Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp.

55-69, 1998
© 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd
~ Pergamon All rights reserved. Printed in Great Britain
0160-7383/98 $19.00+0.00

PII: S0160-7383 (97) 00061-3

REDEFINING A M S T E R D A M AS A
TOURIST DESTINATION
Heidi Dahles
Tilburg University, The Netherlands

Abstract:Tourist representations of the city of Amsterdam are capitalizing on the city's glorious
past, the reputation of tolerance and liberalism, the red-light district, and the gay scene. Recent
efforts in city marketing undertaken by formerly contesting actors in the tourism industry have
abandoned the heterogeneous image. Rather, a polished image of the city has emerged as the
national landmark of the Netherlands. This strategic choice has far-reaching consequences for
cultural tourism in Amsterdam. While city marketing has become more targeted and demand-
oriented, cultural tourism is still product-based. However, if demand-oriented marketing is
taken seriously, cultural tourism has to be approached as a process enabling tourists to experi-
ence local life. This strategy would establish clear markers of a distinct urban identity. The
future of Amsterdam as a center of global tourism is depending on the redefinition of its identity
in terms of local culture. Keywords: cultural tourism, city marketing, global tourism market,
local culture. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
R6sum6:La red6finition d'Amsterdam comme destination touristique. Les repr6sentations
touristiques de la ville d'Amsterdam exploitent son histoire et sa r6putation de la tolfrance et
du lib6ralisme. Les stratfgies actuelles de marketing de ville ont renonc6 ~t l'image h6t~rog~ne
en faveur d'une repr6sentation brillante comme marquage national des Pays-Bas. Pendant que
le marketing de ville a 6t6 plus orient6 ~ la cote de la demande, le tourisme culturel est encore
fond6 au produit. Ce document pose que la future d'Amsterdam comme destination touristique
d6pend d'une red6finition de son image comme un proc~s permettant aux touristes de vivre la vie
locale. Cette strat6gie fondrait les marquages clairs d'une identit6 locale. Mots-cl6s: tourisme
culturel, marketing de ville, identit6 locale. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION
The image of Amsterdam as a tourism destination is based on two
major themes. The first is the image of the city as being dominated
by the urban town design of the early modern period. Visitors, both
from the Netherlands and from abroad, have clear expectations of
Vermeer townscapes composed of tightly packed canalside buildings.
As a destination, Amsterdam is characterized by a physically compact
and thematically cohesive inner city. The tourism resources within
this area depend upon an urban ensemble from the 17th and 18th
centuries, and serve a show-case function, which is supported by enter-
tainment facilities of a national and international reputation (Ash-
worth and Tunbridge 1990:181-183). The second is the current

Heidi Dahles is cultural anthropologist with fieldwork experience in rural Austria, the
Netherlands, and Indonesia. She received her Ph.D. from Nijmegen University (The Nether-
lands) in 1990. At present she is Assistant Professor in the Department of Leisure Studies at
Tilburg University (PO Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, the Netherlands. Email h.dahles@kub.nl).
She is involved in comparative research on heritage tourism, local identity and national policies
in the Netherlands and Indonesia.

