Yes! Here I am again! I have been absent for a while due to a turbulent and heavy internship at Prinos Reizen. About 4 weeks ago I started my second minor: Destination Development Management. If you want to know more about Destination Development you should visit the website of Inholland or you can send me an message. In order to complete my minor successfully, I need to write an Body of Knowledge (BOK). Originally, this needed to be in the form of a portfolio, closed for publication. However, after writing blogs, I received a lot of positive reactions which made my persuade my professors to make it possible to do a part of the BOK on my blog so that you can enjoy the fun of reading my blogs once again. I will create different categories in which different subjects will be adressed. In the category 'Excursions' I will write about the excursions that I attended to during the minor Destination Development. I will use the Critical Success Factors that where given to my by one my professors. Introduction On the second of February we had our first excursion which was organized by Phillipa Collin. We had to come to the gathering point which was the 'Brood' café on the NDSM Werf in the North of Amsterdam. The excursion was called: 'Remember the good times' which referred to an online tour that we had to download on our smartphones on before hand. We where divided in to two groups and Phillipa walked along with the group where I was in. The idea of the tour was that this online tour would guide you through the surrounding area by telling stories and showing movies that where linked to a certain place. By using your GPS on your phone the online tour guide would recognize where you where and then started to tell a story when you arrived at an designated place within the map that was given within the tour guide app. A short description of the tour and its purpose
First of all, it was a very cold day, which didn't make it much of a comfortable tour as the biggest part of the tour was outside. Pretty soon, it became clear that the tour was about the harbor workers that worked within this area, often in bad conditions. The NDSM werf used to be one of the most important ports of the world because of the excellent ships that the Dutch used to produce. It was one of the major incomes of the Dutch economy and at the time, a very important place for the city of Amsterdam. The ship yards at that time where known for producing the biggest ships on the planet. In order to keep such a place running, a lot of workers where needed. At that time, The Netherlands also dealt with a lot of immigrating people from Turkey and Surinam, who looked for an income and a better chance. A lot if these immigrants, together with locals, worked within this harbor. Often, these people worked under harsh conditions, low salary and worked a lot of hours. Before I did this tour, I never even knew that this port was so important, and that so many people suffered here. When you walk this tour, the online guide doesn't only tell you stories, but also lets local people (of that time) tell you their experience en stories. In this way, you as an participant of this tour, get a clear insight in what happened here and the history that the place has. The tour is set up in a chronological way which helps the participant to see the changes that occurred throughout the years. By using audio, video's and tekst, the tour guide really keeps you interested at all times, which is quite special, given the fact that you are walking in a mostly abandoned place, where there is not much to see when not informed properly. My opinion I think that my personal opinion was partly influenced by the weather, since it was very cold and therefore it sometimes was quite difficult to keep my attention and patience when completing the tour. However I managed to complete it successfully. Personally I tend to always look at things with my own vision and so I did with this tour. If you look at the place where the tour took place, it is quite remote. As an tourist, first of all, you'll have to be aware of the fact that there is a tour for this place, otherwise you will never visit the place. Second of all, from a touristic point of view, it takes a lot of effort to reach the area, and given the fact that the biggest part of tourists that are visiting Amsterdam are tourists who are on a city trip which usually takes no more than a few days, so they have to plan their time efficiently. This in combination with the fact that there are a lot of other 'must see's' within Amsterdam makes me wonder if tourists would be interested in such a tour by taking so much effort to reach the area and then skip other, maybe more interesting parts of Amsterdam. However, it might be a nice option for tourists who are staying longer than a few days, or who come to visit Amsterdam repeatedly. My third and last concern about the tour is that it is a very negative tour, there is a lot of suffering and even death within the tour, which from my point of view is something that we should not forget, but we should also not promote or show it. However, this is just my opinion, as I have never liked Berlin either because of its dark history. Critical Succes Factors When looking at the Critical Succes Factors (CSF), I think that the tour has succeeded in using a lot of these CSF's whithin its tour. This tour has a real sense of place, as the story is linked to the shipyard and its surroundings, really beloning there, giving typical information about the place with its personal stories from locals. In this way, it enables you to imagine yourself right in between that community, at that given time and it also provides you insider's knowledge. By showing you video's, telling you stories and by using real places as 'stage' for these stories, it gives you the opportunity to see the special in the otherwise boring and ordinary place it is nowadays. You can certainly say that it is an tour that is off the beaten track, but in this case, i'm not sure if that's a good thing. It sure is full of storytelling, as this is the main focus of the tour, which also educates you by telling you the history behind every stop that you have. There is no real suitable souvenir, or even the opportunity to get one, other than the having of this tour on your personal smartphone. As earlier said, the process of change is very visible, as the tour is set up in a chronological way but it lacks the cultural diversity that could have made it even more interesting. It is difficult to really judge this tour on its Ethical issues because it hasn't really paid any attention to one of the three P's (people, planet, profit) but it hasn't really negatively effected it also. As of the human aspect, there is no real Human experience within the tour, because it doesn't have any meaningful interaction between locals and tourists, as it is more of a one sided communication. There are memories and emotional references but there is no way to interact or co-create. One could argue about the tour guide about if it is a local guide or not, but it is a fact that there can be no spontaneous actions within the tours which most of the time create these meaningful interactions. To end on a positive note, I think that this concept is a unique and clear one which smartly uses the technological possibilities nowadays. Because it has been a while since I last posted an interesting story, I'll have to remind you that you'll make me very happy with sharing, liking and loving my blogs! Follow, like, pin it, love it.
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AuthorAnthony Voskuilen, a driven tourism student, football player, brother, son and friend. Determined to achieve greatness on whatever path life sends me. Become wise.
Do you want to read my blogs ? Sure ! Just click on the "read more" button and enlighten yourself. (all written in Dutch)
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