1. Recreation and Tourism Implementation Program
Ambitions for a
welcoming Fryslân
2014-2017

2. Preface 4
1. Tourism in Fryslân 6
2. The Frisian dream 8
3. The road towards 2018 10
4. Internationalization 12
5. Basic recreation infrastructure 14
6. Sustainability and quality improvement 17
7. Innovation 19
8. Our role for 2014-2017 22
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Table of content

3. Now that Leeuwarden has been chosen as the Cultural
Capital City of Europe for 2018, we have a chance to take
our touristic ambitions for Friesland to a higher level. In
the next four years we expect many new visitors from all
over the world and therefore it is vital that preparations
are made. Hence, the Recreation and Tourism Implemen-tation
Program will give an overview of our actions and
goals for this period. When looking at the amount of
visitors of other Cultural Capital Cities, we can expect
somewhere between 2 and 3 million extra tourists to
visit us in 2018.
To all entrepreneurs and municipalities I would like to
say: now is the time to seize opportunities. We should
not lean back to see what the event will bring us in four
years, but take advantage of the many possibilities that
are present now. For instance, we should make sure that
when our (inter) national guests arrive, they can pay with
ease (creditcard), are enticed with fun deals and spoiled
with special culinary products. Don’t do this all by your-self,
but instead find smart ways to work together with
other businesses. Inspire eachother and be creative!
In the next four years, we would like to take great
actions to make Friesland and North Netherlands stand
out in the tourism sector. This program offers many ways
to further develop the tourism industry in Friesland.
Remember, if we do nothing this ultimately means taking
a step backwards!
Jannewietske de Vries
Member of the Executive of Recreation and Tourism
Preface
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4. Economic importance
In 2012, the turnover of the Frisian tourism industry
amounted to 1.029 billion euro. This represents approxi-mately
5.5 % of our gross national product. On a country
level this percentage is 3%. About 19.000 people worked
in the Frisian recreation and tourism sector this year.
When indirect effects are also taken into account
(e.g. supplies between companies themselves) 6.000
more jobs are provided.
Within the overnight stay tourism sector, tourism spending
amounted to 544 million euro in 2012. The profits were
highest in the Frisian hotel industry. Holiday homes and
campsites are also important because of their influence
on other sectors such as the hospitality- and retail indus-try.
Also, marinas play an important role as they form the
backbone of some of our province’s major selling points:
the Frisian Lake Area, the Wadden region and the shore
of Lake IJssel.
In the same year, day tourism spending
amounted to 485 million euro. Fryslân has
a higher than average supply of recreation
facilities. The most popular attractions are
swimming pools, the Thialf ice arena, and
several yearly events such as Sneekweek,
Oerol, and the Harlingen Fishery Days.
Societal relevance
Frisian touristic facilities have strong ties
within the region: they bring improved acces-sibility,
offer possibilities for recreation and
also new facilities that increase the livability
of the area. Local entrepreneurs do what
they can to benefit from the visitors. The
majority of the holiday parks entice visitors
to spend their money within the park limits.
However, they are still beneficial to the area.
The parks provide steady occupancies of
rental homes, reduce the lack of occupancy
and stimulate the use of other facilities in
the direct environment of the park.
Facts about Fryslân
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boating area among Dutch water sports
enthusiasts.
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holidays.
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tourists each year.
Tourism in Fryslân
The tourism industry is the fastest growing sector worldwide.
Especially in Africa and Asia strong developments are seen.
However, Europe shows a declining trend when tourism develop-ments
are considered. This is also true for the Netherlands, where
Friesland is among very few provinces that still consider recreation
and tourism a priority. The socio-economic importance of this
sector is much larger here than in our country as a whole.
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5. We see a lot of potential for recreation and tourism in
Fryslân and have large ambitions for the future. The
Frisian Dream captures the vision we have for touristic
Fryslân by 2030:
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domestic destinations. On a national level our mar-ket
share in the tourism sector is more than 10%.
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region for recreation. Smart marketing strategies
and improved accessibility have considerably
expanded the number of foreign visitors. Fryslân
has a reputation for being the best boating school
of Western Europe.
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unique landscape and nature experiences. The
touristic entrepreneurs in the Wadden region and
Wadden Islands have found ways to benefit from
their region’s status as a Unesco World Heritage
Site.
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of innovation and academic research. Innovative
touristic concepts offer solutions for societal issues.
International research institutes and companies find
their way to our province.
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a story of its own. The visibility and creative use of
Frisian language positively influences the tourist
experience.
Best practice: Samsø
Samsø is a good example of best practice of tou-rism
policy. The Danish island is known for being
the largest CO2 neutral living community on earth.
