Local Sense of Place in a Tourism Space

Transcription

Wageningen University
NHTV Breda
BTO - Tourism
BSc Thesis
Supervisor:
Dr.ir. Karin Peters
Examiner:
Prof.dr. Rene van der Duim
June 30th, 2014
Local Sense of
Place in a
Tourism Space
The construction of a sense of place
among local inhabitants in the seaside
resort of Renesse, The Netherlands
Daniek Nijland
930604614030
AUTHOR STATEMENT
Thesis title:
Local Sense of Place in a Tourism Space
Subtitle:
The construction of a sense of place among local inhabitants in the seaside
resort of Renesse, The Netherlands
Author name: Daniek Nijland
Bachelor degree program: Bachelor of Science Tourism
Educational Institute: NHTV Breda University of Applied Science & Wageningen University
Authorship statement
I hereby declare that this thesis is wholly the work of Daniek Nijland. Any other contributors have either
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appropriate referencing style is used throughout. With the exception of such quotations this thesis is
entirely my own work. I have read and understand the penalties associated with plagiarism as stated in
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Date: June 25th, 2014
Signature:
2
Place is security, Space is freedom:
We are attached to the one and long for the other.
Yi-Fi Tuan, 1977
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction
05
2. Literature Review
06
3. Research Setting
13
4. Methodology
16
5. Findings
23
6. Discussion and Conclusion
76
Acknowledgement
81
References
82
Appendix I: Interview Questions
85
Appendix II: Questionnaire
86
Appendix III: Informed Consent
90
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1. INTRODUCTION
In the most western corner of the peninsula of Schouwen-Duiveland, hidden
behind the dunes and the area’s rural landscape, lies a small coastal village
where approximately 1500 inhabitants live their daily lives. Peaceful it seems, at
least in winter, for the village happens to be known as one of the best
destinations for a party holiday in The Netherlands. In summer, the village
attracts large numbers of youngsters, who are looking for a holiday full of
parties, dancing and alcohol. However, Renesse is also a popular destination
among bathing guests, water sports enthusiasts and nature fans of all ages. As
these highly diverse groups of tourists come to Renesse with a different purpose,
they are likely to attribute different meanings to the village, expressed in various
behaviours and practices (Thurnell-Read, 2012). These, in turn, result in new
meanings (Kyle & Chick, 2007). Additionally, local inhabitants are likely to
attribute again different meanings to the village, since ‘for tourists, the space
they temporarily inhabit is understood to be defined by notions leisure and
playful release while for local residents the very same space retains its status as
setting for work and everyday behaviour’ (Thurnell-Read, 2012, p. 804). Such
place meanings are at the core of the concept of sense of place, that concerns
the subjective qualities of place. Essentially, the concept is about what a place
means to people (Hay, 1998). The construction of a sense of place happens
through experience and interaction with the place. It is a continuous process that
is very vulnerable to change; place meanings are constantly changed and
renegotiated (Tuan, 1977).
Taking together the bed capacity of all accommodation providers in Renesse, it
can reasonably be argued that the village population undergoes at least a
fortyfold increase in high-season. Intensive tourism development has caused
major physical and social changes in and around Renesse that impact the
liveability of the village. In general, problems with traffic congestion and nature
degradation have been occurring (Gebiedscommissie Schouwen-West, 2007).
Specifically, vandalism and violence are main issues with regards to youth
tourists (Gemeente Schouwen-Duiveland, 2012). Furthermore, investments in
the quality of facilities and accommodations have to be made in order to keep
Renesse liveable as well as attractive to tourists (Gemeente SchouwenDuiveland, 2014). In order to address all of these issues, the municipality of
Schouwen-Duiveland has commissioned a consultancy and development agency
to develop a master plan aimed at transforming Renesse into a more unique and
sustainable tourism destination.
Considering the presence of different types of tourists that use Renesse in many
different ways, causing all kinds of changes and effects, one wonders: how is
locals’ sense of place constructed, maintained and renegotiated and what role
does tourism play in this continuous process?
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In attempt to answer this question, this research paper has examined local
residents’ sense of place and the ways in which tourists, and changes brought by
tourism, relate to their sense of place. Semi-structured interviews with 15
inhabitants of Renesse were carried out. These were transcribed verbatim after
which they were content analysed to identify patterns in respondents’ feelings
about the village and the way in which these relate to tourism. Respondents
were also presented with a short questionnaire including several scales to
measure their degree of attachment to the village and the perceived influence of
tourism. These scales have served to complement and verify qualitative findings
from the interviews.
The research outcomes may contribute to the local knowledge base that can aid
the government of Schouwen-Duiveland and the commissioned experts in their
efforts to transform Renesse into a more unique and sustainable tourism
destination while building on the meanings that local residents attribute to the
village. Furthermore, the project also functions as an illustration of the
relationship between tourism and local sense of place, thereby adding to the
scientific knowledge base concerning this subject. It is important to note that the
findings of this research cannot be generalised beyond respondents themselves.
This is to say that the findings and conclusions concern respondents’ views only
and cannot be argued to be representative of the entire village population.
Furthermore, the aim of this research project has been to describe the variety of
feelings, opinions and views that respondents hold regarding their hometown.
These highly personal and subjective meanings of place cannot be judged right
or wrong, true or false. Consequently, this paper neither aims at, nor engages in
any evaluative judgement of respondents’ statements.
The paper is structured along the research process. First, the concepts of place
and sense of place, the relevance of sense of place for tourism as well as the
relevance of sense of place for destination transformation plans will be discussed
in the literature review. Thereafter, a description of the research setting is
provided, followed by the methodology. The research outcomes will be described
in the findings section, after which they will be reflected upon in the discussion
and conclusion.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW:
TOURISM & SENSE OF PLACE
SPACE AND PLACE
In order to gain insight into sense of place, the very concept of place should be
explored first. In one of his influential writings, Tuan (1975) describes space as
abstract, empty, lacking content, free. Place, on the other hand, provides a
sense of security as it is stable, encompassing some degree of continuity and
rest, forming the stops along the way. These places, however, would not exist
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without human presence in them; they would remain meaningless spaces
without people actually knowing and experiencing them. Knowing a place comes
in two forms; by hearing about a place, we can get to know a place indirectly
through the mind, though it is only by physical presence in a place that we can
experience it and get to know it through the senses (Tuan, 1975). It is through
these processes that people make sense of a space as they ‘get to know it better
and endow it with value’ (Tuan, 1977, p. 6), transforming it into a meaningful
place. However, experience takes time and so does getting to know a place:
Sense of place is rarely acquired in passing. To know a place well requires
long residence and deep involvement. It is possible to appreciate the visual
qualities of a place with one short visit, but not how it smells on a frosty
morning, how city sounds reverberate across narrow streets to expire over
the broad square, or how the pavement burns through gymshoe soles and
melts bicycle tires in August. To know a place is also to know the past. (…)
But the communal past is not truly one’s own past unless history extends
without break into personal memories: and neither is vividly present unless
objectified in things that can be seen and touched, that is, directly
experienced. (Tuan, 1975, p. 164)
According to the same author, however, a place is more than just an object that
is known and valued in a certain way, as she adds later on:
A building, a park or a street corner does not, however, remain a place
simply because it is tangible reality and was originally designed as a place.
To remain a place it has to be lived in. (…) To live in a place is to experience
it, to be aware of it in the bones as well as with the head. Place, at all scales
from the armchair to the nation, is a construct of experience; it is sustained
not only by timber, concrete, and highways, but also by the quality of
human awareness. (p. 165)
Thus, a place is created by the experiences people have in a place and the value
they attach to the place. It is a reality to be understood from the perspective of
the people who give it meaning (Tuan, 1974). Although this social constructivist
line of thinking has been guiding much research on place and sense of place up
until today, not all of Tuan’s work has remained uncriticised. Milligan (1998)
challenges Tuan’s view of places as stable and bounded entities, with unique
identities, providing shelter from the world outside of it. Rather, she sees places
as open crossroads, meeting places, as locations with interactive potential, a
dynamic entity inviting diversity. Indeed, Lewicka (2011, p. 210) agrees that ‘the
concept of place as a source of potential social interactions better describes the
features of the globalized world spaces of today’.
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SENSE OF PLACE
As with place, Tuan was one of the first scholars concerned with the phenomenon
of sense of place. His early writings – briefly discussed above – together with
similar works by Relph (e.g. 1976), have formed the basis for the substantial
amount of research on the topic that has been conducted up until today.
Uncountable definitions of sense of place have been proposed. Hay (1998), for
example, states that sense of place has something to do with aesthetics and a
feeling of dwelling; it is about the subjective qualities of a place, the sensing of a
place to create personal meaning. To indicate how broadly the concept of sense
of place has been conceptualised, two quite extensive definitions are worth being
mentioned. Haven-Tang and Jones (2005) define sense of place as follows:
It may refer to a set of personal, family, and community stories which
include features of place and which create an attachment to a place; or an
embedded body of knowledge about a place – the history, legends,
geography, geology, flora, and fauna; or a feeling that communities and
people are special and distinct from anywhere else, non-material
characteristics which create the “soul” or “spirit” of a place. Ultimately, a
Sense of Place embraces everything that is unique and distinctive about a
place – those special and memorable qualities that resonate with local
people and visitors. (p. 72)
Quite similarly, albeit without explicitly relating sense of place to unique and
distinctive qualities of a place, De Wit (2013) states:
I define sense of place as the human experience of place in all its
dimensions: physical, social, psychological, intellectual, and emotional. It
includes the beliefs, perceptions, and attitudes held toward a place, as well
as residents’ conscious and unconscious attachments to place, their feelings
about local political and social issues, and their attitudes and feelings
toward other places. Sense of place can also be a strong component of
personal, as well as group or community identity. In short, to study sense
of place is to examine who people in a given place conceive themselves to
be as a consequence of that place. (p. 121-122)
Indeed, although many definitions are available, the common ground seems to
lead back to Hay’s subjective qualities of place, the sensing of a place to create
personal meaning. It is important to mention that a sense of place is constantly
being recreated and renegotiated, that it is a process rather than a state
(Campelo, Aitken, Thyne, & Gnoth, 2014; Stokowski, 2002). As Gustafson
(2001) illustrates, ‘meanings of place are not given once and for all. Instead, a
meaningful place appears as a process, where various individual (and collective)
projects converge and/or compete with other projects, with external events, and
with the course of time’ (p.12). So how does this process work? How do we
attach meaning to a place? As Tuan (1977) argued so convincingly, without
8
human presence places would be merely meaningless spaces. The spatial setting
relevant to sense of place thus consists of space itself and the human beings that
make sense of the space through interacting with it. Humans have the unique
quality to attach meaning to the physical and tangible qualities of a landscape,
creating meanings that are often less tangible. However, these meanings are
equally significant with respect to personal and collective experiences and all
kinds of social interactions: ‘together they create the habitus of the place,
sometimes intangible in terms of emotional bonds, but very tangible when
expressed by the ways things are done’ (Campelo et al. 2014, p. 156). Thus,
when humans come in, social and physical interactions emerge and meanings are
created; turning the space into a place by adding intangible elements to its
characteristics. Several authors have described how physical elements (e.g. built
and natural landscape) and social elements of a space (e.g. interactions,
relationships) are evaluated along and impact upon an individual’s personal
frame of reference (e.g. psychological characteristics, behaviours, experiences)
to create meaning (e.g. Campelo et al. 2014; Gustafson, 2001; Kyle & Chick,
2007). Considerable disagreement exists about the importance of social versus
physical dimensions of space for the construction of a sense of place. Social
constructivists claim that sense of place and place attachment are entirely social
constructions (e.g. Stokowski, 2002); that they are ‘a product of shared
behavioural and cultural processes rather than the result of perceptual and
cognitive processes rooted in physical characteristics of settings’ (Lewicka,
2011). However, a widely cited paper by Stedman (2003), arguing that physical
qualities of space may form equally important bases for attachment, has largely
contested this view.
