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85
COACTIVITY: Philosophy, Communication 2017, Vol. 25, 85–98. ISSN 2029-6320 print/2029-6339 online
has long been among the top 10 most visited cit-
ies in Europe. However, to the users of the city
these “record gures” are something of a mixed
blessing, as evidenced by the growing number
of complaints, protests and reader’s letters in
the Amsterdam daily newspaper Het Parool and
social media channels such as Facebook and
Twitter (for example, on the page of Vereniging
Vrienden van de Amsterdamse Binnenstad
(Association of Friends of the City Centre) and
the Pretpark Amsterdam (Amsterdam eme
Park) account). e limited space in the city is
DOI https://doi.org/10.3846/cpc.2017.274
AMSTERDAM RESIDENTS AND THEIR ATTITUDE TOWARDS
TOURISTS AND TOURISM
Roos GERRITSMA1, Jacques VORK2
Research Group of Creative Business, Hogeschool Inholland Amsterdam|Diemen,
Inholland University of Applied Sciences, Wildenborch 6, 1110 AG Diemen, Netherlands
E-mails: 1roos.gerritsma@inholland.nl; 2jacques.vork@inholland.nl
Received 2 February 2017; accepted 12 April 2017
In Amsterdam, the phenomenon of overcrowding is increasing, and tourism is one of the causes. Both the pub-
lic debate and the municipal authorities are pointing to an increasing need for more expertise and knowledge
regarding ways of achieving a healthy balance for various stakeholders. is article focuses on the stakeholder
role of city residents and discusses their attitudes to tourists and tourism-related developments in their own
neighbourhood and in the rest of the city. e term “attitude” can be divided into three components: feeling,
behaviour and thinking. e results of this study are based on both quantitative and qualitative eldwork
(surveys and semi-structured interviews) and on desk research. It can be concluded that, for the most part,
residents have a positive attitude to tourists and tourism. Dierences in attitude are mostly determined by the
city district where respondents live and by personal feelings and thinking. Follow-up research in the coming
years will examine the complexity of the issue of overcrowding in more depth.
Keywords: behaviour, feelings, overcrowdedness, thinking, urban tourism.
Introduction
Amsterdam is growing, in terms of popula-
tion, businesses and visitors. In 2014, the
total number of hotel stays amounted to 12.5
million, compared with fewer than 8 million
in 2000 (O+S het Amsterdamse Bureau voor
Onderzoek en Statistiek 2002). e record year
2014 showed a rise of 11.3% in hotel stays as
compared to 2013, and in 2015 the increase
continued (+3.6% over the rst eight months)
(toeristischebarometer 2014–2015). Amsterdam
86 Roos Gerritsma, Jacques Vork Amsterdam residents and their attitude towards tourists and tourism
leading to increasing pressure and competition
between the various groups of users.
In 2008, the City Marketing and Leisure
Management research group at Inholland
University of Applied Sciences decided to in-
vestigate the perspective of residents towards
tourists and tourism in their hometown in more
detail; this research was mostly based on Roos
Gerritsma’s Master’s thesis dating from 1999.
In 2015, second-year Leisure Management1
students, in collaboration with the research
group, repeated this study among Amsterdam
residents. e theme of this new study is com-
parable to that of the 1999 and 2008 versions,
supplemented with questions about home-
rental platforms such as Airbnb.Inc and more
specic questions about particular locations and
times during the week.
The introduction section of this article
contains a description of the context to exam-
ine the issue of overcrowding in Amsterdam
in more depth. is is followed by the theo-
retical framework, its operationalisation and
the research methods. en the results of the
2015 study are set out and, where relevant,
compared to the results from 1999 and 2008.
e article then presents the conclusions and
a discussion.
Increased tourist numbers
in Amsterdam
Due to dierent developments such as cheap
ways to travel, economical progress since the
global crisis in 2008 and the branding of cit-
ies as a tourism destination, the phenomenon
of urban tourism is on a rise. European Cities
Marketing has demonstrated the dominant and
most dynamic aspect of European tourism: city
tourism, which for years has continued to grow
twice as fast as national tourism. European cit-
ies maintained their strong growth trend, with
total bednights up 4.2% in 2015 (European
1 Oscar di Carlo, Tomas van Kampen, Pamela Kolsteeg
and Simone Lijdens.
