COMMENT IN MY OPINION
At the World Tourism Forum Lucerne recently, the chief executive of
Amsterdam Marketing, Frans van der Avert, claimed that Ryanair and Airbnb tourism was destroying European cities (Travel Weekly, May 11). This is total nonsense. It shows he does not understand how tourism works and, worse, has no respect for the nearly 14 million tourists who visit Amsterdam every year. The money these tourists spend makes up more than 7% of the Dutch economy.
Ryanair carries 1% of tourists Ryanair is Europe’s biggest airline, on track to carry 130 million customers this year. However, Amsterdam is one of the smallest route networks in our operation. So far, we fly to Amsterdam from two cities, Dublin and Malaga. This year we will bring 525,000 customers to and from Amsterdam. About half of these are Dutch
nationals, a quarter are tourists and a quarter business travellers. Ryanair is big, but we carry less than 1% of the tourists who visit Amsterdam. Amsterdam has a lot of tourists, but cities such as Barcelona and Prague are also very popular and at certain times of year some locals consider it too much. But that does not mean you stop tourism or show such disrespect to the tourists who do come, as Mr van der Avert does when he says he wants to “increase the quality” of visitors.
Diversification is key The Netherlands needs to diversify tourism to other parts of the country
How dare Dutch chief complain about Ryanair
Amsterdam Marketing boss was disrespectful to all city’s tourists
KENNY JACOBS
CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, RYANAIR
outside Amsterdam. I’ve spent a lot of time visiting and working in the Netherlands. It is a wonderful country that offers a great variety of tourist attractions and Dutch people are among the friendliest and most open in the world. I’ve had great times in Amsterdam, but also spent a lot of time in Rotterdam, Maastricht and the north coast. There is a lot more to do than just party in Amsterdam. Dutch tourism needs to get more
tourists visiting other parts of the country and experiencing more of what the Netherlands has to offer.
Economic benefits If Mr van der Avert feels Amsterdam is only attracting tourists who want to party he should not criticise the tourists: he should criticise the leadership of the organisation responsible for running Amsterdam tourism, which is clearly incapable of marketing the city to tourist
segments other than partygoers. About one in 10 Dutch people work in the tourism industry. I know a lot of people who manage hotels, restaurants and run businesses that depend on tourists. How do they feel about the comments from Mr van der Avert? His views are those of someone
who wants tourism to be the preserve of the wealthy. He would clearly like hotels in, and air fares to, Amsterdam to be more expensive so that everyday tourists cannot afford them. That is stupid. Tourists will just go to other, better-value destinations and the only loser will be the Dutch economy. Cities all over Europe are working with Ryanair because they want to boost their economy through tourism – and these partnerships work very well. Ryanair will continue to expand in the Netherlands because Dutch consumers want more choice and lower fares, and the Dutch economy wants more tourists.
18 May 2017
travelweekly.co.uk 33
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