The people live off tourism, agriculture and green
electricity. They decided to become self-reliant in
the nineties by generating their own energy with
wind mills, burning biomass and solar panels.
Nowadays, the island has a positive carbon foot-print:
the surplus energy is used by recreationists
and delivered to the main land.
Worst practice: Venetië
Venice is an example of a worst practice of tourism
policy. Although revenues from tourism continue
to rise, the soul of the Italian city is long gone. In
the past forty years the inhabitant numbers have
been halved. The city is packed during day time
and at night it is overwhelmingly quiet. The tradi-tional
Italian ambiance has been replaced by
international chains and shops with souvenirs from
(mainly) Hong Kong. The city of water and bridges
has been overtaken by tourists. Its own inhabitants
have lost their voice.
The Frisian Dream
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6. Challenges
An important challenge in reaching these targets is to address
current bottlenecks and to turn them into opportunities. These
bottlenecks are:
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power and innovation because of its small-scale nature.
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proportion to the available budgets.
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little all-weather facilities (attractions suitable for good and
bad weather).
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Resilience by innovation
Another challenge is how to make Fryslân a resilient touristic
region. In order to achieve this, Fryslân needs sufficient networks,
innovation and smart partnerships. At the moment there are few
large touristic companies in Fryslân and there is not enough
innovation. We can compensate this by stimulating cooperation
between businesses and between businesses and knowledge
institutes. For example, we organize living labs which offer the
possibility to be creative and experiment.
Niches instead of mass tourism
A third challenge is finding ways to make Fryslân more visible in
certain niches instead of focusing on mass tourism. We believe that
the real strength of Frisian tourism lies in our inhabitants respect for
their culture and nature. Fryslân is known for its ‘skûtsje’ culture
(a special Frisian sailing boat) where Frisian fishermen offer a warm
welcome to their guests. However, even though the small-scale natu-re
is a distinctive feature of our province, entrepreneurs are increas-ingly
struggling to make ends meet. The sector can improve its orga-nization
and professionalism by increasing the level of cooperation.
Our strategy
With the Recreation and Tourism Implementation Program
2014-2017 we focus on four themes:
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The road towards 2018
In the next four years we would like to see the recrea-tion
and tourism sector develop into a proactive and
strong sector. Because Leeuwarden has been chosen
Cultural Capital 2018, touristic Friesland needs this
period to prepare itself for the expected 2 to 3 million
extra visitors. To achieve this, we have developed the
Recreation and Tourism Implementation Program 2014-
2017. The program focusses on four main targets:
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7. Broadening our 500 kilometer range
With our current marketing strategy we
mainly reach recreationists and tourists
living within 500 kilometers from Fryslân.
Belgium, Germany and Great Britain still
have a potential for growth, however
we want to broaden our range and also
focus on other promising countries such
as Italy, Spain and the United States.
The Groningen Airport Eelde (and possi-bly
Lelystad Airport) can play a key role
in this.
Well begun is half done
The coming years can be regarded as
a warm up period for the big event of
Leeuwarden Cultural Capital 2018. It is
our ambition that from 2015, two yearly
(international) top events will be organi-zed
in Fryslân, for example the Tall Ship
Races event in Harlingen in July 2014 and
the Leeuwarden Capital of Taste in 2015.
This offers our entrepreneurs a chance
to prepare for the rise in international
guests and authorities to ensure a safe
and professional organization.
Anticipating visitors’ wishes
We expect an extra 2 to 3 million
international guests in 2018 which
will cause a 15% increase in tourism
expenditure in Fryslân. These visitors
demand quality and comfort, for
example the availability of informati-on
in multiple languages, credit card
payments and authentic experiences
and stories. Therefore, we aim to
bring Frisian culture and history to the
forefront and strive to make 60% of
our recreation information multilin-gual
while also honoring the Frisian
language. We also make Fryslân more
appealing as a holiday destination by
clever communication about our rela-tive
proximity to Amsterdam.
Internationalization
With the internationalization theme, we
focus on broadening our marketing’s
realm of influence, gaining experience
with top events and catering better to
our foreign tourists’ needs. The theme
goes hand in hand with the Leeuwarden
Cultural Capital 2018 program.
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8. A complete route network for hiking, cycling and sailing
These route networks are the lifeblood of Frisian tourism. By
ensuring well-maintained routes and a good system of signs,
we help our guests find our most special places and they can
spend their money there. We partner with municipalities,
entrepreneurs and the Marrekrite organization for water
and land recreation, to establish a completely covered Frisian
network for hiking, cycling and sailing.
Central points for changing means of transport
Key intersections will become central points for changing
means of transport. For example, recreationists can leave
their car behind to go sailing, or they can dock their boat to
explore the surroundings by foot or by bike. This will make
transitioning even more appealing.