Gustafson (2001) referred to three dimensions of space to which meaning is
attributed through constant interaction: self, others and environment. The ‘self’
attributes meaning to a space and constructs a sense of place by interacting with
‘others’ and ‘environment’. The ways in which ‘others’ and ‘environment’ interact
with each other as well as with the ‘self’ are crucial for the meanings that the
‘self’ attributes to them. Indeed, following Tuan, Stedman (2003) outlines that a
sense of place is constructed by human interpretation of the place which follows
from experience and interaction with it. Sense of place then, according to the
same author, consists of meanings attributed to the place, feelings of attachment
to the place and satisfaction with the place. Meanings are defined as beliefs
about a place; descriptive statements of what a place is to a person. Attachment
is conceived of as a positive link or emotional bond between a person and the
environment (Stedman, 2003). It has a functional and an emotional dimension
(Williams, Patterson & Roggenbuck, 1992): functional attachment, or place
dependence, relates to the potential of a place to satisfy a person’s goals and
needs (relative to alternative settings); emotional attachment, or place identity,
points at the importance of a particular place to a person’s identity – a place may
become an essential part of one’s self. Lastly, satisfaction is defined as the
‘degree of like or dislike for the setting’ (Stedman, 2003, p. 676).
9
As mentioned above, Campelo et al. (2014) stress that meanings are reflected in
the way things are done. Thus, the environment in which the ‘self’ resides forms
the basis for creating a sense of place, but it does not remain uninfluenced by
the meanings attributed. People express their feelings towards a place by means
of certain behaviours that impact the place. These behaviours, in turn, result in
new meanings (Kyle & Chick, 2007). Sense of place is therefore not only
constantly being recreated and renegotiated, it can be said to function as a
circular process that never reaches an end-state.
The theoretical framework that has guided this research project has been
designed along the theories and considerations of sense of place outlined above.
As many different views of the concept of sense of place exist, it was considered
necessary to make a choice as to which theories would suit this research project
best. Incorporating all these, for the purpose of this project, sense of place has
been operationalised as follows in figure 1. The basis of the theoretical
framework is provided by the three dimensions of place outlined by Gustafson
(2001) and the dimensions of sense of place as described by Stedman (2003).
Considering the time frame and the fact that ‘satisfaction’ has not been related to
sense of place as often as place meanings and place attachment, this paper will
focus on the latter two concepts in its study of local sense of place in Renesse.
FIGURE 2.1: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
LOCAL SENSE OF PLACE IN A TOURISM DESTINATION
Since this paper is concerned with sense of place in relation to tourism and local
residents specifically, it is deemed appropriate to review a small part of the body
of literature covering this topic. In general, tourism has been widely recognised
as an influential factor in shaping and altering places, especially in rural areas, as
illustrated by Amsden, Stedman and Kruger (2011):
10
The expansion of tourism in rural areas presents a number of challenges to
the natural, cultural, and built environments in which local people
experience day-to-day life. Increases in tourism can in turn prompt rapid
growth, raise revenues, and provide local residents with amenities such as
restaurants, theatres, and retail stores. Tourism development may also
change the community’s social, political, and economic landscapes by
altering traffic patterns, challenging service providers, and driving up
property values. (p.32)
Furthermore, numerous academic researchers have related the concept of sense
of place to the way in which local residents of a tourism destination make sense
of their hometown (e.g. Amsden et al., 2011; Gu & Ryan, 2008; Kianicka,
Buchecker, Hunziker & Müller-Böker, 2006). These authors all recognise that
there is something special about local sense of place in a tourism destination. As
Thurnell-Read (2012) points out, there may be a rather big discrepancy between
tourists and locals with respect to the meanings they attribute to the place since
‘for tourists, the space they temporarily inhabit is understood to be defined by
notions of leisure and playful release while for local residents the very same
space retains its status as setting for work and everyday behaviour’ (p. 804).
Kianicka et al. (2006), in their paper on tourists’ and locals’ sense of place in a
Swiss Alpine village, found that ‘locals’ sense of place is primarily shaped by
aspects in everyday life: occupation, property, and, most important, social
relationships, which together form their affiliation. Furthermore, their sense of
place is strongly associated with memories of childhood and youth’ (p. 61-62).
However, as meanings are expressed in behaviours, it can be assumed that the
meanings tourists attribute to the place play a certain role in locals’ sense of
place as well.
Local residents are generally thought to possess a very strong sense of place,
because they have been living in the place for a very long time (Hay, 1998).
Having a sense of place is important, because it can provide feelings of security,
belonging and stability (Hay, 1998) that have a positive effect on a person’s wellbeing and life satisfaction (Lewicka, 2011). However, as sense of place is very
sensitive to change, and tourism is a major facilitator of alterations in the host
environment, change brought about by tourism can have quite an impact on local
sense of place. This is illustrated by Gu and Ryan (2008) in their discussion of
local attitudes toward tourism in Beijing. They describe how initial positive views
of tourism mainly based on economic benefits, can change into more negative
views as the industry grows and brings about a lot of nuisance. Due to tourism,
local residents may change their activities or activity patterns that may reflect
changes in place dependency, place identification and social interactions and thus
in their sense of place. Since the physical environment, social interactions and
personal characteristics and activities could all be important factors in developing
a sense of place (Gustafson, 2001), almost any spatial alteration induced by
tourism can possibly impact on locals’ sense of place.
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THE RELEVANCE OF LOCAL SENSE OF PLACE FOR DESTINATION
MANAGEMENT PLANS
Since this research project was partially initiated to provide a potential source of
information for the Master Plan Renesse that is to be designed, some illustration
of the relevance of sense of place for such plans seems appropriate. Several
scholars have outlined that local residents’ sense of place is an important factor
to be considered where destination transformation plans are concerned. For
example, Campelo et al. (2014) argue that analysing local sense of place
‘provides an understanding of the layers of meanings upon which the uniqueness
of each place is generated’ which matters for ‘developing an effective and
consistent destination brand that is both culturally cognizant and socially
informed’ (p. 161). Haven-Tang and Jones (2005) touched upon the potential of
sense of place for discovering the unique qualities of a place already, by stating
that ‘the sense of place concept adopts a more resource-oriented approach that
focuses on the natural, physical and socio-cultural assets of a destination. In this
way, the destination can develop its distinctive features, [and] create a unique
identity’ (p. 72). Similarly, Williams, McDonald, Riden & Uysal (1995) pointed out
that measures of local community and place attachment can help to identify
places and meanings that should be protected from change induced by tourism
development. As De Wit (2013) illustrates, ‘people can have passionate reactions
to impacts on places they hold dear’ (p. 122). Consequently, ‘events, policies, or
decisions that impact that intangible sense of place can result in very tangible
political, social, and economic ramifications. If we are concerned about those
tangibles, we need to understand as well the intangibles that influence them’ (p.
139). Moreover, if local sense of place is not considered, plans attempting to
initiate change are likely to fail:
Sense of place is vulnerable to changes in place meanings. The physical
landscape may change to such a degree that preferred meanings become
untenable or are maintained only through active effort. (…) Attempts to
manipulate the landscape in the service of attachment will fail if meanings
are not considered. (Stedman, 2003, p. 683)
Later on, Stedman, Amsden and Kruger (2006) describe that taking into account
residents’ sense of place will allow planners to design policies that will be better
understood, therefore implemented more easily and ultimately more successful.
They consider it critical that communities participate in decision making where
their habitats are concerned. Furthermore, Kianicka et al. (2006) argue that,
with respect to future landscape development, gaining insight into people’s
relations with a place can help to understand conflicting aims. Martin and Storr
(2009) have confirmed this notion three years later. Ultimately, Amsden et al.
(2011) stress that understanding local residents’ sense of place and place
attachment will aid tourism planners to ‘respond to the inevitable change that
leisure-related growth imparts upon rural communities’ (p.33).
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3. RESEARCH SETTING
Renesse is located at the most western end of the peninsula of SchouwenDuiveland, right between the dunes and the area’s rural landscape. The coastal
village is home to approximately 1500 inhabitants and seems rather peaceful in
winter. In summer though, Renesse attracts large numbers of youngsters who
are looking for a holiday full of parties, dancing and alcohol: the village happens
to be known as one of the best destinations for a party holiday in The
Netherlands. However, Renesse is also a popular destination among bathing
guests, water sports enthusiasts and nature fans of all ages.
HISTORY
In contrast to the biggest part of the province of Zeeland, the most western
corner of the peninsula of Schouwen-Duiveland lies well above sea level.
Unsurprisingly, this land was already inhabited around 2500 B.C. and has been
ever since. Its location was high and safe enough to offer protection against the
many floods that ravaged this region through the ages. There was fresh water
from the dunes and the relatively flat inner dunes could easily be converted into
farmland. Van den Bosch (2006), in his overview of the history of Renesse,
writes that the oldest official account of ‘Rietnisse’ is to be found in a document
dating from 1244, written by Willem II, duke of Holland and Zeeland. Founded as
a ‘ringdorp’, the village was built in a circle surrounding the Jacobus church.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the first bathing guests come to visit
Renesse. In 1911, the ‘Vereeniging Renesse Vooruit’ is founded, an early tourist
information office aiming to inform ‘strangers’ about the extraordinary qualities
of the village. The very first event that is organised – a concert by the local
fanfare – attracts many young visitors. In the years that follow, Renesse is
actively and successfully promoted throughout Zeeland and other provinces
nearby. With the extension of the tram line in 1915, the village becomes
accessible by public transport. As the number of visitors is growing steadily, the
first campsites are opened, summer cottages are built and the infrastructure is
adapted. In its efforts to meet visitors’ wishes in the best possible way, the
tourist information office initiates a big summer festival every year from 1934
onwards. This event too, is popular mainly among youngsters.
