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.  

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.