Cities Marketing 2016). An increase of urban
tourism means additional pressure on certain
neighbourhoods and facilities (Ashworth, Page
2011). is explains why so many parties are
now studying the “issue of overcrowding” and
why it has become the subject of regular public
debates. e issue is so pressing that it is also
high on the political agenda of the current local
government of cities like Barcelona, Berlin and
Amsterdam.
e Municipality of Amsterdam and Bureau
Werelderfgoed (the Dutch world heritage
agency) commissioned qualitative research to
supplement the study Drukte in de Binnenstad
2012 (Westenberg 2015). e latter study re-
vealed a clear degree of urgency:
“Residents in parts of the buer zone wish
to relocate and businesses are reporting reduced
turnover because there are fewer local residents.
is may also inuence leisure activities in the
city centre: visitors chiey come to enjoy ‘the at-
mosphere’, which to a great extent is determined
by residents” (Westenberg 2015: 2).
Overcrowding is experienced chiefly in
specic circumstances and inuences the bal-
ance between living, work and leisure in the
city centre. Furthermore, it was concluded that:
“Residents feel powerless if they do not
feel supported when they themselves try to do
something about the nuisance caused by over-
crowding; they blame this on the limited power
of the municipality and the political sector”
(Westenberg 2015: 1).
A notable nding is that
“residents and businesses view the future
with concern; many of them see the global
development of a growing tourist industry and
fear the allocation of licences that bring over-
crowding, including short stays” (Westenberg
2015: 1).
87
COACTIVITY: Philosophy, Communication 2017, 25: 85–98
Following on from this, another, small
scale, research indicates that residents of the
Western canal district “appreciate the interest
of tourists in their city [...] but respondents are
less positive about the eects this has on their
own neighbourhood” (Hoffschulte 2015: 8).
According to a third of the respondents, tour-
ism has reached its saturation point: the disad-
vantages are now greater than the benets. Half
of the residents do not yet see things this way,
but of these a quarter do expect the saturation
point to be achieved if the numbers of tourists
continue to increase at this rate, according to
Carla Hoschulte.
e population of Amsterdam is increasing
by 10 000 each year, while tourism is expanding
steadily as well. In response, the Municipality
of Amsterdam has taken measures to manage
the growth of the city. e Municipal Executive
drew up a start document entitled Stad in
Balans (City in Balance) (Gemeente Amsterdam
2015). In 2015, the scientific Dutch journal
Leisure Studies (Vrijetijdsstudies) referred to
this document as follows: “Stad in Balans is an
initial analysis that explains the city’s success.
It explores long-term choices and sets out the
measures that the Executive is already taking in
areas where issues arise” (Heide, Peters 2015).
However, at the start of 2016, the Alderman for
Economic Aairs, Kajsa Ollongren, announced
that the actions taken had had too little eect
and that it was time for more eective measures
(Het Parool 2016b). In 2015, the number of
Amsterdam residents reporting suspected ille-
gal home rentals to the Housing Fraud contact
point doubled (Het Parool 2016a). Incidentally,
Airbnb.Inc has announced that it will act more
rmly, and has removed almost 150 homes from
its website which clearly involve illicit rental
operations (de Volkskrant 2016). Nonetheless,
Airbnb.Inc alone still has more than 14 000
homes on oer in Amsterdam.
Research among Amsterdam residents
regarding perceived crowdedness in their own
residential environment and the rest of the city
has to date not been very specific regarding
possible relationships between residents’ back-
ground characteristics and the extent to which
these inuence their attitudes towards visitors.
Moreover, most studies focus only on residents
of the city centre, while residents all over the
city are aected by growing tourism. For this
reason we have decided to further investigate
this research theme.
eoretical framework
e theoretical framework of the 2015 study
is derived in part from the models and dimen-
sions applied in the studies in 1999 and 2008.
e ones we operationalized in 2015 are ex-
plained and criticized below.
As far back as in 1975, George V. Doxey de-
scribed how policymakers and planners need a
monitor to measure feelings of irritation among
residents resulting from the impact of tour-
ists in their area. In the early days of tourism
development, residents are especially positive
(Euphoria) and happy with the chiey economic
benets, and they accept the associated growth
(Apathy). But at a certain moment, they start to
feel annoyance (Irritation) and they turn against
tourism in their area (Antagonism).
Doxey (1975) underlines the fact that pure
“tourist against resident” situations or strictly
homogeneous tourist destinations do not ex-
ist. Depending on the degree of irritation and
the duration of circumstances that fuel the ir-
ritation, residents will express their annoyance.
Doxey’s Irridex (1975) has been widely criti-
cised by academics. We agree with Jeroen Bryon
(2009) who writes in his critique that Doxey
(1975) provides an overly simplistic interpreta-
tion, assuming that more tourists is the only
factor that leads to a higher degree of irritation.
In our 2015 study, we then measured various
forms of irritation in questionnaires which do
not only address the quantity of tourists.