After Renesse had been forbidden territory in World War II, hermetically isolated
because of its location at the Dutch border, the tropical summer of 1947 leads to
the rediscovery of the village as a seaside resort. During the big flood of 1953,
Renesse gains much publicity as the village stays dry and gives shelter to
refugees from the lower parts of the province. The completion of the ‘Zeeland
Bridge’ and the ‘Grevelingendam’ in the 1960’s provide the seaside resort with a
direct connection to the mainland. As the number of visitors is now growing
faster than ever, especially youth tourism is increasingly causing nuisance.
13
Nevertheless, local entrepreneurs are happy enough to respond to the rising
demand for nightlife venues; several new clubs and discos open doors in the
years that follow.
By the 1970’s, the total bed capacity has been extended from 17 000 to 48 000
in ten years’ time. Furthermore, a shift in demand towards high-quality caravans
and summer cottages is occurring as a result of growing welfare. The 1980’s are
characterised by the emergence of bicycle tourism as visitors wish to relax by
being active. The regional tourist offices merge to be able to promote the region
on a larger scale; not without success. The police and the regional government
join efforts to regain control of nightlife as riots form an increasing problem; by
prohibiting alcohol consumption on the streets and setting closure times for clubs
and bars, nightly nuisance is reduced. As a result of stricter regulations and a
decline in available accommodation for youngsters, the group of young visitors
starts decreasing in the 1990’s. From now on, more and more families start to
visit Renesse (Van den Bosch, 2006).
RECREATION POLICY
Because of the paradox between fast, intensive tourism development on the one
hand and the region’s large protected natural and coastal areas on the other, the
regional government decided to develop a vision and a strategy for the future
development of the peninsula’s western corner (Schouwen-West) in 1993. The
goal of this project was to create a more sustainable tourism industry that forms
a better fit with other landscape functions. In 2007, a critical evaluation of the
outcomes shows that issues concerning mobility, education and nature in
Renesse have been addressed. The most important achievements include the
construction of several bicycle paths, reduced traffic in the main street
(Hogezoom), the realisation of a parking lot with free transport to the beach, the
relocation of several recreation firms for the purpose of nature conservation, the
education of recreation employers and employees and the founding of
environment-education centre Ecoscope (Gebiedscommissie Schouwen-West,
2007). The evaluative report concludes that although much has been done, a
vision for the future has to be created. As a result, the ‘Tij van de Toekomst’ was
written in 2011, displaying one comprehensive vision of Schouwen-Duiveland in
2040. Building on the identity, strengths and unique qualities of the region, the
main focus is on establishing a leading water economy, providing a sustainable
connection between the domains of living, working and recreation. For Renesse,
this means a viable tourism economy with a focus on sea, beach and dunes,
providing for relaxation, walking and cycling activities, as well as water sports
(Gemeente Schouwen-Duiveland, 2011).
RENESSE ANNO 2014
As a tourism student, entering the village for the first time in low-season, one
may feel like Renesse is just another seaside resort. However, when walking into
14
the main street, one suddenly notices that there is something special about this
place; it is different from other coastal villages of comparable size. Within less
than 500 metres, one passes by normal houses, a water sports centre, a couple
of hotels, two bakeries, many nice restaurants and terraces, a casino, a
bookstore, a supermarket, several clothing stores, numerous souvenir shops, ice
cream vendors, an expensive life-style shop, a jewellery store, a church and
many cafes and clubs. There is a billboard explaining about seals on the beach;
but also big signs displaying the rules and regulations concerning night life.
Apparently, the main street, called ‘Hogezoom’, caters for the wishes and needs
of bathing tourists, water sports fanatics, party tourists as well as local
inhabitants all at once. Besides, such a large number of facilities gathered in a
small village, seems quite remarkable. Thus, even in winter, when the village is
left to its inhabitants, the traces of a viable and highly varied tourism industry
remain clearly visible.
Indeed, considering the bed capacity of all accommodation providers in Renesse,
the village population experiences an almost fortyfold increase in high-season.
This intensive tourism development does not go without effects. Especially youth
tourists have been the focus of attention throughout the years. Considerable
efforts have been made to reduce nuisance caused by partying youngsters: by
now, there is only one youth campsite left in Renesse (and an additional two in
other villages nearby) and special security teams are deployed in summer to
keep the village calm during the night. However, acts of vandalism and violence
remain important issues (Gemeente Schouwen-Duiveland, 2012); newspapers
report numerous incidents each summer. In the Integral Safety Plan, published
by the municipality of Schouwen-Duiveland in 2012, it is noted that night life in
Renesse has traditionally been a very complex issue, which involves not only
night life venues, but also transport companies and accommodation providers.
Besides the specific issues concerning night life, in general, problems with traffic
congestion and nature degradation have been occurring (Gebiedscommissie
Schouwen-West, 2007). Furthermore, the recent past has seen a lack of
investments in the quality of facilities and accommodations. In order to keep
Renesse liveable as well as attractive to tourists, reinvestments have to be
stimulated (Gemeente Schouwen-Duiveland, 2014). In order to address all of
these issues, the regional government feels that Renesse should receive special
attention in addition to the general regional vision. Therefore, the municipality of
Schouwen-Duiveland has commissioned a consultancy and development agency
to develop a master plan aimed at transforming Renesse into a more unique and
sustainable tourism destination of higher quality. The plan is currently in its
orientation phase and will enter the design phase in October 2014. It is in this
latter phase that the designers will look into Renesse’s identity to determine the
most appropriate way forward (Gemeente Schouwen-Duiveland, 2014).
15
4. METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH QUESTION
Based on the literature review and the theoretical framework developed
accordingly, the following main research question has guided this project:
 How does local residents’ sense of place relate to tourism in Renesse?
The main question has been supported by two sub questions:
1. What meanings do local residents attribute to social and physical
dimensions of space?
a. How do these meanings and dimensions relate to tourism?
b. How do these meanings and dimensions contribute to the
establishment of a sense of place?
2. In what way and to what extent do local residents feel attached to
Renesse?
a. What role does tourism play in these feelings of attachment?
RESEARCH DESIGN
The research design is a case study, ‘focusing on one case within its social
context at one point in time’ (Adler & Clark, 2011, p. 178). A case study is
distinguished by its holistic approach in understanding the case; the researcher
makes sense of the case as a whole. This seems to fit the concept of sense of
place quite well, since exploring sense of place means gaining insight in the
personal, physical and social context to which meaning is attached and in which
a sense of place is constructed. Thus, arriving at an understanding of what
Renesse means to respondents, is at the core of this study. In addition, a case
study design provides a clear focus for the thesis project, suiting the limited time
frame. Renesse forms the case, with a special focus on its residents.
DATA COLLECTION
People living in Renesse on a permanent basis, later called inhabitants, residents,
or locals, form the study population of this research project. For practical
reasons, convenience sampling and snowball sampling were used to approach
prospective respondents. A flyer was designed, introducing the author and her
research and calling for respondents. The flyer was distributed over most
mailboxes in Renesse. At the same time, inhabitants walking the dog or standing
in their front door were approached directly. They were told about the research
project and asked for their help.
A few days after distributing the flyer, the author sent out an e-mail to
inhabitants whose e-mail addresses were obtained via the internet. The e-mail
referred to the flyer and asked for respondents once again. Although the flyer’s
main purpose was to introduce the project to the study population, the contacts
16
it yielded resulted in a sufficient number of respondents. Several inhabitants
offered to ask some of their acquaintances to participate in the study. While
getting into contact with more and more inhabitants, it was tried to obtain
considerable variety in the sample by means of purposive sampling. That is to
say, further respondents were selected on the basis of gender, age, profession
and length of residence as far as possible. Considering the feasibility of the study
within the pre-set time frame and the instrument described below, a sample of
15 respondents was considered appropriate. The aim of such a small sample is
not to make generalisations about the study population, but to bring a
considerable variety into the sample and develop a general understanding of the
variety of opinions expressed in the sample (Kianicka et al., 2006).
Respondent profile
The tables below provide an overview of respondents’ age, gender, profession
and length of residence in Renesse. As stated earlier, a total of 15 respondents
was selected. A mother and a daughter were interviewed together; since they
expressed very consentient opinions and feelings, they will be treated as one
single respondent. However, they will be mentioned separately in the respondent
profile, because their age, profession and length of residence differed. To
safeguard respondents’ privacy, their profiles have been pulled apart: each of the
four characteristics is presented separately and age and profession have been
put into different orders. For one retired respondent, mentioning his/her former
profession could already disclose his/her identity. Therefore, this respondents’
profession is left unspecified.
TABLE 4.1: RESPONDENT PROFILE
Age
Main profession
21
22
30
34
35
43
45
46
48
52
60
64
65
67
70
84
Physician
Bar owner
Waitress
Fire fighter
Campsite owner
Disco manager
Administrative worker
Shop owner
Campsite handyman
Beach pavilion manager
Agrarian (retired)
Living in Renesse since
Birth
< 5 years
5-10 years
> 25 years
6
3
4
3
Male
Female
9
7
Student/waitress
Bakery sales person
Housewife
Housewife/waitress
Unspecified (retired)
17
Research instruments
Semi-structured interviews consisting of a set of open-ended questions were
considered the most suitable instrument for data collection, as they provide the
researcher with the opportunity to prepare a script that ensures coverage of all
relevant topics in each interview while at the same time allowing for an in-depth
elaboration on the topic by the respondent (Adler & Clark, 2011). Furthermore,
this method is associated with good response rates, flexibility and adaptability
(Adler & Clark, 2011). Because both the interviews and data analysis are time
consuming, the sample had to be kept small. Interview questions were based on
earlier studies concerned with the qualitative examination of sense of place,
mainly Campelo et al. (2014), and were adapted to the context relevant for this
study to maximise its validity (see appendix I). Additionally, the degree of
attachment to several places in Renesse as well as to Renesse as a whole was
measured by means of Stedman’s (2003) attachment scale, translated in Dutch
by the author for the purpose of this study (see appendix II). Several scales
measuring respondents’ perceptions about the influence of tourism were
included as well. These scales were also used as a means of further conversation,
to probe respondents to talk about topics that were not mentioned earlier.
Especially the importance of high- and low-season for respondents’ feelings
towards a place were discussed this way. Due to time constraints, not all data
obtained from these questionnaires could be analysed; only the tables
encountered in the findings section have been part of the results and analysis.
Five full days were scheduled to conduct interviews, all in April. The specific
dates were selected for practical reasons.
Interviews were conducted in
respondents’ homes or working places and lasted at least 45 minutes – though
often more than an hour – in order to gain sufficient in-depth information.
Interviews were tape recorded, to allow ‘later review of specific words, voice
tone, pauses, rephrasing of answers, and other subtle information’ (Adler &
Clark, 2011, p. 281).
DATA ANALYSIS
Interviews were transcribed verbatim after which they were content analysed.