55
56 AMSTERDAM AS A DESTINATION

popular image of Amsterdam which was formed in the late 60s and is
based upon a youth culture of sexual liberalism and narcotic indul-
gence. More recently this image has been strongly linked to a "dirt
and disorder reputation". Amsterdam has been presented as the city
of vandalism, insecurity, and public disorder by the international
media.
The image of "history, heretics and whores" is not detrimental to
tourism--as Ashworth and Tunbridge (1990:183) suggest. On the
contrary, this image appears to be one of the major attractions of the
city of which the tourism industry seems to be aware. Almost all city
guides to Amsterdam mention the interweaving of different strands
of life which compose the city's attractiveness: the reminders of the
wealthy Golden Age trading city, the sleazy port, the remnants of a
proud maritime nation and affluent colonial empire, the reputation
for tolerance and liberalism, the rich bourgeois culture, the radical
hippie mecca of the 60s, and the red-light district. Some guidebooks
(for example, the Rough Guide) even mention the drug dealing and
the gay scene. References to national and colonial history go hand in
hand with local images of the past, tales of the vicissitudes of ordinary
people, and scenes of everyday life.
Yet, this pastiche seems to have lost its attractiveness in an expand-
ing tourism market. In the last few years the position of Amsterdam
as a destination has declined in comparison to other European cities.
In the top ten of the most popular cities in Europe of 1991 (popularity
being measured by the number of nights tourists spent in the city),
Amsterdam has dropped from fourth to eighth position, outpaced by
Dublin, Vienna, Budapest, and Edinburgh and threatened by Madrid,
Brussels, and Berlin (M&CA 1994:4). The city has never regained its
former position and is struggling to stay in the lower echelons of the
top ten (Toerisme en Amsterdam 1996:5:7). Pessimists even
predicted that the city would disappear from the top ten altogether,
which, from a competitive point of view, would be like passing into
oblivion.
It certainly is a striking phenomenon that a city which only some
years ago was competing with London and Paris to become the most
popular destination in Europe, is fighting for survival in a global
tourism market; all the more since Amsterdam seems to offer a
rather attractive tourism product. What is even more striking is the
repercussion the city's loss caused among relevant actors in the local
and national tourism sector. As Ashworth and Voogd (1990:5) have
argued, it is not the accuracy of the quantitative scores which is so
important but the fact that such rankings are produced at all, the
existence of this sort of competition and the importance attached to
it by industries and governments. Although Amsterdam regained one
position in the top ten of 1993, and has held seventh position ever
since (Toerisme en Amsterdam 1993:12:1-3), this modest success has
not removed the fear that the city might end up sharing the status of
Dutch provincial towns; a fear that is shared by the local and national
tourism industry and the public sector.
This article is not concerned with an investigation of what caused
the city's drop in the top ten. Besides a number ofad hoc explanations
 HEIDI DAHLES 57

produced by marketers, policymakers, and journalists, blaming the

local policy, the worldwide recession, and the increased competition
from Eastern European cities (Toerisme en Amsterdam 1993:9:1-2),
the failure of Amsterdam has been dealt with in a thorough analysis
of the city's competitive position in the European tourism market.
The results of this analysis will be discussed below. Rather this article
analyzes the reactions to the city's decline in the top ten to reveal the
partly conflicting and partly converging positions taken by different
actors in the industry towards tourism policy. The question that will
be dealt with is to what extent the outcome of the policy debate
meets the requirements ofa globalizing tourism market. After a short
discussion of visitor profiles and the tourism product of the city, the
article proceeds with an analysis of the actors in urban tourism and
their changing attitudes towards the industry as an asset in urban
development. The new tourism policy will then be discussed against
the background of cities in the competitive arena of cultural tourism
catering to the changing tastes of increasingly demanding tourists.
Competition in a global market will require a more process-oriented
approach to cultural tourism in the future.

TOURISM IN AMSTERDAM
The number of registered residential tourists in Amsterdam since
1989 shows considerable fluctuation. In 1990 (the best year so far) 1.9
million tourists spent at least one night in accommodation in the city;
compared to the previous year, this was a growth of 12%. In 1991 this
number dropped to 1.75 million; the figure recovered slightly in 1992
(1.8 million), only to tumble again in 1993. In that year the number
of residential visitors was 1.65 million; and in 1994 it recovered and
reached 1.85 million. This growth stimulated the prognosis that in
1995 the number of visitors would reach the 1990 level (ATO 1994:17).
At the end of 1995, given disappointing results in the first six months
of the year, this prognosis turned out to be too optimistic; tourism
increased by 3% only. In 1996, however, the growth was 6% (Toerisme
en Amsterdam 1996:5-11).
The top ten listing reflects the popularity of European cities in
global tourism, as the list is established on the basis of the arrival and,
significantly, the length of stay of tourists from all over the world.
About 10% of the residential tourists are domestic tourists (ATO
1993:18). Excursionists visiting the city on a daytrip are not included
in the top ten rankings. There are no reliable statistics on excur-
sionists, as this category is not registered. However, in 1991 it was
estimated that about 11.5 million foreign and domestic visitors--
mostly from the Netherlands and neighboring countries such as the
United Kingdom, Germany, and Belgium--spent a day in the Dutch
capital (ATO 1992:6). Recent market research has shown that these
countries are generating a steady flux of residential tourists; and it
might be expected that this applies to excursionists as well (M&CA
1994:5-6).
These millions of tourists generate income. The average excur-
sionist spends about $66 per day, the average residential tourist about
58 AMSTERDAM AS A DESTINATION