Smart regional marketing
Fryslân’s regional marketing will be supported by an over-arching
organization which will take over the organizations
of Stichting Beleef Friesland, Tourist Info Fryslân and Fan
Fryslân. With this new organization we aim to enhance our
province’s image and focus on reaching specific target groups
with our two main brands: Fryslân with its many different
regions and the Wadden. Because tourists see this region as a
completely different part of Fryslân, the Wadden region is a
separate brand. The new organization will not only promote
Fryslân as a good area for recreation but also aim to enhance
its image as a desirable destination for living, working and
studying. Every tourist is a potential inhabitant, entrepreneur
or student.
Entice provincially, support regionally
We plan to set up a broad financing structure together with
all of the municipalities and the industry for the marketing of
the region. Our objective is: Entice provincially, support regio-nally.
Entrepreneurs and local governments are stimulated to
set up joint funding, for example: for events and information
supply. By doing so, they prevent their budgets from beco-ming
too fragmented and are able to have a larger impact
with their investments.
Basic Recreation
Infrastructure
With the Basic Recreation Infrastructure
theme we wish to ensure that tourists can
easily find their way in Fryslân. The colla-boration
between the province and
municipalities regarding marketing will
be enhanced and local parties will be
stimulated to combine their strengths
within regions. Friesland will also establish
a larger digital network.
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9. With the Sustainability and Quality Improvement Theme we
aim to achieve a high level of quality and environmentally
friendly recreation. Sustainability has already been given
considerable attention within the Frisian Lake Project, for
example by choosing the right materials and by limiting
energy use. This is mainly valued by the German tourist, our
largest foreign customer.
Platforms
We plan to establish a touristic platform within each
region. This enables a smooth cooperation with the
over-arching provincial organization. Further, we
explore the possibilities of channeling expertise in a
Frisian platform for business tourism and also a Frisian
platform for living, working and studying.
Wi-Fi and knowledge sharing
Present-day tourists are increasingly demanding.
The availability of Wi-Fi is more of a basic need than
a luxury. Tourists use it to find out what a good place
to eat is, or what there is to do in their surroundings.
We strive to make free Wi-Fi available in all of touristic
Fryslân’s locations by the end of 2015. At the moment
there are six pilots running in different locations
within the province.
All data accessible in one place
In the past policy period we have invested a lot of time
in collecting data, for example regarding the depth
of water ways, bridge heights and bicycle paths. All of
the data is gathered in one place to prevent frag-mentation.
This information will be made available
to everyone that wishes to use it. Furthermore, there
will also be a digital platform for knowledge sharing
between the province and the municipalities.
Programs for key focus points
Since 2007, the province of Friesland has been working
with specific programs for the development of key
focus points for tourism. These are: the Eleven Cities
(Elfsteden), The Frisian Woods (Friese Wouden), Sailing
Without Limits (Grenzeloos Varen) and The Wadden.
The province takes on a coordinating role with this
and the municipalities and entrepreneurs take care of
the content of the program. Within each program all
stakeholders work well together and therefore we will
continue with this approach.
Sustainability and Quality
Improvement
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10. Energy Neutral by 2030
The tourism umbrella organizations Hiswa
(the Dutch marine organization), Koninklijke
Horeca Nederland (the Dutch trade associa-tion
for hotel and catering industry) and
Recron (the Dutch association of entrepre-neurs
in the recreation sector) strive to make
the Frisian tourism sector entirely energy
neutral by 2030. Where possible, we want
to support them with this great challenge.
In the North Netherlands a Sustainable
Growth Index is being developed. We hope
that we can start using this tool in 2015 to
monitor the sustainable effects of recreation
and tourism.
Financial support
The tourism sector asks for continuous
investment for quality improvement in order
to keep satisfying our customers’ wishes.
For many entrepreneurs this is challenging
in these economic times. Therefore we
have created the Stinaf II subsidy system.
In addition to sustainability and quality im-provement,
this subsidy also offers funding
for improving accessibility for handicapped
tourists. We aim to realize at least fifty con-siderable
quality improvements within the
Frisian overnight stay tourism sector.
Innovation
By paying attention to innovation our tourism industry can
become more resilient. Therefore, it is vital that we give
room to concepts that fit in with market developments.
We focus on making sure we don’t lag behind and also
aim to develop links with other sectors. Furthermore, we
aim to prove that it is possible for the seemingly conflicting
interests of nature and recreation to go well together.
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11. Catching up
Umbrella organizations active in the recreation sector have developed a joint
innovation strategy called the Frisian Tourism Innovation Agenda. By doing so,
they aim to catch up. The plan consists of one hundred tourism busines-ses
working towards renewal. We support them. Furthermore, there is an
innovation congress twice a year and a Frisian Tourism Innovation Award
handout.
