opportunity to understand the visitors and residents and the possibility to define a target group, which will be important for the marketing strategy.

The first aim is to find out what visitors and residents think about the Blauwestad area, what their activities are, what their image about this region is and others. The second aim is to compare the results with the outcome of Toerdata Noord and also between the different groups interviewed to be able to draw conclusions.

Table of Contents:

	List of Tables	1
	List of figures	2
	List of pictures	2
	Introduction	3
	Rationale	3
	Aims	3
	Problem Statement and Research Questions	4
	Structure of the report	6
	Literature review	7
1.	Monitoring	7
2.	Blauwestad	8
3.	The Toerdata Noord research	14
4.	CBS (Central Bureau for Statistics)	18
	Case study	19
	Monitoring and consumer research in the Blauwestad	19
	Methodology	19
1.	Research Method	19
2.	Research techniques	20
3.	Research procedure	20
4.	Analysis of the information	20
	Analysis	21
1.	Place of origin of the respondents	22
1.1	Country of origin of the respondents.	22
1.2	Dutch respondents	23
1.3	Place of origin of respondents in the province of Groningen	24
2.	Information about residents and non-residents	25
2.1	Living in the area	25
2.2	Number of years living in the area	26
2.3	Place of origin of non-residents	27
2.4	Accommodation	27
2.5	Distance travelled	28
2.6	Length of travel	29
2.7	Conveyance	30
3.	Composition of the group and age	31
3.1	Group composition	31
3.2	Age composition	32
4.	Income	33
4.1	Household status	33
4.2	Income	34
5.	Source of information	35
5.1	Source of information Blauwestad	35
6.	Visitors motives	37
6.1	Visitor motives Blauwestad	37
7.	Activities	39
7.1	Activities of respondents in the Blauwestad	39
8.	Assessment	41
8.1	Total assessment of Blauwestad	41
9.	Return of visitors	45
10.	Recommendation of the area	46
10.1	Yes/No/Maybe	46
10.2	One-day-trip/several days	47
11.	Improvements	48
11.1	Improvements in general	48
11.2	Improvements day tourists/residents	49
11.3	Improvements Event	49
11.4	Improvement TRAM	50
11.5	Improvement CHN	50
11.6	Comparison to the ‘Consumentenonderzoek Toerisme 2005”	51
12.	Image of the Blauwestad as a tourist destination	52
12.1	Image of respondents in the Blauwestad	52
12.2	Image of the day tourists/residents	53
12.3	Image of the Event visitors	54
12.4	Image of TRAM	55
12.5	Image of CHN	56
12.6	Comparison to the ‘Consumentenonderzoek Toerisme 2005”	57
	Answers to Problem Statement and Research Questions	58
	Research Questions	58
	Problem Statement	60
	Limitations of the research	60
	Recommendations	60
	Literature list	61

Textsample, Chapter 3, The Toerdata Noord research:

The research done in the Blauwestad has been based on researches done by Toerdata Noord. Toerdata Noord researches leisure and tourism in the northern part of the Netherlands, where the Blauwestad is situated, therefore the results of the research in the Blauwestad can be compared with the researches of Toerdata Noord to find possible similarities and differences of tourists coming to the northern part of the Netherlands and in the special case of the Blauwestad. The following part describes Toerdata Noord and explains its importance for the comparison with the results of the research done in the Blauwestad.

Toerdata Noord is a cyclical research for leisure and tourism in the northern part of the Netherlands, including the provinces of Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe. The project started in May 1996. The research is done by students and employees of the Institute Service Management of the CHN University, Leeuwarden. Students collect date, input and mutate the collected data into the database and make analysis and eventually report the outcomes. The employees guide the students through all phases of the research process, make guiding instructions and procedures for different activities and tasks, take care of problems and are responsible for the whole project.

Toerdata Noord contains two different reports, Tourism in Numbers (‘Toerisme in Cijfers”) which is done once every year, and Consumer Research Tourism (‘Consumentenonderzoek Toerisme”), done every 3 years. Both reports are in Dutch and fulfill the need for information about the development in tourism in the provinces and the regions. Similar data are available but Toerdata Noord also considers small businesses which are usually left out.

The information of Toerdata Noord is intended for the provinces, the regions and local communities; furthermore, the data are also interesting for individual managers of leisure companies, branch organizations, and students (for assignments).

To collect data for the Consumer Research Tourism, 3,000 tourists in different locations and regions are directly questioned in the field.

Tourism in numbers works with 2,300 companies who receive a questionnaire every year.

Tourism in Numbers is an annual summery containing information of touristic categories throughout the three provinces of Groningen, Friesland, and Drenthe.

One of the categories is accommodation, which discusses the capacity (number of beds), the total amount of overnight stays, and the average occupation rate of hotels/pensions, camping sites, group accommodation and recreation accommodations.

Another category is water sport, discussing the capacity, renting and overnight stays of yacht harbors and yacht rents.

Furthermore information about bridges and lock passages, employment numbers, touristic attractions and events, and spending in the leisure sector are given and discussed. In the northern part of the Netherlands, 1,8 billion Euros were spent within the leisure sector in 2002, which is 15% of the total amount spent in the Netherlands. Toerdata Noord has recorded 14.3 million overnight stays in 2002 in Groningen, Friesland, and Drenthe, which is a 4% increase from 2001.

The Consumer Research Tourist is a description of the tourist profile in Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe. This report is based on this research and will compare the region of the Blauwestad to the information given by the Consumer Research Tourist.

Information contained in this research includes the profile of the tourist, the touristic motives, activities, renting, holiday behavior, appreciation and improvement points. The outcomes of the research are divided into different tourist groups (culture/sporting tourism), provinces, regions, the different kind of seasons, and the type of accommodations. On request, data can be more specified, i.e. the differences between the German and the Dutch tourists.

The following describes the importance of Toerdata Noord for society. It gives reliable numbers of the supply and demand on the market. Furthermore, based on the outcomes of the reports, the local government takes decisions on the terrain of tourism, and information of the Toerdata Noord can give feedback on policies made by the government.

Market information and important trends given in specific by Toerdata Noord are also useful for individual managers and branch organizations.

Three-thousand tourists were interviewed in the three provinces in 2005 within 12 different regions. The questionnaires took place in the pre-, high-, and off-season. The report differs between day tourists and overnight tourists. The collected data are compared to the research of 2000 and 2002.

The northern part of the Netherlands is well known for its nature, landscape and the huge amount of bicycle paths and possibilities for walking and hiking. This feature has been the most important for day tourists as well as overnight tourists and scored an 8 of 10.

Day tourists and overnight tourists have been asked for their general attitude toward the area. The day tourists in Drenthe were most satisfied, as were the overnight tourists.

Attractions and activities as possibilities for bad weather are a weak point according to the respondents. The scores differ from 6.5 to 7.3.

This leads to the possibilities of improvement in this region. Facilities for bad weather and facilities for children and parents are the most common points for improvement for day tourists as well as overnight tourists. Some aspects, such as signposting, the catering industry (horeca), information and promotion facilities, parking facilities, the cost and the environment are also points that should be improved, according to the respondents.