$116 (Toerisme=Werkgelegenheid 1994:6). From a financial point of

view, the congress and business tourists are most attractive, as they
spend about $164 per day of which about $94 is on accommodation
(Omnibusonderzoek 1992-93:3:27-28). Cruise passengers form ano-
ther profitable market. In 1993 Amsterdam welcomed 108 sea vessels
with 95,000 passengers and 375 river vessels with 50,000 passengers.
The total turnover of Amsterdam cruiseship tourism was $42 million
(TMAP 1995, 1994:8). In 1993 the expenditures produced a turnover
of $1.1 billion, supporting 20,000jobs, which is 6% of the total employ-
ment in the city (Toerisme=Werkgelegenheid 1994:6).
Amsterdam is a popular destination for younger travelers: 60% of
the visitors are younger than 30 years (Omnibusonderzoek 1992-
93:3:3). Considering the demographic developments in most Western
countries where there are aging populations, analysts in the Amster-
dam tourism business speak of a disequilibrium: they lament the large
numbers of younger people who are attracted to the city and wish to
offer a product that is more appealing to older visitors. As far as
expenditure is concerned, there is a difference between the amount
of money spent by thirty-plus and by younger residential tourists.
Residential tourists younger than 30 years, however, are not "low-
budget" visitors, as their average expenditure is $95.50, which is
only ($20.50) less than the older residential tourists spend. Closer
comparison between the spending of young and older tourists reveals
that the youth are saving money on accommodation, but spending
more on shopping, food, amusement, and entertainment (Omni-
busonderzoek 1992-93:2:14).
The majority of all tourists visit Amsterdam because of its "relaxed"
and "cozy" atmosphere, the cultural heritage and canals (Het imago
van Amsterdam 1994:162-63). As research on the image of Amster-
dam among visitors has shown, 78% of the tourists are attracted
to the city because of cultural-historical aspects i.e., museums and
exhibitions, and more than 50% because of the liberal atmosphere
(Toerisme en Amsterdam 1994:2:6-7). "Hot issues" like the red-light
district, disorder, dirt, and drugs do not appear to bother the actual
visitors; only a minority are concerned about these aspects (Het imago
van Amsterdam 1992-93:167-170). However, these research results
do not reveal how many potential visitors are discouraged to book a
trip to Amsterdam because of its "dirt and disorder" reputation.

Tourism Policies
Amsterdam's decline in popularity has stirred up a wave of reac-
tions. All parties involved are talking about the city's identity crisis.
The earlier mentioned research on its position in a global tourism
market laid bare the major reasons for this crisis. The research was
conducted under the authority of the Amsterdam Tourist Office--
which is the mouthpiece of the city's tourism industry--and the
municipal and national government. The analysis shows that the
strength of the city's tourism product is its cultural heritage, but that
representation and marketing of that heritage is its major weakness
(KPMG 1993). The results of this research generated a debate among
 HEIDI DAHLES 59

the various actors in urban tourism about which strategy to follow in

promoting Amsterdam as a city destination. There was disagreement
about the target group, the elements of the tourism product, and the
establishment of a landmark.
As in many other cities (Law 1993:145), this debate revealed a gap
between the public and private sector: a gap between the ambitions
of the local government, the local tourism industry as represented
by the Amsterdam Tourist Office, and the Netherlands Bureau for
Tourism (NBT) concerned with the promotion of the Dutch tourism
industry as a whole. The outcome of this debate is drastic changes in
the relationship between the major agents in the local and national
tourism sector. First, there is a rapprochement between the public and
the private sector. Second, the umbrella organizations of the local and
national tourism industry, the Amsterdam Tourist Office, and the
NBT have joined forces to enhance tourism promotion abroad. This
rapprochement resulted in a joint venture and new consensus regarding
tourism policy.
The Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs is responsible for
tourism development. From the beginning of the 80s onwards, the
involvement of the ministry in tourism policy has increased. During
the last 15 years, the budget for national tourism policy has grown
from $28 million in 1979 to $43 million per year from 1990 onwards,
to be spent mainly on promotion and improvement of infrastructure
(Van der Poel 1993:58). Traditionally a stronghold of entrepreneurial
interests, the ministry emphasized the growth of tourism-recreational
expenditure and employment. The latest memorandum, Venturing in
Tourism (Ondernemen in toerisme), published by the ministry in 1990,
reflects the expanding influence of the national government on tour-
ism policy. This document establishes general planning principles and
also the main lines of a national planning strategy that guide the
subordinate local authorities in the production of their regional and
local plans. Basically this document focuses on increasing the econ-
omic potential of tourism. It defines the spearheads; among which are
the tourism potential of the coast, lakes and waterways, and the
cultural heritage. Cultural heritage plays a crucial role in integrating
these themes, since it was recognized that the cultural resources
concentrated in major cities and linked to the use of water represented
important weapons in the competitive struggle for international tour-
ist business (Richards 1986:235).
Based on this report, the Ministry of Economic Affairs has been
pressing for a promotional policy which focuses on cultural tourism in
the Netherlands, where culture has traditionally been regarded as a
means of improving the quality of life of its citizens, rather than as a
commodity to be sold to tourists. This attitude is rapidly changing, as
national and local governments have started to see the economic
potential of culture in general and cultural tourism in particular
(Richards 1996b:233).
In 1990 the Department of Economic Affairs of the Amsterdam
city council released its Amsterdam toeristenstad: kijk op de jaren negentig
(Amsterdam Tourist City for 90s). The m e m o r a n d u m acknowledges
the contribution of tourism to economic development, but lacks con-
60 AMSTERDAM AS A DESTINATION

