SIA subsidy for lecturers’ Platform for Sustainable Urban Tourism
Lecturers’ Platform for Sustainable Urban Tourism has been awarded a subsidy of 100,000 euros by the SIA Directorate. The platform brings together researchers from 12 Dutch knowledge institutions who are concerned with the question of how to develop tourism that contributes to a sustainable urban living environment. They want to do this together with local and (inter)national partners on the basis of a joint research and innovation agenda.
Unique transdisciplinary collaboration
Lecturers' Platform for Sustainable Urban Tourism currently consists of 16 lecturers and researchers from 12 knowledge institutions*. The participants in the platform have different academic backgrounds, ranging from tourism, geography, business innovation, design, psychology, architecture, marketing and the creative industry. This diversity is essential to understand urban tourism, especially since tourism has become an increasingly integral part of the modern city. Ko Koens, lecturer of New Urban Tourism at Inholland University of Applied Sciences and initiator of the lecturers’ platform: “The lecturers’ platform encourages better collaboration between researchers from Dutch colleges and universities. Such a collaboration is unique in the world and can help to come up with new solutions for urban tourism problems, both in the Netherlands and in other countries within and outside Europe.”
Ko Koens, lector New Urban Tourism at Inholland University of Applied Sciences, is the initiator of the lectorates platform: “The lectors platform stimulates better cooperation between researchers from Dutch universities of applied sciences and universities. Such a collaboration is unique in the world and can help to come up with new solutions for urban tourism problems, both in the Netherlands and in other countries within and outside Europe.”
Transitions of tourism ecosystems
Transdisciplinary collaboration between different lectureships makes it possible to analyse tourism as a social phenomenon, rather than as an economic sector. Such a perspective is innovative and essential for answering the question of how ambitious visions for the future of tourism can be translated into transitions in practice. The theme of sustainable urban tourism, and certainly also regenerative tourism, is in line with the broader social development surrounding urban tourism.
Current visions from cities, national tourism organisations and the European Commission outline a future in which the tourism ecosystem undergoes a transition so that it contributes more to broader inclusive growth and prosperity. The lecturers’ platform wants to contribute to this transition by emphasising the how question with joint research and design.
“The tourism ecosystem is becoming increasingly complex and requires visible value creation for a wide range of stakeholders, not only tourists, but also residents and entrepreneurs in particular,” says Karoline Wiegerink, lecturer in City Hospitality at Hotelschool The Hague.
Joint research and innovation agenda
The aim of the platform is to collaborate with local and national partners, including municipalities, provinces, destination management organizations (DMOs), museums, hotels, the Netherlands Bureau for Tourism & Conventions (NBTC) and international partners, based on a joint research and innovation agenda to learn how to use tourism as a means for the betterment of place and life. To achieve social impact, we are joining forces with the Center of Expertise Leisure, Tourism & Hospitality (CELTH), which focuses on increasing knowledge and making the broader leisure economy more sustainable.
Menno Stokman, director of CELTH: “The knowledge and insights that are developed within the platform are necessary to help the hospitality domain to have a more positive impact in cities. This helps to achieve the goals of the broader Agenda Conscious Destinations and Perspective 2030 Destination Netherlands.”
Expertise Network Sustainable Urban Tourism
To increase the effectiveness and ensure sustainable embedding of the platform, the lecturers’ platform is connected to the Expertise Network Sustainable Urban Tourism (ENSUT). This network in formation is an initiative of Inholland and has the ambition, together with professional field partners, to use various domains and research areas such as safety, metropolitan and digital developments, systemic co-design and geography to make urban tourism more sustainable. The network component is essential for the lecturers' platform. Partners from the professional field and wider society – government and the non-governmental sector – are necessary to achieve the goals of the lecturers’ platform. The lecturers’ platform will exchange people and resources with ENSUT and ENSUT will take the lead in communicating with and involving external partners.
* Participating knowledge institutions: Inholland University of Applied Sciences, Breda University of Applies Sciences, Hotel School The Hague, NHL Stenden, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, The Hague University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, Utrecht University, Wageningen University, Erasmus University, Eindhoven University of Technology.