Travel related shops

The 'Martinitoren' is in the centre of the city of Groningen, so I took the chance to go shopping in the centre after the climb. But I did not need to buy new clothes. So, since I am a tourism scholar, I decided to look for travel related shops. The first shop I found was when I bought a ticket for climbing the Martinitower. This shop is called the 'VVV' (the Dutch tourism board). Here you can buy your (typical Dutch) souvenirs and postcards. But you can also get information from experts on the subject tourism in Groningen. They can answer all your questions. I have asked them some, about what is nice to see in Groningen. They told me that the Groninger museum is nice, that Bourtange is worth a visit, and that the 'Noorderplantsoen' is beautiful. So I look forward to see what they recommended me.

The VVV building. It looks a bit like a ship.

I have found another travel-related shop, it is called 'de Zwerver'. They have lots of nice things. You can find maps, books about different countries and much more.

I would like to explain more about tourist behavior. When I walked around in 'de Zwerver' I saw a lot of destinations. How does a tourist choose its destination? This is an interesting question.
One explanation for the places and activities tourists choose is the tourist travel career. Tourism can be compared with making a career. At first, you start working at the level which fits with your education level. In tourism you start a holiday which is on the level suitable with the background of your family and education level. After some time, you want to do other things on your work. In the travel career, sometime after doing the same things on a holiday you want something else. In this career, it is possible to do things which are under the career level you have reached, but you cannot do things which are on a higher level. This is because you are not motivated enough, or you are mentally not ready yet to go to the next level (Pearce, 1987). So when people choose their destination, they choose something which fits with their career level. They are going to have an other type of holiday when they are ready to take another step in their travel career.
These were the things I was thinking about while walking through 'de Zwerver'. After visiting this shop, there was one activity that I enjoyed. I will tell about it in my next blog.

References

Pearce, P.L. (1987) Psychological Studies of Tourist Behaviour and experience. Australian Journal of Psychology, 39 (2), 173-182.