fidence in tourism to generate income for a substantial part of the

city's population in the long term. Urban policymakers did not think
that tourism formed a "proper" industry, as it was perceived as pro-
viding only low-paid, low-skilled, and seasonal jobs. From another
memorandum, Beleidsplan Binnenstad, 1993, designing the policy for
inner city developments, emerges the primacy of housing and job
security for the local people, the protection of the cultural heritage,
and the enhancement of the quality of life of the inner city. Both the
interests of the local population and tourism development are treated
as mutually incompatible. A strong argument against expanding the
industry is that it involves spending money on visitors when the pri-
ority should focus on residents. Cultural institutions located in
Amsterdam (for example the Rijksmuseum, the national museum of
the Netherlands), considered the tourism industry "superfcial with
their tulips, windmills and Rembrandt's Nightwatch as the only paint-
ing" (Richards 1996b:243).
Moreover, the city council was dissatisfied with the way in which
the Amsterdam Tourist Office promoted the city. Throughout the
promotion of it as the tourism product of the early 90s, much emphasis
had been put on the 17th and 18th century heritage, the famous
buildings, the great works of art and artists such as the Golden
Age (1993-94), Van Gogh (1990), Rembrandt (1992), and Mondriaan
(1994), which had been supported by impressive expositions, events,
and manifestations. However, there was a basic conflict about the
product elements and the target groups. To enhance the reputation
of Amsterdam as a center of culture, the Tourist Office wished to
promote not only the museums, canals, and famous buildings, but,
most importantly, the city's historically close link to the sea and trade,
which would mesh with the strategic program of the Ministry of
Economic Affairs which highlights the Netherlands as "waterland"
(SM&C 1993). Thus, the Tourist Office campaign "Amsterdam, City
on the Water": a Zuider Zee fishing village becoming the capital of a
seafaring nation and trading empire, a history which has generated
today's liberal atmosphere. This became another important asset in
the Tourist Office's promotional activities, as was the significance of
the hippie mecca of the 60s for modern popular culture and global
youth culture (Toerisme en Amsterdam 1993:8:1-2; Toerisme en
Amsterdam 1993:12:5; Toerisme en Amsterdam 1993:9:7; Toerisme
en Amsterdam 1993:10/11:1-2).
The city council has never supported these themes as they might
attract market segments different from the tourism categories which
the council prefers. The issue of carrying capacity and the negative
impacts of tourism entered the discussion. The bureaucrats did not
want to enhance any further growth in the number of tourists visiting
Amsterdam, unless the growth involved "quality tourism", a concept
that refers to the middle-aged, well-to-do and well-educated cultural
tourist. The city council wanted to encourage tourists to spend more
money, stay longer, and cause less trouble (Amsterdam Toeristenstad
1990; Toerisme en Amsterdam 1993:12:5). Young backpackers and
touring-car transported mass tourists will have to give way to cruise-
ship passengers adding allure to a revitalized harbor and to con-
 HEIDI DAHLES 61