We framed the perspective of the resident as
his or her attitude towards tourists and tourism
and linked it to Doxey’s Irritation Index. e
88 Roos Gerritsma, Jacques Vork Amsterdam residents and their attitude towards tourists and tourism
term “attitude” is oen described as a person’s
knowledge, mindset and behaviour (Schiman,
Kanuk 2006) or a person’s beliefs, intentions and
behaviour (Fishbein, Ajzen 1975). According
to Thomas M. Ostrom (1969), attitudes are
hypothetical constructions that consist of a cog-
nitive component, a conative component (be-
haviour) and an aective component (feeling).
Particularly because perceived crowdedness
seems to be linked to feelings and emotions, we
have chosen a model that includes the aective
component: the Tricomponent Attitude Model
(Solomon 2013), also known as the ABC model
(see Fig. 1):
−Aect (Feeling): the individual associates
and judges the object and its attributes
with certain feelings, moods and emo-
tions and judges it accordingly;
−Behaviour: how likely is it that the indivi-
dual has certain behavioural intentions in
relation to the object/subject, or his actual
behaviour;
−Cognition (inking/Knowledge): what
do individuals think and know about a
certain object/subject?
e model is mostly used in the context of
consumer marketing research to measure the
attitudes of consumers towards certain products
or objects. In our study, we not only asked about
attitudes towards objects (leisure locations), but
also about attitudes towards subjects (short-stay
or long-stay tourists) and the phenomenon of
tourism in general.
In communication and marketing research,
the conative component (behaviour) mostly
refers to intended behaviour; in some studies,
it refers to the actual behaviour (Communicatie
KC 2017). In our study, we asked about the
respondent’s actual behaviour, such as whether
her she avoids tourist ows or not.
Two feelings hold a central position within
our research, namely feelings of pride (being
the positive affect) and feelings of irritation
(being the negative affect) towards tourism
and tourists. Chris Cooper, John Fletcher, Alan
Fyall, David Gilbert and Stephen Wanhill (2008:
186–243) cite various general positive socio-
cultural inuences that tourism may exert. A
sense of pride is one of these: “Tourism can in-
spire pride in a destination’s heritage. Oen we
forget the value of the things that surround us
and only when seen through the eyes of tourists
do we revalue our culture” (Cooper et al. 2008).
In our study, the attitude component of
“feeling” was translated into the degree of both
pride and irritation with regard to one’s own
neighbourhood, the city centre, events and
home-rental platforms for private persons such
as Airbnb.Inc. In order to better understand the
sense of irritation, we also asked about types of
annoyance (from overcrowding, excessive noise,
littering and lack of safety), time (during the
week, weekends, during the day and at night)
and location.
The attitude component of “behaviour”
was partly measured using the four phases of
the Irridex (Doxey 1975), namely: Euphoria,
Apathy, Irritation and Antagonism. We trans-
lated these into: involvement, no change in be-
haviour, avoidance and opposition. Involvement
was measured by asking whether residents are
helpful towards tourists.
e component of “thinking” was translated
into questions relating to what residents think
about tourism in their own neighbourhood
and the city centre, and about events. We also
asked what they think about the dispersion of
tourism within Amsterdam and the degree to
which they have a say in developments in their
own neighbourhood.
Fig. 1. Model 1 ABC or Tricomponent Model (source:
Solomon 2013)
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COACTIVITY: Philosophy, Communication 2017, 25: 85–98
Cooper, Fletcher, Fyall, Gilbert and Wanhill
(2008), referencing the Irritation Index (Doxey
1975) among other sources, have developed the
life cycle of a tourist area, see below (see Fig. 2):
Fig. 2. Doxey’s Irritation Index. Author: Richard
W.Butler (source: Cooper et al. 2008)
While Cooper, Fletcher, Fyall, Gilbert and
Wanhill have refined the term “tourist area”
and its development over time, they still use the
number of tourists as the only important bench-
mark. In our 2015 study, we chose parts of the
city that are in dierent phases of development
as tourist areas. Standard socio-demographic
background characteristics were compiled for
each respondent, supplemented by questions
about their own city-visiting behaviour, how
long they have been living in Amsterdam and
whether they live in a rented or an owner-
occupied home.
In this way, we aim to measure the degree
to which links can be established between the
attitudes of residents, the phase of tourism in
the area where they live and whether certain
background characteristics have an inuence
on this.
Research method
e study focused on gaining more insight into
the attitudes of residents of Amsterdam-Noord
and Amsterdam-West towards tourists and
tourism. Sub-questions were formulated with
the three attitude components, as set out above,
in mind. e fourth sub-question related to the
resident’s prole (background characteristics).
e study was carried out with a combination of
quantitative and qualitative research methods,
known as Mixed Methods (Tashakorri, Teddlie
2003).
