Typical Dutch: a bicycle tour

When you are in the Netherlands, you should try at least one thing: riding a bicycle. This is typically Dutch. This was my last activity here in Groningen, I wanted it to be a nice experience. So I rented a beautiful blue bike and made a tour through Groningen. I saw a lot of nice places. Since I'm interested in cultural heritage, I looked around for special, old buildings. From where my hotel is located, you can almost immediately see a nice water tower. I've heard it is called 'de bovenkamer van Groningen'.
I kept biking and then I saw a mill! It is said that mills are typically Dutch. It was (and sometimes is) used to grind grain. Grain grinding is an old craft.

'De bovenkamer van Groningen'

I saw nice buildings, churches and much more, which you can see on the pictures below.

The mill

Many tourists try the bike when they are on holiday in the Netherlands. Why do they choose to try this? I have an interesting theory for this phenomena. To explain tourist behaviour, you can use the means-end chain. Actually, it is a theory in the marketing. But it can also be applied to tourism. The means-end chain shows the link between an attribute, the consequences of this attribute and the values (McIntosh, Thyne, 2004). I will explain this theory with the decision of many tourist to make a bicycle tour. First, a tourist decides to do a bicycle tour, this is the attribute (or means). He decides this because he wants to see the surroundings and wants to be outside, these are the consequences of the attribute. After that, the value will follow. It is the ultimate goal you want to reach with the means-end chain. In the bicycle case this is that you relax while biking around.

This was my last experience in Groningen. I hope you have enjoyed my blogposts. I will write one last post, which will be a conclusion of the whole trip.








References

McIntosh, A.J., Thyne, M.A. (2004). Understanding Tourist Behavior Using Means-End Chain Theory. Annals of Tourism Research, 32, 259-262.