gress participants staying in expensive hotels. Both groups exhibit a

very generous spending pattern as has been shown above. It is obvious
that the Amsterdam city council has a contrasting view on "Amster-
dam, city on the water" that is directed at upgrading the tourism
product and the revenue return.
For some time, the Tourist Office showed different priorities than
the tourism policy of the local and national government. The office
preferred to welcome all categories of tourists, whether they were
attracted to Amsterdam because of its museums or by its "cof-
feeshops" (i.e., selling points for soft drugs) and red-light district. In
1994 that tune changed. The office published its marketing plan
for 1995 defining the spearheads of its policy: a demand-oriented
promotion, development of clear landmarks, and a more targeted
marketing focusing on quality tourism (TMAP 1995, 1994:5). So the
Amsterdam Tourist Office has given up on its earlier idea of promoting
the tourism product to a very broad target group. According to the
new policy, the product will be marketed to the "thirty-plus" tourist,
whereas a laissez faire approach will be applied towards the youth
which means that this market segment will not be targeted at all in
promotional campaigns (M&CA 1994:12).
The new policy is more in line with national and local government
policy. At about the same time in 1994 a Nota Amsterdam en het toerisme,
(New municipal m e m o r a n d u m on tourism) appeared. As this mem-
orandum shows, employment is still the major motive for tourism
development. However, tourism is not frowned upon anymore because
it offers mainly low-skilled employment. It is rather accepted with
open arms for exactly the same reason. Tourism is badly needed for
the low-skilled part of the population looking for a job---there were
80,000 jobless people in Amsterdam in 1993 out of a total population
of about 700,000 (M&CA 1994:12). As the Tourist Office succeeded
in both making viable suggestions towards the creation of new jobs
and relying less on municipal subsidies, the city council is showing its
willingness to invest in tourism-related activities and to reconsider the
retrenchment on the municipal subsidy paid to the Tourist Office--a
measure that was taken in the early 90s (Nota Amsterdam en het
toerisme 1994:25). The local government of Amsterdam has started
to take tourism seriously and is developing a policy in collaboration
with the private sector. At first sight, this rapprochement seems to be a
"marriage of convenience" involving financial agreements of mutual
benefit. At a closer look, however, a third party is involved that adds
another perspective to this rapprochement.
The Dutch Tourist Board, charged with the promotion of the
Netherlands, is an autonomous organization that operates for both
the government and the tourism industry. Its general tasks, such as
"Holland Promotion", strategic market research and market devel-
opment are mainly paid for by the government. The NBT receives
about $22 million of government funding per year--i.e., about 50% of
the "tourism budget" of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Special
promotional services are paid for by the participating companies (Van
der Poel 1993:60).
Since the early 90s Europe has lost 6% of its market share in
62 AMSTERDAM AS A DESTINATION

international tourism. At the same time the share of the Netherlands

within Europe has declined from 2.2% to 2.1%. The NBT is blaming the
loss of market share to the lack of appealing markers. This diagnosis is
supported by a SWOT analysis of the tourism product conducted by
the Amsterdam Tourist Office (M&CA 1994:4, 10-11). The Nether-
lands lacks a landmark of the scope of an Eiffel Tower or a Big Ben.
Dutch attractions are diffuse and difficult to envision. The estab-
lishment of a landmark has kept minds busy for the last few years,
and a number of suggestions have been launched. Some of these
suggestions will be actualized in the Amsterdam harbor area: a "vessel
in the bottle" that will measure 80 by 30 meters and a new science
center shaped like a bow rising from the water. In the inner city, a
Heritage Center opened its doors in the s u m m e r of 1996, offering a
multimedia presentation: the "Holland Experience". The climax of a
visit to the Holland Experience is to witness the (simulated) breach
of a dike (Toerisme en Amsterdam 1995:1-10-11).
Recently the city's policymakers and the Tourist Office developed
a perspective on the region. Both actors learned from more successful
European cities that inter-region competition is of no importance to
the tourists. Foreign tourists do not differentiate between the tourism
products of the country, but expect to find all the different elements in
one single package (M&CA 1994:13; Nota Amsterdam en het toerisme
1994:14-15). So far the Amsterdam product is undergoing a process of
regionalization: it merges with the markers of neighboring provincial
towns becoming the symbol of Holland.
It is not by coincidence that the markers of the Dutch national
product will be focused on Amsterdam. The city is the selling point
for the Netherlands (NBT 1991, 1993), and thus an interesting partner
for the NBT and its worldwide Holland Promotion. As the NBT has
experienced for many years, the best way to promote the Netherlands
is to promote Amsterdam (NBT 1991, 1993). Although both the NBT
and the Amsterdam Tourist Office were essentially doing the same
task (promoting Amsterdam), their interests diverge. The Tourist
Office wants tourists to stay in Amsterdam as many nights as possible,
whereas the NBT wants tourists to come to the Netherlands passing
through Amsterdam. With shrinking budgets (in 1995 the NBT
received three million guilders less from the Ministry of Economic
Affairs) both actors finally agreed to collaborate in the field of
promotion. This collaboration will take shape by drawing together all
initiatives to promote Amsterdam abroad. From now on the Amster-
dam Tourist Office will commission all international promotional
activities to a special branch of NBT--called NBT Amsterdam, which
is exclusively targeting Amsterdam. The budget of NBT Amsterdam
is $2.2 million, of which two thirds is paid by the NBT and one third
by the Amsterdam Tourist Office (Toerisme en Amsterdam 1995:6:2).
These new cooperative efforts promise to bridge the gap between
public and private, local and national interests. The image of the city
which has already taken on regional markers, is expanding to a
national size. The image of the Netherlands, on the other hand, is
shrinking to the size of two of the country's provinces: Holland. In
popular tourism images, Amsterdam and the Netherlands have always
 HEIDI DAHLES 63