In 2015, it was decided to select residents
from two city districts bordering on the his-
toric centre that are each in a dierent phase
of tourist development. Amsterdam-West
(Westerpark) has been undergoing develop-
ment for some time and the Westergasterrein is
well-known venue for events. In various media,
events are regularly mentioned as a source of
nuisance and disturbance in the whole city and/
or in specic districts, like West. e city dis-
trict of Amsterdam-Noord was chosen because
it has been undergoing huge development in
recent years and is attracting ever more visitors
thanks to new leisure amenities, such as the
EYE lm museum, events at the NDSM ship-
yard and hotels (mainly in the budget bracket).
At the same time, this city district is experienc-
ing a relatively large inow of new residents,
thanks in part to various new housing construc-
tion projects. e residents not only answered
questions about their own neighbourhood, but
also about Amsterdam as a whole and about the
Amsterdam city centre.
e eldwork was conducted in May and
early June 2015. A total of 248 question-
naires were administered, all in hard-copy.
Of these, 128 were completed in Noord and
120 in West. The questionnaire was distrib-
uted among residents on the bank of the IJ in
Amsterdam-Noord and residents around the
Westergasterrein in Amsterdam-West. Residents
were ad randomly asked on the ferry, in the
streets and in the park if they were willing to
fill in the questionnaire. The questionnaires
were entered using a codebook and analysed
in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences
(SPSS). Unless otherwise stated, the cited dif-
ferences in results are statistically signicant.
In parallel to the questionnaire, eight
interviews were conducted with residents in
May 2015. Respondents 1 to 6 filled in the
90 Roos Gerritsma, Jacques Vork Amsterdam residents and their attitude towards tourists and tourism
questionnaire and mentioned that they were
willing to illustrate their answers in an inter-
view. Respondent 7 was selected based upon
her age, due to the fact that we had several
respondents who are in their twenties. Since it
was dicult to nd a resident who rents out his
or her house through Airbnb.Inc, respondent
number 8 was also selected through one of the
researchers network. Respondent number 8 can
be considered as an outlier (Miles et al. 2014)
so we could test the patterns within original set
of participants. Interviews took place in the re-
spondents’ homes, were recorded and then tran-
scribed at a later date. e transcriptions were
labelled by hand and related to the theoretical
framework. An overview of the respondents is
provided below (see Table 1):
During the interviews, the same topics were
discussed as in the questionnaire. e main goal
was to gather more background information
about the residents’ motivations and feelings.
Finally, information was gained from
various secondary sources, including: Stad in
Balans (Gemeente Amsterdam 2015), key g-
ures of Amsterdam Marketing, research reports
on Amsterdam residents and their attitudes
towards tourism and tourists (Gerritsma 1999;
Raaf 2008; Pool 2008), Beleving van drukte in
de binnenstad (perceived crowdedness in the
city centre) (Westenberg 2015) and Het Parool
newspaper.
Below, we set out the most important results
of the questionnaire per attitude component,
combined with quotes from the interviews. In
each case we examine whether there are dier-
ences linked to neighbourhood and/or back-
ground characteristics. Considering the amount
of respondents as well as the quantitative as the
qualitative part, we can’t generalize the results to
the whole population. However, we did recog-
nize tendencies and meaningful patterns in the
quantitative data that are illustrated with quotes
from the interviews.
Feelings of pride and irritation relating
to the neighbourhood and the city
e majority feel pride
Of all respondents, 66% agree or agree strongly
with the following statement: “It gives me a
sense of pride that my neighbourhood is attrac-
tive to (short-stay or other) tourists”. ere is
no signicant dierence between the residents
of West, who have been receiving more visitors
and for longer, and those of Noord (see Fig. 3).
In 1998, 80% of city centre residents agreed with
this statement, while in 2008 this fell to 71% in
the city centre and to 66% in the Plantage neigh-
bourhood. Despite the increased criticism of
rising tourism, the percentage has remained at
66%. In 2015, we also examined whether there
is a dierence in terms of pride regarding tour-
ists in the city centre and those in the resident’s
own neighbourhood. No such dierence was
found. If we examine specic forms of tourism
such as events and home-rental platforms for
Table 1. Respondent interviews (source: created by authors)
City district Name (only rst names were used) / age / tenant or home owner / number of city trips per year
Amsterdam-
Noord
Karel de Kleine, age 21, tenant, 1
Marleen Piket, age 23, tenant, 1 to 2
Esther Huis, age 20, tenant, 1 to 2
Koos Verhulst, age 57, home owner, chairman of Overhoeks neighbourhood association, 3 to 4
Amsterdam-West Joke van den Paard, age 21, tenant, 1 to 2
Christine Nagel, age 27, tenant, 2 to 3
Amsterdam East Philippa Care, age 52, 2 to 3
City centre Andreas Bitte, age 21, tenant and also lets via Airbnb.Inc., 2
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COACTIVITY: Philosophy, Communication 2017, 25: 85–98
private persons such as Airbnb.Inc, then 62% are
proud of the quantity of events in Amsterdam,
but only 32% are proud of Airbnb.Inc-related
tourism.