This is most often an inductive process which allows for discovering patterns in
the data (Adler & Clark, 2011). Indeed, this study employs inductive reasoning,
starting with several individual data sets that are interpreted by the author to
identify patterns and make empirical generalisations. With the research
questions in mind, these generalisations are used for theory building, resulting in
a more general understanding of respondents’ sense of place in relation to
tourism in Renesse. Content analysis was carried out by means of coding
software and resulted in 14 main codes, the majority comprised of several subcodes that form the constructs of meaning derived from respondents’ words. The
main codes are structured along five different themes that will guide this section.
It is important to keep in mind that themes, codes and sub-codes are discussed
18
separately for ease of explanation; in reality, however, they overlap and are
highly interlinked. The coding scheme looks as follows:
1. Renesse: Image and Identity
 Renesse – Image
 Renesse – Identity
o Located on an island
o Small-scale and cosy
o Holiday village & seaside resort
o Surrounded by nature
o Freedom, space and tranquillity
o Nightlife district
2. Living in Renesse: General Feelings, Issues and Evaluations
 Living in Renesse – Important Aspects
o Population
 General characteristics
 Composition
 Complainers
o Opportunities for adolescents and young adults
o Facilities
o Events
 Strao
 Pentecost
o Private business climate
o Municipal policy and treatment
 Renesse – Appearance
3. Living in Renesse: The Influence of Tourism
 Tourism in Renesse – Characteristics
o Pull factors
o Types of tourists
o Seasonality
 Tourism in Renesse – General Evaluation
o Attitude towards overall tourism industry
o Attitude towards youth tourism
 Tourism in Renesse – General Influence
o Influence on village and inhabitants
 Income and prosperity
 Facilities
 Liveliness
 Downsides
o Influence on natural surroundings (beach)
o Influence on personal life
 Income
 Facilities
 Liveliness
 Crowdedness
 Direct contact with tourists
 Influence on home
 Habituation and adaptive behaviour
 Tourism in Renesse – Influence of Youth Tourism
o Influence on village and inhabitants
 Income
 Liveliness
 Criminality
19
Influence on personal life
 Income
 Liveliness
 Criminality
 Noise nuisance
Tourism in Renesse – Municipal Policy
o General tourism policy
o Youth tourism policy
o

4. Renesse and I: Feelings of Attachment
 Attachment to Renesse – Extent
o Attachment scale
o Expressions of attachment: pride, feeling at home & attitudes towards
leaving Renesse
 Attachment to Renesse – Binding Factors
o Roots
o Memorable experiences
o Friends, family & contacts
o Freedom, space & tranquillity
o Nature, sea & beach
o Mentality
o Facilities
o Liveliness
o Business
 Attachment to Renesse – Social versus Physical Dimensions
5. How to move on: Visions of the Future
 Wishes for the Future – General Visions
o Housing
o Facilities
o Infrastructure
o Appearance of the village
 Wishes for the Future – Tourism-specific Visions
o Types of tourism
o Facilitating tourism
o Side notes
Respondents’ thoughts about and feelings towards Renesse will be discussed
along this scheme. Their opinions will be illustrated by relevant quotes from the
interviews – originally in Dutch – translated into English by the author herself.
These quotes will be accompanied by a specification of the respondent’s gender,
age and length of residence in Renesse. However, where a quote is linked to a
respondent’s profession or an indication of location in the village, no further
personal details will be provided since this could possibly affect respondents’
anonymous status. In the description of themes three and four, several codes
will be complemented or illustrated by quantitative data from the questionnaire.
RESEARCH ETHICS
The author considers it very important to respect respondents and to treat them
in the most ethically responsible way. Hammersley and Traianou (2005) defined
three principles of research ethics that have to be taken into account when
conducting social research. First, any harm to research subjects should be
20
prevented. Participants have the right to know what the research is all about and
what positive and negative effects they might experience. In relation to this, it is
also important to consider compensation for participants’ efforts. Second,
anonymity or at least privacy of research subjects should be assured.
Participants may talk more freely and be more honest as a result; however, this
issue also has to do with minimising harm as respondents will not be identifiable.
Third, autonomy of research subjects should be taken into careful consideration.
The right to refuse participation or to withdraw from the research at any time
should be sustained, again to minimise any possible harm. These principles have
formed the basis for dealing with this study’s respondents in an ethical manner.
The author has encouraged residents to participate, while keeping in mind that
they should not feel pressured to do so. Respondents’ privacy will be ensured in
the best possible way, by not mentioning any names or other characteristics that
could disclose participants’ identity. It should be noted, though, that snowball
sampling has caused several respondents to know about other residents
participating in the study. This form of identification could not be prevented,
however, these respondents still agreed to participate and still their names will
not be mentioned in the research report. Respondents are not entirely
anonymous, as the author herself does know who they are. Despite this, all
information participants provide will be treated confidentially, to protect
respondents from being identified by any third party. Autonomy of research
subjects was respected and taken into consideration by informing participants
about their rights to refuse participation or to withdraw from the research at any
moment in time.
To inform participants about the research and to ensure voluntary participation,
an informed consent form was written, introducing the author, describing the
purpose of the study and the kind of questions the respondents could expect,
mentioning the fact that and the reason why the interview would be tape
recorded, outlining the respondents’ rights (privacy and autonomy) and noting
the positive and negative consequences of participation (see appendix III).
Interviews were conducted only after respondents had signed the form. The
author wishes to compensate respondents’ time and effort, by means of
providing them with a digital copy of the final research report by the beginning of
July, 2014. Additionally, participants received a small present right after finishing
the interview.
All of these actions and considerations were incorporated to minimise possible
negative impacts, while maximising possible positive impacts for research
subjects resulting from participating in this study. However, it should be noted
that it is never possible to foresee and predict all possible ways in which a
research project may affect its participants (Adler & Clark, 2011).
21
LIMITATIONS
The sample size and the research instruments employed are associated with
several limitations that have to be taken into consideration.
Generalizability
The choice for a case study design automatically implies that the findings cannot
be generalised beyond the village context. This means that the conclusions
concerning local sense of place in Renesse cannot be assumed to hold true for
local sense of place in other seaside resorts.
Moreover, the sample size has important implications for the generalizability of
findings to the study population itself. Because only 15 residents have been
interviewed, their views cannot be claimed to represent the general attitudes of
the people of Renesse – the study population. Therefore, concluding statements
can only be made about the sample; they will always concern only respondents
themselves.
Additionally, convenience and snowball sampling were used for practical reasons,
although these methods restrict the researcher in controlling the sample process.
Rather than purposely selecting respondents on the basis of certain
characteristics to ensure the utmost variety, the researcher is largely dependent
on coincidence as well as on the contacts and cooperation of the study
population. Although a considerable variety in the sample has been obtained,
more purposive sampling methods would most likely have maximised the
diversity of respondents. It could be the case that the eventual sample mainly
includes residents who are eager to express their opinions, whereas people of a
more reserved nature may be underrepresented. Especially where a very small
sample is concerned, this could limit the variety of opinions presented, because
certain views are left excluded. All this confirms the statement that the views
presented in this paper are non-exhaustive and can therefore not be claimed to
represent the general attitudes of the people of Renesse. They do, however,
provide an insight in the meanings that 15 residents attribute to the village and
the way in as well as the extent to which tourism influences their sense of place.
Interviewer effect
Employing semi-structured interviews as the main research instrument brings
along the risk of an interviewer effect – ‘changes in respondents’ behaviours or
answers that result from some aspect of the interview situation’ (Adler & Clark,
2011, p. 233). For this study, the most relevant issue in this respect is the way
questions are put. Respondents’ feelings towards and opinions about life in
Renesse are derived from their answers to the questions posed; since these
questions largely determine the topics reflected upon, they result in a selective
account of respondents’ views. After all, certain questions probe certain answers,
leaving other potentially relevant issues undiscussed. Moreover, putting
22
questions in a slightly different manner may influence the feelings and opinions
that come to the fore. Taking this issue into account, the author has made a
considerable endeavour to be consistent in the way questions were posed. It
should be noted, however, that an interviewer effect can never be completely
ruled out.
5. FINDINGS
1. RENESSE: IMAGE AND IDENTITY
Renesse’s Image: How the Village is perceived
Most respondents think that Renesse is perceived as a cheap party destination,
full of nightclubs, youngsters and alcohol causing quite some nuisance. Theft,
vandalism, fights and noise are mentioned, often simply referred to as ‘rubbish’
or ‘trouble’. One respondent states that the village is often called ‘Sodom and
Gomorra’ as a result. As two other respondents confirm, for example:
“Historically, Renesse has had a negative connation for some people because of the
predominant presence of youth, causing trouble and fights.”
- Male (70), born in Renesse
“Well, of course, a lot of people have asked us how we could possibly go and live in
Renesse, because well, the party crowd, noisy summers, youth, nuisance.”
- Female (65), in Renesse since < 5 years
Although some respondents feel that this is indeed the general image of
Renesse, many think that Renesse is not only perceived as a village of youth.
They suggest that perceptions may depend on age, familiarity with Renesse and
the period in which the village was last paid a visit. Youngsters, people who are
unfamiliar with Renesse and people who have last visited the village quite a few
years ago are thought to perceive Renesse this way. However, elderly people and
families that have visited Renesse, or in general, people who visit Renesse
regularly or have done so recently, are thought to perceive the village as a nice
and cosy holiday destination, a family-friendly seaside resort that offers great
opportunities to enjoy the beach. One respondent feels that Renesse, in this
sense, is especially perceived as a budget beachside resort, where everything is
still simple and relaxed, where people can still be themselves and feel
comfortable.
The following quote illustrates the ambiguity in the way in which Renesse is
thought to be perceived:
23
“Of course there are people who only associate Renesse with going out and partying, but
of course there are also many people who do find Renesse very pleasant as a seaside
resort to stay with their family and who come and enjoy the beach.”
- Female (45), born in Renesse
With respect to the accuracy of these images, the family-friendly seaside resort
remains rather uncontested. However, although two respondents feel that
Renesse is indeed mainly visited by youth who bring about nuisance in summer,
the other respondents disagree. The most prevalent argument is that the
situation has improved quite a lot over the years. Indeed, they agree that in the
1980’s and 1990’s, Renesse was dominated by young visitors who were
associated with some trouble. But the tide has turned. As a bar owner explains:
“It has shifted like 1000 percent. Now it’s calm, regulated and everything is clear and
transparent. It’s now only about incidents, it’s not by default crimes of violence every
weekend, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday taken together 30 incidents. Now there
are maybe one or two. But in the past it was commonplace. When I went partying here,
pff. It always happened. There were always fights, vandalism, those things still happen
today, but not to such an extent anymore.”
Another respondent adds:
“The squeaker who screams the loudest that there’s a lot of nuisance, shouts down the
others. Of course there’s nuisance sometimes, but that happens everywhere.”