been synonymous with Holland. Using this popular image in the

promotion of the city and the country has to be regarded as a strategy
of demand-oriented marketing which is (financially) supported by all
the actors in Amsterdam tourism policy. However, this focus on their
city as the selling point for Dutch incoming tourism is very much
debated by other actors in the national industry. In some other large
Dutch cities cultural tourism has taken on a much greater significance
lately. Viewed from the perspective of the ambitions of many urban
centers to enrich their cultural life, to enhance their profile, and to
compete successfully with other cities in attracting tourists, invest-
ments and jobs, the new strategies in Amsterdam city marketing
provoke some thought.

Cultural Tourism and Urban Development

The threat of losing a competitive position in a global tourism
market has been tackled in a thorough way by bringing together actors
who were once acting against each other. The Amsterdam city council
finds itself in a cooperative that is concerned with the city's tourism
product. The industry, however, is not the city council's only concern.
In fact, tourism is last on the local government's list of priorities after
housing, job security, the shopping areas and "culture" (Beleidsplan
Binnenstad 1993). Having adopted city marketing as a strategy within
public planning, the council has shown a growing awareness of the
advantages of obtaining private investment. Following Ashworth and
Voogd city marketing is treated here as a "process whereby urban
activities are as closely as possible related to the demands of targeted
customers so as to maximize t h e . . , functioning of the area concerned
in accordance with whatever goals have been established" (Ashworth
and Voogd 1990:11). The city of Amsterdam certainly has many dif-
ferent "customers", each requiring a different approach. To attract
tourists the unique cultural heritage has to be marketed; to attract
transnational business firms the marketing strategy is to stress the
physical and cultural infrastructure; to attract up-market shops the
focus is on consumptive needs, a "gentrified" surrounding and accessi-
bility; and to attract residents the city has to dispose of all kinds of
amenities (Ashworth and Voogd 1990:70).
As in many other cities the need to compete successfully in all those
national and global markets accounts for the recent revitalization in
Amsterdam. Afraid of provincialism, local policymakers started large
scale projects of international allure: the IJ-oeverproject--an ambitious
development project combining up-market housing and offices with
elaborated shopping facilities and cultural assets such as a large
library and concert hall (Nota van uitgangspunten voor de IJ-oevers
1991; Ondernemingsplan Ontwikkeling IJ-oevers 1993); a new soccer
stadium; the Nautisch Kwartier with its VOC-ship and Maritime
Museum; a science center; a megacinema; and a number of theaters
and new accommodation for pop concerts (Beleidsplan Binnenstad
1993). The cultural heart of the city, the area around the Museumplein,
is going to be restructured to integrate the great culture temples
(Stedelijk Museum, Van Gogh Museum, Rijksmuseum, and Concertgebouw),
64 AMSTERDAM AS A DESTINATION