Sense of irritation particularly strong in the
city centre
e majority still have positive feelings about
tourism in their own neighbourhood and the
city centre. e picture changes somewhat when
Fig. 3. Sense of pride: in one’s own neighbourhood
as compared to the city centre (source: created by
authors)
Fig. 4. Irritation in own neighbourhood versus city
centre (source: created by authors)
Fig. 5. Irritation in own neighbourhood: Noord versus
West t-test Sig. (2-tailed): 0.22m (source: created by
authors)
Fig. 6. Irritation in the city centre: Noord versus West
t-test Sig. (2-tailed) 0.000 (source: created by authors)
we look at the level of irritation. Less than 6%
are or highly or extremely irritated by tourists
in their own neighbourhood, but 27% are by
tourists in the city centre. Events are perceived
by 17% as highly or extremely irritating, while
the gure for Airbnb.Inc is 12%.
e residents in West (see Fig. 4), where the
development of tourism is more advanced than
in Noord, are more annoyed by tourists in their
own neighbourhood, and above all by those in
the city centre, than the residents in Noord (see
Figs 5, 6).
92 Roos Gerritsma, Jacques Vork Amsterdam residents and their attitude towards tourists and tourism
Joke van den Paard, who lives in West,
puts it as follows: “I like it here, but I won’t
stay here all my life, partly due to the tourists.
ey generally behave well – it’s not that they
are rowdies – but they don’t know the rules of
the city: tourists on bikes, for instance, oen
create dangerous situations [...] they smoke
weed when they can’t deal with it and they al-
ways have too much baggage with them, which
blocks your way”. e city district of Noord is in
the early phase of its life cycle as a tourist area
(Cooper et al. 2008), as also indicated by the
following quotes. Karel de Kleine from Noord
says, “I’m proud that Amsterdam is such a vi-
brant town. [...] My neighbourhood is not really
that vibrant yet, there’s a very big dierence”.
When asked if he would mind to see tourism
increase in Noord, he answered: “Well, you can
denitely see it’s increasing, but as far as I’m
concerned, it shouldn’t increase a huge amount”.
Marleen Piket: “Noord used to be uninteresting
for tourists. It’s not as bad as the other parts of
Amsterdam, I think. It hardly bothers me, just
now and again tourists in public transport don’t
know where they need to go and then really get
in your way. And things are getting a little more
crowded. But that’s mostly in Amsterdam itself,
not in Noord”.
Background characteristics
We also examined whether the degree of the re-
spondents’ own experience with tourism, their
origin and family composition inuence their
feelings about tourism in the city. Respondents
who themselves have regularly undertaken
city trips abroad have more positive feelings
than those who have not. is applies to their
own neighbourhood, the city centre, events
and to Airbnb.Inc. No such dierence is found
when it comes to negative feelings (irritation).
About half of the respondents were born in
Amsterdam, but that does not lead to dierent
answers. A quarter of the respondents has lived
in Amsterdam for more than ten years and are
more irritated by events than those who have
lived there for a shorter period. There is no
signicant statistical dierence for the other
background characteristics.
Single persons and cohabiting persons with
children are more oen irritated by tourism
in the neighbourhood, in the city centre and
by events than single persons and cohabiting
persons without children. e latter group is
also more proud of the fact that many tourists
stay in the city using Airbnb.Inc. It should also
be mentioned that in this study only 12% are
extremely or highly irritated by Airbnb.Inc us-
ers, while 35% are neutral and 53% are not very
or hardly irritated.
Types of nuisance and disturbance
General
e respondents who were irritated by tour-
ism were asked which types of nuisance they
perceived2. Overcrowding was the most fre-
quently cited (46%), both as regards their own
neighbourhood and the city centre. In their own
neighbourhood, excessive noise came second
at 24%, followed by littering (22%) and lack of
safety (8%). In the city centre, littering came in
second place at 21% and excessive noise came
third (19%), followed by lack of safety (14%).
In Amsterdam-West, excessive noise, litter and
safety issues are cited more frequently as types
of nuisance in the respondents’ own neighbour-
hood than is the case in Amsterdam-Noord.