- Female (52), in Renesse since > 25 years
This seems to be the general view; one respondent notes that although the past
has seen some trouble associated with partying youth, as far as he is concerned,
negative effects have never dominated. Many respondents explain that measures
undertaken to improve the situation have been reasonably effective. They feel
that Renesse has increasingly been focusing on families, and that the village can
therefore no longer merely be seen as a party destination:
“We are on our way to become a real family seaside resort. It is about time that the
people of The Netherlands start to realise that.”
Renesse’s Identity: What it is really like
LOCATED ON AN ISLAND
Many respondents mention at least something about where Renesse is located
and what it means for their life in the village. Although Schouwen-Duiveland has
been connected to the mainland by means of several bridges, the feeling of living
on an island remains. There is water all around, the island cannot be reached
without crossing it. For several respondents, this provides a feeling of specialty.
As one of them illustrates:
24
“Schouwen-Duivenland remains an island and that provides a special feeling somehow.”
Especially newcomers express to have noticed that it has formed Renesse and its
inhabitants. One of them states, for example:
“Schouwen-Duiveland has always been an island, so people are very much dependent on
one another. There’s something special about that, I have learned the expression ‘they
are from the other side’. It provides something special that still remains.”
Renesse is not simply located somewhere on an island, it is located at the
western corner of the island, at the coast. Two respondents feel that this specific
location on the island is fairly unique, since the landscape at this part of the
island is most special and diverse. More generally so, respondents think that its
coastal location and its proximity to the beach is what makes Renesse unique:
“Because the shoreline is about 200 kilometres long; how many people live at the coast
in The Netherlands? Well, not so many.”
SMALL-SCALE AND COSY
Renesse is a small village with only 1500 inhabitants. Many respondents feel that
this provides a cosy atmosphere; they know most other inhabitants and they run
into each other very often. Often-heard quotes are:
“It’s a small village. Everyone knows everyone else.”
“It’s very cosy.”
Several respondents speak of a ‘real community’ and ‘great solidarity’. Elderly
respondents felt somewhat different: they state that they used to know
practically everyone, although that feeling has diminished over the years.
Furthermore, most respondents like it a lot that the size of the village allows
them to cycle to work and to the supermarket.
HOLIDAY VILLAGE & SEASIDE RESORT
Respondents all agree with each other that Renesse is highly intertwined with
tourism. The village simply is a tourist attraction; tourism belongs to Renesse
and has become an essential part of the village:
“Renesse simply is a tourist attraction.”
“It’s a real tourist village. A seaside resort so to say.”
25
What this also means is that the whole village is about tourism, it has changed
its appearance. Especially the Hogezoom, the main street, is often perceived to
be totally adapted to tourism, mainly catering for tourists’ needs. What tourism
in Renesse is all about and what it means to respondents will be elaborated on in
part three of this findings section.
SURROUNDED BY NATURE
As mentioned earlier, many respondents associate Renesse with the coastal
environment and find this particularly unique. However, although conceptions of
sea, beach and dunes tend to dominate, more general associations with nature
are also apparent in respondents’ words. They speak of the diverse landscape,
the beauty of it, the fresh air and the freedom that it offers. Many express the
wish to spend much time outside; they enjoy the activities that the natural
environment facilitates. As two respondents illustrate:
“You are surrounded by nature and fresh air.”
- Male (46), in Renesse since > 25 years
“A bicycle tour, a walk, you can choose if you want to get a breath of fresh air at the
beach or to enjoy the forest, nature is very important. And everything is still natural
here.”
- Male (35), in Renesse since 5-10 years
Two other respondents stress that the naturalness of the coastal environment is
most unique:
“More and more Belgians are coming here, saying, your coast is still beautiful, there is
nature still. The whole of our coast is full of high-rise buildings and that is why we come
to Schouwen-Duiveland.”
“One big advantage of our coast is, I think, and I hope that it stays that way, that it is
not being ruined by buildings.”
Thus, apart from its location at the coast, respondents feel that nature and
naturalness in general are most unique about Renesse. Besides the coastal
environment, the forests and the polder landscape are greatly valued as well.
FREEDOM, SPACE, TRANQUILLITY
The feeling of freedom, space and living in a tranquil and peaceful environment
seems to be largely facilitated by the natural surroundings and atmosphere of
Renesse. Although these three words are generally associated with Renesse,
their meanings differ. Definitions of freedom and space range from being able to
enjoy nature at any time and in several ways, to the panoramic view that the
beach provides, to the spacious setting of the village, to the open-minded
26
people. Tranquillity is described as silence, an empty beach, not crowded, or
child-friendly. To illustrate:
“The space. The feeling that you can do whatever you want.”
“Space. Simply the space. In Rotterdam the view is always blocked by some kind of
buildings.”
These kinds of features meant a lot to many respondents, although more
apparent among those who were not born in Renesse, and form an essential
element in their descriptions of the village.
NIGHTLIFE DISTRICT
Although some respondents oppose to youth tourism and the presence of
nightclubs in Renesse, the majority feels that it is part of Renesse, that it belongs
to the village. Some referred to the idea to move the nightclubs to the outskirts
of the village, and did not only question whether that would work out, but also
thought the nightclubs belong to the village. These respondents varied in age
and profession, not only the ones working in the nightlife sector thought of it that
way. The following quotes from respondents who are not involved in the nightlife
sector illustrate this feeling:
“They wanted to remove all the nightclubs from the village, but would it then still be
Renesse?”
“It’s part of Renesse, the nightlife, yes.”
This is not to say that there is no critique. One respondent feels that, although
nightlife facilities belong to Renesse, he would like the number of nightclubs to
decrease a little. Similarly, another respondent feels that there should not be an
increase in the number of nightclubs, that it is good the way it is now. In
general, respondents express a strong dislike of vandalism, and would not mind
at all if youth who engage in those practices would stay away. However, they
say, the situation has already improved quite a lot, and vandalism as well as
other nuisance has decreased. In short, it can be said that although they all
oppose to negative consequences of youth tourism, the majority of respondents
does feel that Renesse should maintain nightlife facilities, because they belong to
the village. Views on this topic will be discussed more extensively in part three of
this findings section.
27
2. LIVING IN RENESSE: GENERAL FEELINGS, ISSUES AND
EVALUATIONS
Living in Renesse – Important Aspects
Although this section focuses on outlining general, mostly non-tourism-related
aspects of life in Renesse, it will become apparent that some of the more general
issues are highly intertwined with tourism and can therefore not be separated
from it. However, aspects explicitly concerned with tourism will be discussed in
part three of this findings section.
POPULATION
General characteristics
When asking respondents how they would describe the people of Renesse, they
most commonly refer to them as friendly, outgoing, open, and helpful.
Respondents feel that people are very social, that they all say hi to each other
and that they support each other. Some speak of a community:
“It is the kind of people that I get on with very well. Quite open, friendly, they support
each other.”
- Female (21), in Renesse since 5-10 years
“I think it is a pretty nice community.”
Respondents born in Renesse, with one exception, feel very much part of that
community and some are very passionate about the cosiness and the things they
undertake together with others. The woman quoted above notes:
“Yesterday night we have taken down the tent [for the King’s Day celebration] all
together, we have an incredibly cosy group of people who do that. And you do it because
you are having a great time together, but also for the village. And that brings you a lot of
cosiness and friendship. (…) You know where to find each other. You have a lot of
contacts, if something has to be done you can always call someone. (…) Things are easily
settled. You simply do that, it is nice. And it is possible in such a small community. The
solidarity is great, I find that very snug and cosy. If there is something going on in the
community centre we get together a nice bunch of people and we go and help out there.
Sometimes there are funerals in the community centre and this week we happened to be
there and the woman who runs the centre gets busy, then we just take off our coats and
help her out. That’s the way it is, it is really nice.”
Respondents who have moved to Renesse feel positively surprised by the warmth
and the friendliness. In general, they feel that they have had a warm welcome
and that they became part of the community very soon. To illustrate:
28
“When I moved here permanently I was immediately asked to join the soccer club like a
100 000 times. I went there once and from the start it was, yes you are one of us and
really cosy. Yes, very special. (…) It was a really warm welcome from the start.”
One retired couple that has moved to Renesse recently, was less enthusiastic.
According to them, the people of Renesse are quite introverted and closedminded. They preferred to mix with other residents from the Randstad.
Composition
Respondents feel that there are many different people living in Renesse. The
main distinction made is between ‘autochthonous’ residents and ‘import’
residents, and between younger and older residents.
With respect to origin, estimations of non-autochthonous residents vary from 40
to 60 percent. Several respondents born in Renesse confessed that they could
not easily come up with names of elderly residents who had lived in Renesse all
their lives. However, it has not always been that way. Respondents think that it
is a result of tourism: people move to Renesse, because they have been visiting
Renesse for years and decide to go and live there in the end. On the other hand,
they say, young adolescents are leaving Renesse because of their studies. This is
not to say that there is a separation between autochthonous residents and
import residents, not at all:
“They never look at each other suspiciously or something. Always open-minded.”
“What is a real Renessenaar? I don’t think you can put that in a box. Many people who
live here are from somewhere else. To me they are real Renessenaars too”.
Indeed, all respondents who were born in Renesse feel that people from
somewhere else have the same right to live in Renesse as they do themselves;
not only does a positive attitude towards the import population prevail, residents
with different backgrounds are said to mix very easily. Almost all respondents
have mixed friends, both autochthonous residents as well as import residents.
With respect to age, respondents agree that the elderly population is relatively
large. On the one hand, they say, as hinted upon above, many elderly people
move to Renesse after retirement because of the natural surroundings and the
tranquillity. Furthermore, young adolescents are leaving Renesse because of
their studies. Some of them return, but many do not, because they have found a
job or a partner elsewhere. This is said to be the case in the whole municipality
of Schouwen-Duiveland. Several respondents express their concerns about this
29
development, especially the ones who have been living in the village for all or
most of their lives. As one of them states:
“We would prefer a bit of a balance. If Schouwen-Duiveland is to become one big nursing
home, well that doesn’t bring us anything. It also has to do with the basic amenities in
the villages. There are several villages in which the primary schools have disappeared
already. The primary school in Renesse is still flourishing, but in the smaller villages it
proofs hard to retain those schools and that’s a real shame. So from that point of view
too, it is important that there is a good balance between young and old.”
Complainers
Quite some respondents have mentioned that there are a few residents who
often complain about Renesse, mainly with respect to youth tourism and noise.
According to them, these are mostly import-residents. Several respondents who
were born in Renesse or who have lived there for several years, expressed a
strong dislike of these complainers, as illustrated by the following quote:
“The village council for example, that’s also nice. There are many elderly people there.
What happens often is that if someone stands up to oppose to what’s happening in the
village, cafés, nightclubs, that there are 10 elderly people who stand up immediately, and
say: ‘Get lost! Then you shouldn’t have come and live here.’ That is really nice to see.
