Passions of Tourism

zondag 7 februari 2016

Martinikerk and the 'tourist gaze'

The church Martinikerk is situated behind the tower Martinitoren (also known as d’Olle Grieze, which means 'the old grey') at the Grote Markt in Groningen. It was built around 1220 in Roman-Gothic style. During the 15^th Century, the church was expanded due to prosperous trade agreements.[1] Now, the Martinitower (with its height of 97 meter) is one of the most popular attractions in Groningen and is an essential part of Groningen’s identity. The Martinikerk is a much less popular attraction, although it is just as beautiful. How is this possible?

An explanation for the abovementioned phenomenon can be found in John Urry’s explanation of the ‘tourist gaze’.[2] This theory describes tourists as ‘collectors of sights’ when they travel in the ‘other’, someplace different than the place they are used to. Furthermore, tourists are people who gather sights which are considered typical for the place they visit. This consideration is founded on a somehow constructed symbolic framework. For Groningen, the Martinitoren is such a typical sight-to-see. This can be attributed to different reasons. Perhaps it has to do with the historicity of tower, however, the Martinikerk has been there for longer and it does not take in a similar place as a tourist attraction. It could well have to do with the fact that it is so present: it shapes the look of the Grote Markt, which is the biggest square in Groningen. In the end, the question remains why the Martinikerk is not a tourist attraction and the Martinitoren is.

- Tessa

[1] "Martinikerk Groningen," Marinikerk, accessed January 30, 2016, http://www.martinikerk.nl/
[2] "Tourism," T. Edensor, accessed January 30, 2016, https://nestor.rug.nl/bbcswebdav/pid-7579190-dt-content-rid-7568789_2/courses/HCRWB0405.2015-2016.1B/READING%201%20Tourism-T.%20Edensor%20%28International%20Encyclopaedia%20of%20Geography%29%281%29.pdf

woensdag 3 februari 2016

From Amsterdam to Groningen

Amsterdam is the number one tourist city of the Netherlands for both the Dutch and foreigners. The 10.197.000 foreigners staying over in Amsterdam in 2014[1] support this claim. Moreover, Amsterdam is also in possession of the Netherlands’ most important airport, Schiphol. Thus, enough reason to research the accessibility of the way from Amsterdam to Groningen (perhaps to provide an extra incentive for people to follow the same road as me).

Accessibility and tourism are two closely interrelated concepts. If the places tourists are willing to visit are not accessible, what is left of tourism? Alison McIntosh, one of the scholars studying this topic, has focused attention on the problems tourists with disabilities encounter when travelling around the globe. These disabilities can vary from all sorts of restrictions. One can think of a visual impairment, but also people travelling with young children, elderly people or people with mental health problems. Studies have shown that not enough attention is paid to this group of travellers. For example, in air travel people with a disability are discriminated on regular basis, when their wheelchair is taken away from them in an aircraft, which leaves them without an independent way to move and may give them a ‘disembodied experience’ due to the taking away of an object vital to their way of life.[2]

Wednesday the 27^th of January, I took the train from Amsterdam Central to Groningen Station at 15.31 pm. This train ride would take 2 hours and 13 minutes. At Amsterdam Central, I first had to check in by scanning my OV-card. Luckily, in Amsterdam, they do not have gateways, which made the station quite accessible. When I tried to enter the platform, there were stairs, but there was also an elevator available. The train itself, however, was quite hard to access, due to the fact that the only way to get in was by climbing small steps. This makes it impossible for people with a physical disability to enter the train without help. The Dutch Railways company (NS) does provide ‘travel assistants’[3] (which are normally conductors) for people with a disability. If this is not enough, there is a special free-of-charge OV-card for people with a personal travel companion[4]. However, this is not a solution for the very short time (2 minutes!) given between switching trains at station Amersfoort in order to get to Groningen. There are other tracks which will take you to Groningen and include more time for switching trains, but I must conclude not all tracks are accessible.

Thus, while the NS is certainly trying its best to make taking the train accessible, it can still focus on the improvement of independent travelling for people with a disability, so that accessing a train or a station does not directly mean a need for travel assistance.

- Tessa

[1] "Onderzoek, informatie, statistiek," Gemeente Amsterdam, accessed January 5, 2016, http://www.ois.amsterdam.nl/visualisatie/dashboard_toerisme.html

[2] Simon Darcy, "(Dis)Embodied Air Travel Experiences: Disability, Discrimination and the Affect of a Discontinuous Air Travel Chain," Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 19 (2012): 1-11, accessed January 5, 2016, https://nestor.rug.nl/bbcswebdav/pid-7579234-dt-content-rid-7570815_2/courses/HCRWB0405.2015-2016.1B/Reading%203%20Disembodied%20air%20travel%20experiences.pdf

[3] "Hulp bij reizen met een functiebeperking," NS, accessed January 29, 2016, https://avg.ns.nl/#begeleiding

[4] "OV-begeleiderskaart," Argonaut Advies, accessed January 29, 2016, www.ov-begeleiderskaart.nl

donderdag 14 januari 2016

Introduction

Welcome everyone to my first blog on the new website for the course “Passions of Tourism”. This travel journal will show you around Groningen and its touristic hotspots. Groningen is known for being a lively student city and has many attractive features which should convince tourists to visit Groningen. While Amsterdam remains the Netherlands’ most visited city by tourists, the popularity of Groningen is increasing[1]. This is mostly based on the growing numbers of Dutch people visiting Groningen[2]. However, Groningen is interesting for both Dutchies and people coming from abroad. As a student living in Groningen, I wish to not only discover the city through the eyes of a citizen but also through another kind of eyes, namely those of a tourist.

In the following blog entries, different theoretical concepts will be introduced written by several academics whose field of research is tourism. These will be applied to the reality of Groningen. I will for example explore the concept “tourism” and the meaning people give to this. All different sorts of spots in Groningen will be visited by me, and will then be applied to theories and illustrated with photos. This means I will be visiting places such as the Noorderplantsoen, Groninger Museum and the Grote Markt, for these are the sites Groningen is known for.

So let me take you on a journey through Groningen so that together we can learn more about tourism and its related field of study!

- Tessa

[1] "Tourism in Groningen," Marketing Groningen, accessed December 28, 2015 http://www.toerisme.groningen.nl

[2] "Vrije tijd en cultuur," CBS, accessed December 28, 2015, http://www.cbs.nl/nl-NL/menu/themas/vrije-tijd-cultuur/cijfers/extra/gasten-en-overnachtingen-per-regio.htm