the urban planners being inspired by the piazza del Duomo in Pisa.
Some of the anticipated projects, however, have already failed or are
experiencing serious financial problems. The fact that in spite of all
the problems, the local government clings to projects of this scale
shows the importance of urban competitiveness in a global market
(Burgers 1990).
Amsterdam tried to join in with other European cities which are
recognized as major cultural centers. These cities, including London,
Paris, Rome, and Berlin, have had to invest heavily in cultural infra-
structure to maintain their lead in the European league table (Bian-
chini and Fischer 1988). Compared to these monumental capitals,
A m s t e r d a m - - a s the archetypal Calvinist city--suffers from a lack of
cultural capital in the form of major monuments. The assets and
strategies of city marketing as exerted by the Amsterdam city council
have to be understood not only against the background ofa globalizing
market, but also in the light of this national competition. Although
Amsterdam is still perceived as the symbol of national culture, it must
compete in the cultural and economic arena with other big cities in
the Randstad (Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht), and more recently
with Maastricht in the south. The local government of Rotterdam is
marketing its city as the "Manhattan on the Maas" (Ashworth and
Voogd 1990:145), whereas Utrecht has chosen the slogan "Citt~ del
Duomo" ("city of the cathedral") (Mommaas 1992:40).
Despite the willingness to compete nationally and internationally,
it is by no means certain that the city will prosper as a center of
national and international cultural tourism in the future as it has in
the past. There will be more Amsterdam-like cities in the future and
the competition will intensify, not only among the major cities in
Europe but also among the emerging regional centers that prosper
within the national economy (O'Loughlin 1993:25). Looking at
Amsterdam from this perspective, it may be clear that what the city
needs is a distinctive and specialized tourism product. As the analysis
of tourism policy has shown, there is no clear concept to accomplish
this. Efforts to turn tourism into an economic success result in rather
diverging strategies of developing "culture" as a tourism attraction.
As has been discussed above, the city council is creating aestheticized
consumption spaces to add allure to Amsterdam. As in many other
cities such a development policy almost always results in buildings
like the IJ-oeverproject, convention and science centers, stadiums, and
festival market places (Law 1993:170). The problem with this "serial
reproduction" (Harvey 1989) is that Amsterdam might become like
any other city. As it is very unlikely that visitors will want to travel to
clone cities, one has to question whether the urban development
strategies will contribute to a distinctive tourist product.

Product and Process of Cultural Tourism

The Amsterdam case seems to suggest that culture loses its dis-
tinctive qualities when created and reproduced in the context of
cultural tourism. The point is that cultural tourism is oriented towards
a product-based definition of culture. Cultural tourism, defined in
 HEIDI DAHLES 65

terms of "high culture" as well as "popular culture", according to

Richards (1996a), is about the consumption of cultural goods rather
than involvement in cultural processes. A more conceptual approach
attempts to describe the motives and meanings attached to cultural
tourism activity: cultural tourists learning about and experiencing the
products and practices of other people and the uniqueness of their
specific cultural identity. As the distinctions between "high", "low"
and "popular" culture increasingly disintegrate, expanding the scope
of cultural tourism to include elements which previously would not
have been considered "cultural", so distinctions between "culture",
"tourism" and "everyday life" also begin to erode. Cultural tourism
can also come to include activities such as "soaking up the atmo-
sphere" of a destination, sampling local food (Richards 1996a:22-26),
or visiting local neighborhoods and the homes of citizens (Dahles,
1996).
The highly competitive tourism market has become more dif-
ferentiated and particular places have been forced to develop stra-
tegies of niche marketing to attract increasingly selective and choosy
consumers. Tourist behavior shows a growing diversity of preferences
and rejection of mass tourism. There is a rapid change of fashion
affecting consumer choices, and, consequently, a quick turnover of
fashionable destinations and a proliferation of alternative sights and
attractions (Urry 1995:151). People increasingly seem attracted by
representations of the "ordinary", of modest houses and of mundane
forms of work (Urry 1990:12%130). Many cities enhance difference
through the rediscovery of local vernacular styles, which accounts for
the success in the tourism market of smaller European urban centers
such as Dublin and Edinburgh. "Place" is becoming localized, specific,
context-dependent, and particularistic (Harvey 1989). City culture is
redefined here as the amalgam of structures and practices, charac-
teristic of the aestheticized consumption spaces of many con-
temporary metropoles, where the arts, sports, leisure, and tourism
come together in a symbolically segmented space (Shields 1992).
Culture in the conceptual definition does not figure in the tourism
representation and marketing of Amsterdam. While residential func-
tions of the city are a high priority in urban policy, a perspective on
how Amsterdam residents actually live their lives--how they dwell,
work, recreate, and play--is virtually absent from the strategies of
city marketing. After the new consensus in the city's tourism policy
came about, elements referring to everyday local life have even been
banished from the strategies for regaining a prominent position in
the top ten of Europe's most visited cities. Rather a purified and
trivialized image is "invented": Amsterdam as Netherdisney with a
bursting dike as a peak experience. The city's commercial and enter-
tainment quarters, its immigrants, marginals, and countercultures,
the attractiveness of local life is met with a policy of deterrence. It
seems morally right and economically beneficial to replace the drug,
sex, and crime tourism with cruiseship tourism. Certainly it would be
dangerous and detrimental to tourism to promote the drug, sex,
and crime image of the city. This strategy would increase the city's
attractiveness among specific groups like young drug users and homo-
66 AMSTERDAM AS A DESTINATION

