Samenvatting

Many European cities have recently experienced anti-tourism protests, as a result of unmanageable flows of tourism. Residents increasingly voice their dissatisfaction.
Amsterdam, one of Europe’s most popular tourist destinations, benefits financially and culturally from international visitors, yet faces growing frustration among its residents. The downside of tourism does not only affect residents’ quality of life, but also risk damaging the city’s reputation as a hospitable destination.
The underlying causes of negative resident sentiment can be examined through the New City Hospitality Experience (CHX) model, which was originally designed to analyze tourists/visitors sentiment. However, this model was deliberately adapted to capture the resident perspective. The aim of this study is to investigate how negative resident sentiment towards tourists can be diminished by addressing so-called controlled stimuli. More specifically, the research aimed to identify the main source of irritation among residents and explore potential interventions that could improve resident-visitor relations in Amsterdam. The main research question guiding the study was:
- How can negative resident sentiment towards tourists, in Amsterdam, triggered by controlled stimuli, be diminished?
From literature four main drivers were identified: overcrowding, cultural commodification, economic inequalities, and environmental degradation. To find out which of the factors contributes the most to the negative resident sentiment four research questions were defined:
RQ1: Can better dispersion of tourist flows contribute to diminishing the negative resident sentiment towards tourists in Amsterdam?
RQ2: Can negative resident sentiment towards tourists in Amsterdam be diminished, through decrease of cultural commodification?
RQ3: Can negative resident sentiment in Amsterdam be diminished, by decreasing economic inequalities caused by tourism?
RQ4: Can a decrease in environmental degradation contribute to diminishing the negative resident sentiment towards tourists in Amsterdam?
A mixed method approach was applied. Quantitative data was collected through a survey among 80 residents, representing different demographic groups and neighbourhoods. The data was analyzed using SPSS. After analyzing the survey results, five semi-structured interviews with residents were conducted to gain deeper insights. These were analyzed through thematic coding following Braun and Clarke’s framework.
The findings demonstrate that overcrowding is the most prominent source of irritation, as it negatively affects daily mobility, access to public space, and the atmosphere of neighbourhoods and the city at large. Environmental degradation and housing affordability (economic inequalities) also emerged as significant concerns, while cultural commodification appeared less impactful.
Demographic characteristics such as age, gender, length of residence, and neighbourhood did not influence perceptions of tourism. This suggests that negative sentiment is broadly shared among different resident groups.
When asked about solutions, residents expressed the strongest support for stricter enforcement, incentives for locals and the promotion of hidden gems, with the municipality identified as responsible actor.
Based on the findings a solution was designed. The Amsterdam Beyond the Centre app, is a mobile application that combines real-time crowd data, curated walking routes, digital guided tours and an incentive program to guide tourists away from the overcrowded areas. Tourist can use the app to either just check out where it is currently busy, or they can choose to follow a route or guided tour that adapts to real-time crowd information. When app users complete a route or tour they are rewarded with points that can be redeemed for incentives. For example, a free coffee in a local coffee shop. In this way tourists are more evenly dispersed over the city and overcrowding is addressed.