When there was such a fuss after Pentecost in 2010, an import-resident from Rotterdam
had sent in a letter to the newspaper. Writing that it couldn’t continue like that. Well, the
real Renessenaren from the soccer club have paid him a visit. That he should shut up and
that he should keep his hands off Renesse. And that otherwise he should go back to
where he came from. Well, that was pretty cool.”
Thus, although a positive attitude towards non-autochthonous residents persists
in general, many respondents stated that they experienced feelings of
resentment towards complainers. The quote below provides an illustration of the
diversity of people that Renesse is home to, combined with a more in-depth
illustration of who exactly complains.
“There are Renessenaren who have moved here just like I have. They come from the
city, and they deliberately choose to live here. There are Renessenaren who have come
to live here with a certain purpose, to start a guesthouse for example. But they do not
realise that noise nuisance is part of the package. Those are the people that are now
opposing. People who move here for the tranquillity, but who don’t realise that the village
centre experiences eight pretty noisy weeks in summer. And then they go complaining.
No, then you shouldn’t come and live in Renesse. (…) And there are also the
Renessenaren who have been living here for 80 years and who live just behind the
nightclubs, who don’t know any better and who like it a lot too. You see them walking
through the village in the evening to have a look what’s going on. (…) There are many
kinds of Renessenaren, so to say. Something from all categories.”
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OPPORTUNITIES FOR ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS
As outlined above, respondents feel that many young residents are leaving
Renesse. According to them, this is a result of limited opportunities relating to
study, work and housing. Respondents explain that there are no higher education
institutions on the island. Adolescents leave for their studies and ‘stick around’ in
the city after having graduated, because they have found a partner or a job
there. Furthermore, respondents say, there are a lot of jobs available in Renesse,
but they are mostly within the hospitality or retail sector. These sectors do not
offer many opportunities for higher-educated people. Additionally, respondents
feel that housing opportunities for the young are very limited. Two young adult
respondents explain:
“They don’t really make it attractive for youngsters to stay here, a lot of them are
moving out for their studies and they don’t come home very often. And then I think, well,
apparently there isn’t really anything that brings them back here. For me, the tranquillity
would always bring me back, but if you don’t like that a lot then Renesse doesn’t really
offer anything more than any other place.”
“You can work in the hospitality sector, or start your own business (…). But for the rest,
it is hard to find a job here. And if you do have a job then it is still very hard to find a
house, because everything is awfully expensive here. Especially owner-occupied property
is very hard, that is why I still live with my parents.”
In general, respondents think that there is too little rental housing and social
housing available, and that owner-occupied property is disproportionately
expensive:
“We’ve hardly got any rental housing, but owner-occupied property starts at 200 000
euro’s. And then you get a tiny cabin [een hokje].”
As several respondents are concerned about the ageing population of Renesse,
they consider these issues to be very important. Furthermore, one mother is
especially worried about her children’s future in Renesse as housing issues may
make it difficult for them to stay:
“They don’t build any houses here. I find that a real shame, because if I think of my own
children, there is little chance that they will be able to stay here. You have to be a bit
lucky. They might come back, but properties are quite expensive to buy and their
chances at the housing association are also decreasing. In the past, if your family lived
here you got certain points and if you worked here you got a certain amount too, but
now they are all in a lucky dip and who gets the house gets it. I find that a real shame,
that there’s a chance that my own children or the people who were born here and would
like to live here, that their chances to find a place to live are smaller. They are displaced
for import from elsewhere.”
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FACILITIES
Renesse’s location implies that the facilities of urban areas are at considerable
distance. All respondents agree that neither Renesse, nor the whole of
Schouwen-Duiveland can satisfy their needs, especially where clothing or
entertainment are concerned. Renesse provides facilities for primary needs,
Zierikzee is often mentioned as a place to do more extensive grocery shopping,
but for entertainment or shopping facilities, respondents go to Goes, Middelburg,
Vlissingen or Rotterdam. In general, respondents who have always been living in
Renesse or who have been living there for most of their lives do not perceive this
as something negative. Of course, they say, it would be easier if facilities were
more close-by, but if you live here, you do not know any better. Respondents
who have moved to Renesse recently, feel that Rotterdam is still in reach; they
knew where Renesse was located when they moved there and they have adapted
themselves to it. For two respondents it even represents a positive aspect,
because it gives them a reason to plan a trip to the city. Online buying is also
mentioned several times as being of great help.
Besides this general evaluation of the facilities that Renesse offers, respondents
also hold rather specific opinions about the quality and diversity of the facilities
on offer. To start with, respondents disapprove of the retail sector, stating that
most shops are so-called summer shops, only catering for the tourists’ needs and
therefore only running in high-season. This is seen to have a negative effect on
retailers who do run on a year-round basis as a village with 70 to 80 per cent of
closed shops is not attractive for visitors. Furthermore, these shops all sell the
same products, they are very limited in diversity. As one respondent illustrates:
“I think, for example, it could be somewhat more diversified. Food, clothing. Well, it
would be nice if there was something different for a change. It is often the same, for a
tourist too, I think you’ll soon get bored when shopping here.”
Furthermore, these shops are often said to sell rubbish; one respondent calls
them one-euro shops. It is also noted several times that these shops switch
owners regularly; that many of them close after two years and that they are reopened by someone else.
The restaurant sector is not valued that much either. Some respondents are fine
with the offer, but many feel differently, as this respondent summarises:
“It is not possible to enjoy a decent meal here. There may be a few places where you can
get decent food, but really enjoying it, well, it is incredibly poor. Barely satisfactory as a
whole, I would say, the restaurants here in Renesse. Really, exceptions exist, but it is all
too easy, too blatant, fast, cheap, unsustainable, not decent. Although there are so many
crops growing here and there is so much to be caught from the sea.”
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With respect to nightlife facilities, many respondents are fine with their existence
as long as they are managed properly. Younger respondents liked the fact that
there are great possibilities to enjoy a night out, and one mother also expressed
the benefits of having such facilities close-by:
“To me it is fine, we have younger kids ourselves so it is quite nice, right, that they can
go out here when they grow older and that they do not have to go somewhere else by
car or by bus or whatever. It could not be any better, just getting on your bike or being
able to walk to the village centre to drink your glass of beer or soda.”
Sports and entertainment are also discussed. Besides nightclubs and café’s,
respondents feel that Renesse does not offer many entertainment facilities.
Especially when the weather is poor, they say, there is not much to do.
Considering sports facilities, the removal of the gym seems to be a sensitive
issue, especially for respondents who have children. They feel there is a need for
a gym, as sports facilities are quite limited now:
“You can play soccer or tennis. That’s it. Or you can do horse riding, but we don’t like
horses.”
To summarise, respondents express positive attitudes towards the basic facilities
that Renesse provides, although they feel that there is much room for
improvement with respect to the retail and restaurant sector as well as the
sports facilities on offer.
EVENTS
Renesse Day, King’s Day, Strao, the Christmas meal for the elderly, the activities
in the community centre; there are quite some events taking place in Renesse
throughout the year. In general, respondents are very positive towards them and
feel that they are important for the atmosphere and the liveability of the village.
Two events are discussed most often: Strao and Pentecost.
Strao
A few weeks before Easter, the historical Strao event is replicated, it is unique in
Holland, only celebrated in six or seven villages on the island of SchouwenDuiveland. Many respondents have explained the origin of the tradition; one of
them states:
“The farmers used to make money with horses. In spring, when the horses no longer had
to stay inside the stables, the evil spirits and demons had to be washed away. It was just
another reason to end up in the pub, but anyway, the horses’ feet were washed in the
sea. Often these were the big Belgians, Belgian horses. So they went to the beach and
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they covered a whole itinerary through the village. And afterwards they went to the pub.
Until they went home completely drunk.”
Nowadays, about 75 to 100 horses are gathered and decorated to be
accompanied to the beach. After washing their feet in the sea, they are brought
back to the village centre where they are welcomed by the local musicians
association. Thereafter, the crowd moves to the pubs to celebrate. All
respondents felt generally positive about the Strao tradition, even the ones who
do not attend the celebration themselves. The majority of respondents indicated
that they always go and watch the horses. Five of them, mostly middle-aged
respondents who were born in Renesse, join the celebration in the pub
afterwards. They do not only like the event for the sake of tradition, for them,
the social part plays a large role as well:
“I’s really nice. Everyone gathers in the village centre and in the pub and that is really
cosy. Those are the kind of historical village celebrations that I am quite fond of. Just a
little bit of a tradition so to say, that has been brought here by history, it lives on and
that is what I like about it.”
“Personally I like it a lot that I meet people there that I haven’t spoken to in a long time.
If I run into them in the village, I wave at them, but we both don’t bother to take half an
hour to talk to one another on the street. And with Strao we do, that is what I find very
cosy.”
Although some respondents think that there are quite some tourists who attend
the Strao festivities, most emphasise that it is the one and only real celebration
that is still ‘theirs’. As one among them illustrates:
“I think it’s amazing, it just belongs. It is the only village celebration that is attended by
people from the village exclusively. Queens Day, well yes, Kings Day it is now, takes
place during the holidays, so there are some tourists who attend that. Fine, of course,
because everyone should have the possibility to party. But Strao is really, ours.”
In short, from respondents words, it is clear that both those born in Renesse as
well as those originating from elsewhere, feel that Strao is something unique, a
tradition that should be preserved. In addition to historical value, the event is of
great social value to some respondents as well, mainly those who were born in
Renesse or who have been living there for a long time already.
Pentecost
Pentecost used to be the biggest party weekend of the year. It started in 2007
and gained immense popularity very soon. There were outdoor beer stands, the
whole of the village centre was full of party people. After three years, the mayor
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decided to abolish the whole celebration. In 2010, the event was organised as a
gated festival, but it failed. Some respondents say it failed because of the
complaining businesses located just outside of the festival terrain, some say it
failed because visitors had to pay an entrance fee, even if they just wanted to
have dinner somewhere. The majority of respondents felt generally positive
about the festival and are disappointed that it has been abolished. It was cosy,
they say, and nothing has ever gone wrong. They have the feeling that it has
been taken from them without reason:
“Then there was Pentecost, that was quite cosy. You know it, Pentecost is the party of
the youth and I didn’t have a problem with that. Nothing ever went wrong actually and I
find it quite a shame that it’s over and that they aren’t allowed to organise it anymore
(…) I think the police did a quite good job where needed and it was quite nice actually.
We always went for a walk through the village in the evening. It was fun to watch.”