Events
When it comes to events, just under 20% of
respondents are negative or very negative. e
most frequent type of nuisance during events
2 Of all 250 respondents 160 answered this question,
which oered a choice from four types of nuisance:
overcrowding, excessive noise, littering and lack of
safety. e percentages indicate the distribution of
the number of yes-answers to a type of nuisance.
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COACTIVITY: Philosophy, Communication 2017, 25: 85–98
is overcrowding (37%). Excessive noise and
littering (both 26%) share second/third place,
while lack of safety scores 8%. Note that the
respondents in Noord (62%) are bothered
much more by excessive noise associated with
events than those in West (42%). ere is no
statistical signicant dierence for any of the
background characteristics. Due to the small
numbers, it is not statistically signicant, but
respondents older than 50 seem to have a
less positive attitude to events than younger
respondents.
While respondents often tend to say at
rst that they are not troubled, many do actu-
ally mention a number of typical situations.
Marleen Piket is a case in point: “of course,
you notice that things have got much more
crowded around here; especially at the ferry.
And very occasionally I hear the music. But
that’s usually with very big festivals such as
Volt. [...] en you get bottles and beer cans
lying around. Usually, this is all cleaned up
nice and quickly, but sometimes rubbish does
actually lie around for days”.
Home-rental platforms
e dominant problem with private home-rent-
al platforms such as Airbnb.Inc is excessive noise
(53%), followed by overcrowding (23%), lack of
safety (14%) and littering (11%). Residents in
Amsterdam-West (39%) perceive signicantly
more overcrowding as a consequence of Airbnb.
Inc than those in Amsterdam-Noord (13%).
In contrast, there are more people in Noord
(69%) who perceive excessive noise than in
West (43%).
In the apartment complex in the Overhoeks
neighbourhood (Amsterdam-Noord), several
residents rent out their homes via Airbnb.Inc.
The chairman of the neighbourhood asso-
ciation, Koos Verhulst, is concerned about this:
“ey should really impose the same rules on
their tenants, but sometimes that doesn’t hap-
pen and that means you get visitors sitting on
the balcony drinking and smoking at 2 or 3
o’clock at night.” Although Andreas Bitte lives
in the city centre, his experience of renting
out via Airbnb.Inc gives a good perspective on
why he rents out his apartment: “My atmate is
pretty good at earning money; he had the idea
that I could stay in his room and my room is
rented out and we split the money. at’s always
worked out well for me”.
Times and locations
We asked when (at what time) people were
irritated by tourists. In the respondents’ own
neighbourhood, the weekend scores highest at
40%. During the day and at night both score
23%, and 15% during the week. In the city
centre, irritation occurs mostly during the
day (32%) and at the weekend (30%), and less
at night (17%) and during the week (20%). In
the case of events, the weekend clearly scores
highest (47%). When it comes to Airbnb.Inc,
the night (41%) and the weekend (36%) score
high.
We also asked about the location where
the respondents are most irritated by tourists
(see Fig. 7), and here multiple answers were
possible. Mostly frequently cited is the Central
Station, followed by the shopping streets in
the city centre and the squares and parks in
the city centre.
Fig. 7. Where are people irritated by tourists in the
city centre? (source: created by authors)
94 Roos Gerritsma, Jacques Vork Amsterdam residents and their attitude towards tourists and tourism
What people think about tourism
in their own neighbourhood and the city
centre
More than 50% of all respondents think posi-
tively or very positively about (day) tourism
in their own neighbourhood; 10% experience
this as negative or very negative. With regard to
tourism in the city centre, these percentages are
signicantly dierent: 40% are positive or very
positive and 27% are negative or very negative
(see Fig. 8). Tourists in the city centre are clearly
rated more negatively than those in one’s own
neighbourhood.
e city district of West has been receiving
tourists for longer and in greater numbers than
Noord. Residents of West (see Fig. 9) think less
positively about tourism in their own neigh-
bourhood than those in Noord do. People in
West are even more negative with regard to
tourism in the city centre. Of the residents in
Noord, 51% regard tourism in the city centre
as positive or very positive, as compared to 28%
in West. is means that thinking and feelings
about tourism correspond strongly.
e residents in West perceive more over-
crowding due to Airbnb.Inc (39%) than those
in Noord do (13%). In contrast, there are more
people in Noord who perceive excessive noise
(69%) than in West (43%).
Background characteristics
In order to establish whether the respondents’
living situation inuences the way they think
about tourism, we investigated whether people
who live in rented accommodation think dif-
ferently about tourism than people in owner-
occupied homes. We found that people in
owner-occupied homes are more positive about
tourism in their own neighbourhood and in
the city centre than tenants of rented accom-
modation. is might be because home owners
expect the value of their home to rise as the
neighbourhood becomes more attractive. is
requires further research.