sexual markets, but would put off others. However, that does not
necessarily imply that "everyday life" is an unsuitable marketing
asset. Amsterdam policymakers seem to be unaware of local culture
being more than the drug scene, the red-light district, and the dirt
and disorder. They gear their policies to the image of Amsterdam
which is determined by the "new marginality" (Castells 1993:14)-
the very image they try to break down.
Amsterdam tourism policy could develop a perspective of"everyday
life" allowing for a more conceptual approach in city marketing. They
could offer tourists a glance at the (more or less staged) backstages
(MacCannell 1973) of Amsterdam. Gazing at old merchant houses is
a rather limited mode of experiencing the city; to restore some of
these houses, to furnish them in the 17th and 18th century style and to
make them accessible to tourists might enhance their attractiveness.
Encouraging tourists to walk through the older established neigh-
borhoods, or the more recent ethnic ones, to visit the cramped dwell-
ings formerly inhabited by the old working classes and to participate
in ethnic feasts and festivals, accompanied by local guides telling local
tales, might be another strategy for enhancing the tourist experience
(Dahles 1996). The popularity of city centers today is related to what
Hannerz (1992) has called the "organization of diversity". The city
center has the image of being a meeting place of a variety of cultural
flows. The sense of place connected to the Amsterdam city center is
not just one of a cultural separateness expressed through the early
modern built environment. Nor is it just one of cultural cosmo-
politanism, or urban decay. More precisely, the sense of place is
established by a sense of the interrelation of local, national, and global
cultural products, mediated through a process of experiencing cultural
practice by tourists.

CONCLUSION
The most important challenge to be met in European cities, as well
as in major cities throughout the world, is the articulation of the
globally-oriented economic functions of the city within the locally-
rooted society and culture (Castells 1993:20; Chang, Milne, Fallon
and Pohlmann 1996). The cultural-historic specificity of European
cities may be a fundamental asset in creating the conditions for
managing the contradictions between the global market and local
culture. Looking at Amsterdam, its urban tradition as a political
center, as a trade center, and as a center of culture and innovation
has become strategically important especially for cultural tourism. In
their recent efforts to expand Dutch market share and to compete in
a global market, the local government, the Amsterdam Tourist Office,
and the Netherlands Bureau for Tourism have joined forces in a
collaborative marketing strategy treating "Holland Promotion" and
"Amsterdam city marketing" as interchangeable. Amsterdam has
become the selling point for the Netherlands.
This strategic choice has far-reaching consequences for cultural
tourism in Amsterdam. While city marketing has become more tar-
geted and demand-oriented, cultural tourism is still approached as
 HEIDI DAHLES 67

the consumption of cultural goods---culture being defined in a prod-

uct-based way. However, as recent studies of the culture of tourism
suggest (Richards 1996a), the organized diversity of local life is becom-
ing more and more appealing to cultural tourists. If the actors in
Amsterdam tourism wish to take the strategy of demand-oriented
marketing seriously, cultural tourism has to be approached as a pro-
cess enabling tourists to experience everyday local life. In other words,
it has to change into a consumer-experience-oriented approach. This
implies that the integration of local life in the tourism product and in
its marketing will be inevitable. This strategy would establish clear
markers of a distinct urban identity in a competitive national market
distinguishing Amsterdam from the other cities in the Netherlands.
The future of Amsterdam as a center of global tourism is depending
on the redefinition of its identity in terms of local culture.

Acknowledgments--The author is indebted to Ben van den Brock (Amsterdam Tourist

Office) for generously providing data, and t o J a a p Vissering for valuable comments
on earlier versions of this article.

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Submitted 23 May 1994

Resubmitted 14 February 1996
Accepted 21 March 1997
Refereed anonymously
Coordinating Editor: Peter E. Murphy