Crossovers
We support the recreation and tourism field to make smart connections with
other sectors (crossovers). By doing so they can work together to find soluti-ons
for societal themes:
t Water and energy - Fryslân is like a laboratory for water treatment and
water technology. The clean water attracts recreationists and new
inhabitants. We also stimulate sustainable electric boating within the
watersports sector.
t Care - Leisure and care will go hand in hand in the future. The tourism
with care concept will become more and more important with the ageing
population and ever growing number of seniors with wanderlust. This
means that we need to remove any limitations.
t Population decline - Tourism can play an important role in maintaining a
good supply of facilities in areas with a declining population. Inhabitants
and recreationists can share these facilities together.
t Healthy food - A varied and healthy food supply from our own region will
also contribute to the attractiveness of Friesland whilst cutting down on
transport costs. Furthermore, Leeuwarden will be ‘The Capital of Taste’ in
2015.
Landscape innovation
Many people believe that tourism entrepreneurs and nature organizations
are on bad terms with each other. However, both groups share an interest
in a beautiful and varied landscape. Recreation businesses value natural
surroundings because they improve their market position. And when these
businesses flourish they will positively influence the livability of the region.
Therefore, we want to approach nature in such a way that it becomes a
valuable source for not only ecology but also for our economy and society.
To achieve this we will talk with different target groups such as the youths
to ensure that nature areas are meeting their needs and desires. We aim to
develop four tourism landscape areas of innovation before the end of 2018.
Less rules, more cooperation
Environment and nature regulation
should not be regarded as a re-straint
but should instead be seen
as a challenge to find creative ways
to run a business. Nevertheless, we
strive to make arrangements with
the stakeholders to lessen regulation
in promising tourism areas. Nature
areas will be linked to commercial
activities to help pay for manage-ment
costs. The Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park is a good example of
such a practice.
The popular Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park in Australia has been
on the Unesco World Heritage List
for more than twenty years. A stag-gering
99.8 % of the national park is
accessible for tourists. There are also
special areas for scientific research
and conservation. Tourists have
since 1993 been paying a financial
contribution for education, research
and management of the reef. Tourist
operators and visitors are actively
involved with the marine park
protection through partnerships.
The tourism staff is educated to
recognize changes or damage to the
reefs. By doing so, the Great Barrier
Reef Marine Park is known for being
a place where the abundant flora
and fauna remain intact even though
recreation continues to increase.
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12. For the period of 2014-2017 we regard it as
our duty to stimulate (pro-) active behavior
within the tourism sector. If necessary we
will take control, but ideally the initiative
should come from the market. We will play
the following roles:
t System developer - strengthening net-works
and partnerships, spreading and
collecting data.
t Director and coordinator - organizing
regional marketing, developing infra-structure
and expanding facilities.
t Supporter and driver - stimulating new
tourism initiatives and events in Fryslân,
seducing entrepreneurs to make use of
funding opportunities, offering support
to three important partners:
- The new over-arching organization for
regional marketing (see chapter 5)
- The organization for water and land
recreation De Marrekrite which can
play a more prominent part at the ma-nagement
and maintenance of water-and
land recreation (such as routes and
facilities)
- The European Tourism Futures Institute
(ETFI), a knowledge and research insti-tute
based at Stenden University that
helps solve tourism issues: as part of the
Centre of Expertise Leisure, Tourism
Hospitality (CELTH), ETFI has recently
become part of a European research
network together with the University
of Leisure and Tourism Studies in Breda
and the Coastal Tourism Knowledge
Centre in Vlissingen.
Progress and results
We plan to take regular measure-ments
with regards to:
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tation program;
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program.
We can be held directly accountable
for the progress developments. The
measurement will indicate the de-gree
to which we reach our targets
with our actions. However, we are
aware that there are also many
factors that cannot be influenced,
for example the weather, economic
developments and our competitive
position compared to other regions.
Furthermore, we plan to carry out an
end term review by the end of 2015
to evaluate the policy period up to
that year.
Our role for
2014-2017
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13. Colophon
This is an issue by the Province of Fryslân. This
publical version is a summary of the Recreation
and Toerism Implementation Program: Welcoming
Fryslân 2014-2017. Affirmed by the Provincial
Council on the 26th of March 2014.
Province of Fryslân
Tweebaksmarkt 52
8911 KZ Leeuwarden
The Netherlands
For more information:
Femke van Akker Egbert de Vries
f.g.vanakker@fryslan.nl e.devries@fryslan.nl
Text: Camerik Voortman Communication
and PR-advisors
Translation: Nynke Sijbesma
Lay-out: Klaas Pot, province of Fryslân
Photography: Klaas Pot, province of Fryslân