“Pentecost used to be one big party, it was amazing, then I did sit down in the village
[although she normally prefers the tranquillity], I worked all weekend and enjoyed the
masses. I think the whole of Germany resided here and it was an incredible chaos
sometimes, though never in annoyingly so. And now we have a new mayor and it all isn’t
allowed anymore. And then I think, well damn it, they advertised with it in Germany, you
have to go to Renesse for Pentecost, cause it’s just one big party. And then I’m like, all
those patronisations, those silly rules, come on! Let people, if it had escalated once, I
could imagine, but it hasn’t.”
Besides the positive atmosphere that the event provided, Pentecost was also the
most important weekend of the year for the nightclubs and cafés; a bar owner
states that his turnover rate for that weekend has halved. Surprisingly so, he is
one among few respondents who do understand why the mayor has forbidden
the event, although he also illustrates the financial importance of the event:
“At a certain point in time, the popularity conquered the nice atmosphere and the
cosiness. People from the Randstad came, hooligans, those are total freaks (…). It led
the mayor to decide that he did not want to let it happen under his leadership again.
There were many people who only came to see what was going on and who didn’t spend
one single euro. They did block the circulation in the village though. As a result, it took
me three quarters of an hour to walk from here to the Jumbo. Well, you can imagine, it is
not even a two-minute walk. That’s scary. Cause if something happens in some disco, or
in one of the streets, then you have a problem (…). I should be full of indignation, but I
can understand what has happened very well. The mayor just wanted safety in his
municipality (…). And the fact that it has been abolished, well, so be it, we still have 51
weekends left to make some more money. But it was so easy, making money during
Pentecost. You could actually say that making such a turnover is crucial here. And that
opportunity is gone now, but the businesses did not get anything in return. I think that
may have been the deathblow for some of them.”
Another respondent adds:
35
“To me it represents a duality. The event was really nice, but on the other hand, if there
are no adequate security measures undertaken, if something goes wrong it does so really
badly. But if it is organised properly, and I think the business owners were willing to
discuss how to do that, then I think you should support such a big party, because it’s a
great marketing tool nationally as well as internationally; in Germany, it was widely
known too.”
All in all, the Pentecost event is clearly a sensitive issue in Renesse. Most
respondents are disappointed that the event they quite enjoyed has been
abolished, in their eyes without any valid reason.
PRIVATE BUSINESS CLIMATE
Although there is a business association in which many private business owners
cooperate to organise all sorts of things together, several respondents feel that
they begrudge each other the air they breathe. One of them exemplifies:
“Many shops sell the same items. If one has a rack of scarfs, then the other suddenly has
one too. Then I’m like, don’t thwart each other like that, cooperate instead of fight! It
does no good to the village. If you work cooperate and make it a nice village together
and you organise things together, it could only have a positive effect. Also with respect to
opening times. It would be nice if Renesse could display some air of uniformity.”
Another respondent, a private business owner himself, adds:
“I think it is caused by the fact that many private business owners earn just enough
money to survive. So if someone else comes up with something that works, then you
also start doing that, because you can at least earn some money with it, that you can’t
otherwise. I think there is a big problem in that sense. (…) There are business owners
who don’t plan on changing or improving anything, because they don’t have the money
or they don’t see the use of it. They have been surviving for ten years already and they
are doing fine, so why would they change anything?”
In general, although the business association has done some great work, these
respondents feel that the prevailing conflicting relationships among some private
business owners combined with the all but innovative attitudes of others, are not
really beneficial for Renesse as a village.
MUNICIPAL POLICY AND TREATMENT
The general attitude towards the municipality is not too positive. Five
respondents explicitly mention that the government of Schouwen-Duiveland
mingles in their affairs too much. The Pentecost event is often taken as an
example here and one private business owner feels that the freedom to manage
his business the way he wants is too limited. Issues with permits, however, are
especially apparent in respondents’ words. Troubles with building permits form a
36
frustration for several respondents, but the general attitude towards
entrepreneurship and private business owners is the largest point of discussion.
The quote by this respondent displays the general attitude pretty well:
“It’s scandalous. If you hear from so many different entrepreneurs how the municipality
thwarts them when they have nice plans, how much effort an entrepreneur has to put
into achieving something, I find it scandalous. That they make such a fuss when it comes
to permits and that they make it really hard for entrepreneurs to practice
entrepreneurship and to manage their business properly. That it takes a lot of effort to
get something done here, to arrange something. And there are really nice plans. And you
don’t hear that only from one entrepreneur, but from ten of them. That’s a real shame.
For the entrepreneur himself, but also for Renesse it would be pretty nice if things could
be arranged somewhat more easily. That they handle permits in a somewhat more easygoing way, that people who have nice plans don’t get thwarted that badly.”
Furthermore, parking issues are considered important by four respondents.
Three of them are disturbed by the fact that they have to pay for a permit to
park their car in front of their own house. The remaining respondent feels
offended because in addition to tourists, permanent residents are also obliged to
pay a parking fee in the village centre in summer.
Lastly, financial issues with respect to the municipality are mentioned as well.
Three respondents stress that, in their opinion, Renesse deserves more financial
resources and attention. They feel that Renesse has always been left the way it
was, although Zierikzee for example is constantly being renovated and renewed.
To them, this is unfair, since most of the municipal funds are earned in Renesse:
“Renesse brings in the money and then it is spread over the rest of the island and we are
left with empty hands.”
Renesse – Appearance
Although all respondents value the natural surroundings, the appearance of the
village centre forms a strong point of discussion. Except for the eldest
respondent - a woman aged over 80 - and a respondent with whom this subject
was not discussed, all respondents agreed that the village centre (Hogezoom
main street) is in need of a make-over. Often-heard statements include:
“I’m not proud of what it looks like.”
“There is much room for improvement.”
Many middle-aged and elderly respondents who have lived in Renesse for most
of their lives refer to the big trees that used to encircle the church; they feel
rather disappointed that these have been removed:
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“When I was young, there were these big trees around the church, I found it a real pity
that they removed them, it was really cosy.”
In general, respondents think that the village centre is too stony. An elderly
respondent compares the current situation with the past:
“I do not mean to say that it is a village of concrete, but it is really stony. If you compare
it to the past generation, when the village was all green, yes, Renesse used to be like
that.”
Respondents express a feeling of dislike towards this stony character of the
village centre. In their opinion, some more green would make the main street
much more beautiful. Furthermore, with respect to the shops, it was already
noted earlier that the shops sell low-quality products, ‘rubbish’. Besides, many
respondents emphasise that there is no unity in the way the shops present
themselves. They feel it is a hodgepodge, a mess, with too many outrageous
colours and advertisements disrespectful towards the pretty facades:
“The heart, where the church is located, there are such beautiful houses there, those are
really beautiful little buildings, but it is unbelievable how much rubbish is exposed in
front of them. The one’s advertisements outcries the other’s, the cute facades are
hidden, I think it is the height of misery.”
It is also stated that many nightclubs and cafés look outdated or shabby, and
that the vacancy of many of the seasonal shops does no good for the appearance
of the village centre as a whole. In short, respondents feel that the main street
could use some more decoration, they wish for a more beautiful village centre
with more trees, plants or flowers and a less outrageous, more unitary
appearance with respect to shops, restaurants and nightclubs.
3. LIVING IN RENESSE: THE INFLUENCE OF TOURISM
Tourism in Renesse - Characteristics
This section discusses respondents’ perceptions of why people visit Renesse,
which people do so and the seasonality of the industry formed the most
important points of discussion.
PULL FACTORS
Respondents think that the coastal landscape forms the most important pull
factor for tourists to visit Renesse:
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“What do you think? When the inland people come here, what do they want to see? The
beach. Yes, they always want to go to the beach.”
“The beach is what they come here for, especially in summer.”
Two respondents feel that the specific advantage of the beach around Renesse is
its child friendliness and relative tranquillity compared to beaches along the
Randstad. Besides, the wider surroundings are also considered important; the
polder hinterland, the diversity of the landscape and the cosy neighbouring
villages are all thought to attract tourists. Finally, three respondents argue that
the nightlife facilities form a major pull factor for youngsters.
TYPES OF TOURISTS
Respondents generally distinguish between three types of tourists: youngsters,
families and elderly people. Although one respondent who has been living in
Renesse for less than 5 years emphasises that tourism in Renesse is still mostly
about youth, all others recognise a gradual shift in visitor type towards more
elderly people and families. Opinions and feelings about this development are
very mixed.
Three respondents think that Renesse should become a family resort, and that
youth tourism does not fit in there, because youth chase away the families and
elderly people. According to them, youngsters cause all kinds of nuisance in the
village as a result of heavy alcohol consumption, which does not only negatively
impact on the village and its inhabitants, but also on other visitors present.
Furthermore, youngsters are considered to be less valuable as they spend less
money compared to families and elderly people. On the other hand, one
respondent expresses an explicit feeling of disappointment towards the decline in
youthful visitors. He wishes for the youth to come back as he thinks that the
village used to be more lively in the past:
“They make the village lively and that is pretty nice; if there are only people who sit on a
terrace during the day then the village centre is deserted in the evening, well, I don’t
really like that (…). I prefer youth, more liveliness. It has to stay vibrant. I would
appreciate it if the youth would come back here.”
Apart from these two extremes, the other respondents are in favour of a
‘balance’ between visitor groups. It is not entirely clear how this balance should
be defined, but most respondents are concerned about the current development
towards a resort for families and elderly people only. As one of them illustrates:
“The diversity is what makes it nice. If the village would be dominated by youth, you
would be going crazy. Then you’d end up like Salou. Well and if there were only families
39
with children, then you wouldn’t see anyone at all in the evening, because they are all in
their caravans or holiday homes. And if there were only elderly people then there would
be no possibilities to party anymore. So I think it is exactly the diversity, the mix, that
makes it nice. And that is what makes the village charming too.”
SEASONALITY
All respondents recognise that tourism in Renesse is very seasonal in character.
Most describe high-season as ranging from April to October, reaching a peak in
July and August. Although several respondents mention that the season is
gradually extending – mostly as a result of the increase in accommodation
facilities suited for year-round stay – the winter months are said to be very silent
as tourists are hardly seen and many shops are closed:
“In winter it looks totally deserted while in summer it is packed with tourists. It’s quite a
big paradox.”
“If you come here in winter you could run around naked. Really, it is totally deserted
here in winter. It is starting to change a little, because the Germans start coming
somewhat more throughout the year. It is very different now if you compare it to the
past. There used to be four really silent months with nothing going on. You didn’t see
anyone back then. That has changed, but if you compare it to the situation in summer,
well. In winter, with one or two exceptions, all restaurants and dining facilities are closed.
Some may be open during the weekends, but that’s not really profitable. So it’s quite a
different story then.”
In contrast to these tranquil winter months, most respondents mention that
everybody is incredibly busy in high-season, practically working all week. It is
the best period to make money in order to survive in winter. At the end of the
season, many are relieved that it is over and that they can relax again. To
illustrate, a shop owner notes that 70 percent of his yearly turnover is generated
within three months’ time. Another respondent adds:
“Everyone is incredibly busy, totally exhausted at the end of the season, longing for rest,
because they cannot cope with it much longer. All shops and campsites and other
facilities are running seven very long days a week. They are really working at full
capacity. And then they are in real need of winter, of rest.”