Public participation in
decision-making
Of the respondents, 65% feel that they have a
sucient say in decisions regarding their neigh-
bourhood. They think more positively about
tourists in their neighbourhood and events in the
city than the 35% who believe that they do not
have enough say. is latter group is also more ir-
ritated by tourists in their neighbourhood and in
the city centre and by Airbnb.Inc users. In Noord,
the percentage of respondents who believe that
they have a sucient say in decision-making is
higher (70%) than in West (58%).
When asked about issues in which they
should have a greater say, there is a huge spread
in answers: improvements to public space (9x),
events-related issues (7x), public participation
(7x), more information (4x), diculty nding a
parking space (3x) and enforcement (2x).
As chairman of the Overhoeks neighbour-
hood association in Noord, Koos Verhulst is
actively engaged in providing input for – among
other things – the events policy: “What we
believe is missing most is a municipal policy
that transcends the city districts, so that we can
examine the cumulative eect of all these events
on the city as a whole”.
Fig. 8. What people think about (day) tourists: in their
own neighbourhood versus in the city centre (source:
created by authors)
95
COACTIVITY: Philosophy, Communication 2017, 25: 85–98
Dispersion of tourists
With regard to the dispersion of tourism in
Amsterdam, 26% have positive or very positive
views and 30% negative or very negative views.
e respondents in Noord have a more positive
opinion about dispersion than those in West.
79% agree that tourism must be dispersed over
the various city districts in Amsterdam, and
21% are in favour of concentration of tour-
ism in the city centre. In Noord, 32% prefer
concentration in the city centre, compared to
9% in West. Philippa Care takes a broader view
and says: “Dispersion is better; it’s good for the
local economy and it reduces overcrowding in
the city centre”.
With regard to the dispersion of tourists
in de city, Karel de Kleine (from Noord) says:
“Now it’s a bit of both, I think. Most tourists
are in the city centre, but there are also some in
the other parts of Amsterdam. I think it’s good
the way it is now: keep them mostly in the city
centre, but you need a few attractions in other
areas as well. For my part, we don’t need a lot
more tourists in Noord; I think it’s great the way
it is. So I’d choose centralisation”.
Behaviour regarding tourists and events
In order to establish the extent to which
tourists inuence the behaviour of residents,
respondents were invited to choose from four
possibilities:
−involvement;
−avoidance;
−opposition;
−no change in behaviour.
is was asked regarding the respondents’
own neighbourhood, the city centre, events
and Airbnb.Inc.
With regard to their own neighbourhood
(see Fig. 10), 45% are involved and 35% do
not change their behaviour. Eighteen per cent
avoid and 2% show opposition. In Noord, more
people show involved behaviour (49%) than in
West (40%), but this dierence is not statisti-
cally signicant. When it comes to tourists in
the city centre, however, we do see a dierence
between Noord and West. In Noord, respon-
dents are clearly more involved (37%) than in
West (17%). e residents in West have a more
frequent tendency to avoid tourists (41% as
compared to 27%). Marleen Piket from Noord:
“It depends on what I myself am doing at that
moment. If I’m engaged in something impor-
tant, then I’ll avoid them. But if I’m not really
busy with something, then I’ll be happy to show
them the way”.
Fig. 9. inking about (day) tourists in the city centre:
Noord versus West t-test Sig. (2-tailed): 0.000 (source:
created by authors)
Fig. 10. Behaviour inuenced by tourists in the city
centre: Noord versus West (source: created by authors)
96 Roos Gerritsma, Jacques Vork Amsterdam residents and their attitude towards tourists and tourism
e following gure clearly shows that re-
spondents who have negative or very negative
views about tourism in the city centre exhibit
notably dierent behaviour than those who are
neutral or have positive or very positive views
(see Fig. 11). Negative thinking leads to avoid-
ance behaviour, and those who take a positive
view of tourism in the city centre exhibit signi-
cantly more involvement.
Background characteristics
With regard to tourism in one’s own neighbour-
hood, residents aged over 50 more frequently
exhibit avoidance behaviour (31% as compared
to 17%) and respondents aged under 50 more
frequently do not change their behaviour
(37% as compared to 15%). When it comes to
tourism in one’s own neighbourhood, those
born in Amsterdam are less likely to change
their behaviour (42% as compared to 28%)
and exhibit less avoidance behaviour (11% as
compared to 25%) than those who moved to
Amsterdam later.
Andreas Bitte, 21 years old, expresses an
opinion regularly heard in the public debate:
“Well, on the one hand I understand it – per-
sonally I don’t go to tourist bars and cafés, that’s
a dierent crowd, more jovial – but if it bothers
you, you shouldn’t live here. When you get a bit
older, then I certainly understand if you want to
move away”. e majority of respondents state
that they have consciously changed their behav-
iour, such as Esther Huis from Noord: “I mostly
avoid them, because people are oen drunk and
annoying during events. I always nd it sensible
to give them a wide berth, especially at night if
I’m alone. I want to avoid trouble if I can”.
Conclusions
The theme of overcrowding is a complex is-
sue. Our case study3 provides insight into how
residents perceive and experience tourism e
majority of respondents in Amsterdam still have
positive feelings and a sense of pride about tour-
ism in their neighbourhood and city. According
to them, this is part of Amsterdam and it is in
fact one of the city’s attractive aspects. However,
overcrowding and irritation are increasing, es-
pecially in the city centre. More than a quarter
of respondents are very or extremely annoyed
by tourists in the city centre. is chiey relates
to overcrowding, but excessive noise, littering
and lack of safety also play a role. e locations
correspond to the busiest points (the city cen-
tre) and the times of day correspond with the
times that the residents are at home (the week-
end) or in the city centre for work or recreation
(daytime).
There are also some clear differences.
Respondents from a relatively new tourist area
(Noord) show a more positive attitude towards
tourists and tourism than those who live in an
area that has received tourists for longer and in
greater numbers (West). ere are clear links
between the attitude components of feeling
and thinking. Negative thinking about tourists
correlates to more feelings of irritation and less
sense of pride. ose who have these negative
feelings also take a less positive view of the
degree of public participation in decisions
concerning their neighbourhood. Thinking
(knowledge and experience) and feelings lead to
3 Our study has been published in 2016 in a Dutch
only magazine for Leisure Studies.
Fig. 11. Behaviour inuenced by tourists in the city
centre according to feelings about tourists (source:
created by authors)
97
COACTIVITY: Philosophy, Communication 2017, 25: 85–98
diering behaviour. Residents who have more
positive feelings and views about tourism are
more involved and exhibit less avoidance and
opposition behaviour.
At the moment, the balance is still mostly
positive, and it is in everyone’s interest to keep
it this way. ere seems to be a positive relation-
ship between the residents’ perceived participa-
tion in decisions concerning their neighbour-
hood and the way they think about tourism.
Once negative feelings become dominant, the
sense of irritation increases and it becomes
much more dicult to nd solutions. Entering
into dialogue with the residents of a neighbour-
hood at the start of tourism development there
can serve to prevent future problems.
More and more cities anticipate on the:
“concept of creative tourism that blurs the
distinction between the notions of “local” and
“tourist” […] in which the tourist becomes a
contributor to the local life rather than a passive
consumer” (Rabazauskaitė 2015). We will take
these blurring lines into account in our future
studies and contribute to the “City in Balance”
discussion both in Amsterdam and on interna-
tional platforms.
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AMSTERDAMO GYVENTOJAI IR JŲ POŽIŪRIS
Į TURISTUS IR TURIZMĄ
Roos GERRITSMA, Jacques VORK
Amsterdame vis auga perpildos fenomenas, o turizmas yra viena iš to priežasčių. Tiek viešųjų diskusijų
metu, tiek savivaldos institucijose pabrėžiamas vis didėjantis patirties ir žinių poreikis, siekiant surasti būdus,
sudarančius sąlygas pasiekti tinkamą pusiausvyrą tarp įvairių suinteresuotų subjektų. Šiame straipsnyje susitel-
kiama į miestų gyventojų kaip suinteresuotų subjektų vaidmenį, aptariami jų požiūriai į turistus ir į plėtrą,
susijusią su turizmu, jų pačių gyvenamuosiuose rajonuose ir likusiose miesto dalyse. Terminas „požiūris“
gali būti suskaidytas į tris sudėtines dalis: jausmą, elgesį ir mąstymą. Šio tyrimo rezultatai yra pagrįsti tiek
kiekybiniu, tiek kokybiniu tyrimais (apklausomis ir pusiau struktūruotais interviu) ir turimų duomenų analize.
Galima daryti išvadą, kad dažniausiai gyventojų požiūris į turistus ir turizmą yra teigiamas. Požiūrių skir-
tumus daugiausia lemia miesto rajonas, kuriame gyvena respondentai, bei asmeniniai jausmai ir mąstymas.
Tolesniame tyrime, kuris bus vykdomas artimiausiais metais, bus išsamiau nagrinėjamas perpildos klausimo
kompleksiškumas.
Reikšminiai žodžiai: elgesys, jausmai, perpilda, mąstymas, urbanistinis turizmas.