When winter arrives once more, respondents describe, neighbours take the time
to talk to each other again and friends and family are contacted to compensate
for the busy summer time. One respondent explains how these interactions differ
between seasons:
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“As a resident, if you walk around in winter you should take an hour extra to do the
groceries, because you always run into someone who wants to have a chat. In summer,
that won’t happen. Well, then you may have to take an hour extra because there’s an
hour’s queue, but you don’t talk to people. They don’t stop you, they only say hi and
move on directly.”
From respondents’ descriptions of seasonality, it can thus be concluded that the
seasonality of the tourism industry has a fairly big influence on the village and
the way in which residents go about their daily lives. One respondent has
explicitly outlined the dynamics of the seasons and the way in which they
determine the rhythm of life in the village:
"In winter it is quiet, then it is a real village and inhabitants interact and support each
other a lot. In spring, everything opens again, you see more and more people coming
and in summer we reach a peak: all shops and other facilities are open and the village is
alive, crowded and vibrant. In autumn, it decreases again – the whole village really
moves with the seasons and that also goes for the way in which residents interact. In
summer you don’t have any contact with your neighbours, because everybody is
working, most people have three jobs here. But in winter no one is in a hurry and
everybody is socialising again.”
Whereas respondents’ descriptive accounts of seasonality were rather uniform,
respondents’ feelings towards this seasonal character of the tourism industry
varied. The ones born in Renesse and the ones who have lived in the village for a
considerable part of their lives often expressed to be used to it, resulting in a
rather neutral attitude. The following two quotes illustrate these opinions:
“In summer I have to make money, because I will not be able to do so in winter. We do
not know any better, often it is as simple as that. In summer I work hard, six, sometimes
seven days a week. That is because I can make money then. But in winter, well, there is
not much to do and then I have enough time to party and things like that. If you don’t
know any better than that’s just the way it is.”
“When it comes to the fluctuating seasons, we got used to that, really; I don’t see any
advantages or disadvantages to it.”
Somewhat more positive is the often-heard quote ‘we like it when they arrive,
but it is also nice when they leave again’. This statement was often made by
respondents who expressed to be used to the seasonal fluctuations on the one
hand, but who simultaneously held a positive attitude towards them. Indeed,
several respondents noted that in their opinion there is something about both
seasons; the variety is generally appreciated:
41
“You really notice the difference between winter and summer. I think it’s quite nice. I
also think that it makes it special to live here, because it is not just another standard
village here.”
Two respondents are even more enthusiastic; their evaluation of the seasonality
of the tourism industry – and life in Renesse – is extremely positive. One of
them, a bar owner, states:
“I think it’s fantastic. Really relaxing, soothing too. I have been doing this for quite some
years now. I prepare for the peak season, I know which steps I have to take in order to
be ready, by practicing sports from April to June so to say, from November to February
you sleep longer, you’re more tired, you’re actually physically recharging. And now it’s
like, I have slept for three and a half hours last night; you just get out of bed and get
going again. It doesn’t bother me or something. It is a quite euphoric feeling that grows
when it gets busier, that you know that we can do it all together, that we manage to
survive in winter. That’s quite nice.”
Besides the prevailing neutral and positive attitudes, there are also respondents
who feel slightly negative about the fluctuating seasons, especially with respect
to the tranquillity in winter. They would prefer a somewhat more lively village in
winter as well. It is also generally recognised that an extension of the season
would be profitable for many businesses in the hospitality and retail sector. As
one respondent states:
“If 70 percent [of the shops] is closed, then it’s actually, well a ghost village may be
somewhat exaggerated, but at four o’clock in November, when it’s dark, then it is really
a ghost village. All lights are switched off, you should come and see it one time. I think
they should do something about that. For the business owners as well as for the
residents.”
Lastly, a campsite owner triumphantly wishes for a high-season lasting all-year,
because he feels that an extension of the season would be very advantageous for
his business:
“If it would be crowded all year, I would be fine with it. In my opinion they could abolish
the winter season, because then there’s absolutely nothing going on here. I would
suggest to let April follow up October. All good.”
In short, seasonality is recognised as a very important phenomenon determining
many aspects of life in Renesse. Opinions towards the seasonal character of the
tourism industry and the way it influences the village and its inhabitants vary. All
in all, a moderately positive evaluation seems to prevail.
42
Tourism in Renesse – General Evaluation
ATTITUDE TOWARDS OVERALL TOURISM INDUSTRY
A Likert scale ranging from one to seven, where one equals ‘very negative’ and
seven equals ‘very positive’, has measured respondents’ overall evaluations of
tourism in Renesse.
TABLE 5.3.1: OVERALL ATTITUDE TOWARDS TOURISM
Mean
Range
Mode
All in all, for Renesse, tourism is
6,5
5-7
7
Personally, I find tourism in Renesse to be
5,9
4-7
7
The outcomes displayed in table 5.3.1 show that respondents’ hold a very
positive attitude towards tourism in Renesse. They evaluate tourism for the
village slightly more positive than tourism for themselves. This is explained by
their feelings that tourism is incredibly important for Renesse and that it has
impacted the village very positively. With respect to their personal lives though,
tourism may bring along some irritations once in a while. All in all, however,
respondents express their approval:
“I think it’s fine. People are all in a holiday mood and they are cheerful and easy-going.”
“Generally taken, I would say well, of course it brings about some negative effects but
the positive ones are way more prevalent.”
“We should be proud that they keep coming.”
These issues will be elaborated on in the next section, discussing respondents’
thoughts about the way in which tourism influences the village and their personal
lives.
ATTITUDE TOWARDS YOUTH TOURISM
Respondents’ attitudes towards youth tourism have already been slightly hinted
upon above. It was noted earlier that the majority of respondents feel that youth
tourism belongs to the village, although they express a strong dislike of
vandalism. Put differently, most respondents express positive feelings towards
the presence of youngsters in general, as long as they behave themselves
appropriately. Although the past has seen some escalations, the majority feels
that negative effects have never dominated. When comparing the past to the
present, however, many respondents are somehow relieved that the village is no
43
longer merely dominated by youth. The measures that have been undertaken
throughout the last decades, are evaluated quite positively. Especially the susteam, responsible for maintaining peace in the nightlife district in summer is
considered a valuable and well-functioning measure. As one respondent
illustrates:
“Considering the police, they receive better directions from their superiors. Renesse is full
of surveillance cameras, we have got a well-functioning sus-team, set up by the business
owners, and given an extra push forward by the municipality. Those are six to eight
private security guards who are connected with the doormen and the police at all times.
If you compare that to what happened ten years ago, well that’s a big difference.”
Indeed, most respondents feel that the situation has improved tremendously and
that nowadays, the level of nuisance caused is proportionate; a logical
consequence of the number of people present:
“Criminal offenses do occur sometimes, but well, they do so everywhere.”
“Negative influences occur everywhere. Renesse is a village with 1500 inhabitants, in
summer there are 100 000 tourists on the island. Compare that to a city with 100 000
inhabitants, of course, bad things are happening there too. That’s just the way it is.”
More importantly, about half of the respondents feels that youngsters deserve a
place to stay and that it would be unfair to ward them off. Moreover, they think
that it would be irrational to do so, stating that youth tourism is important for
the future of Renesse, since many youngsters will return to Renesse with their
families when they are older. Additionally, a shop owner notes that youngsters
are responsible for a considerable part of his turnover. Illustrating all this, a bar
owner explains why he thinks youngsters should not be warded off:
“Youngsters should remain welcome here. I continuously try to make the municipal
government aware of that. If it turns out that we’re taking another course, then it’s going
to be really unpleasant for Renesse, because I think you would be throwing away a really
beautiful piece of culture. There are three generations of Germans here. Those fathers
and mothers who come here with their children to try a first glass of beer, that’s just
something great. If that would be lost, all those people will have departed within five
years. And then you have torn yourself down.”
Apart from these generally positive attitudes towards youth tourism, three
respondents are experiencing negative feelings. They would rather see Renesse
as a family resort, as they think that youth tourism does not fit the village. A
campsite owner illustrates his opinion by stating:
44
“As far as I’m concerned they could close all nightclubs tomorrow. Then they can also
close those youth campsites. I would like to see Renesse as a family resort with
appropriate facilities to satisfy those families’ needs. And the fact that there are still all
kinds of completely drunk youngsters walking down the streets on Saturday night, I don’t
think that fits in a family resort. So in that respect I would say, shut all the nightclubs
down and turn them into nice restaurants or cafés or other things where families feel
welcome. So rather today than tomorrow.”
Another respondent who has moved to Renesse a few years ago, feels similarly:
“It is not a pleasant form of tourism that benefits anyone. It is not very advantageous for
the image of this area and it does not quite fit this coastal area either.”
- Male (67), in Renesse since < 5 years
Thus, whereas some respondents are in favour of the disappearance of youth
tourism, most respondents feel that the current situation is quite all right and
that youngsters should always remain welcome in the village.
Tourism in Renesse – General Influence
INFLUENCE ON VILLAGE AND INHABITANTS
TABLE 5.3.2: PERCEIVED INFLUENCE OF TOURISM ON VILLAGE
Renesse is being/has been influenced by tourism
Mean
Range
Mode
6,2
4-7
-
As mentioned earlier, respondents feel that tourism has a great impact on the
village. This statement is confirmed by table 5.3.2, showing the outcomes of a
Likert scale ranging from one to seven, where one equals ‘not at all’ and seven
equals ‘very much’, that has measured respondents’ perceptions of the extent to
which tourism influences Renesse. Respondents’ positive attitude towards
tourism is grounded in the benefits that it has brought the village. One
respondent summarises them into a general conception of liveability:
“I think that the attractiveness of Renesse for tourists runs parallel with the liveability for
the inhabitants. I think those two go together. In that respect I would simply say: if it
weren’t for the tourists Renesse would be a bit of a dead village.”
Following respondents’ words, the most important influences can be grouped in
three categories that will be discussed separately, followed by the downsides of
tourism that respondents identified.
45
Income and prosperity
Many respondents feel that the first and foremost benefit that tourism has
brought Renesse, is prosperity. It was often one of the first things that came to
the fore when respondents were asked why they perceive tourism to be
important for Renesse. The following quotes cover the general opinion:
“One of our former mayors once said, that if it were not for tourism and recreation,
Schouwen-Duiveland would have been poorer than Drenthe in its poorest years. And I
think that’s true. It has brought us a lot of prosperity and progress, economic
development.”
“It is sometimes said that 30 per cent is involved in the recreation sector either directly
or indirectly, but I think it’s almost 70 or 80 per cent. The garbage man too, profits from
tourism. If it weren’t for tourism, there would not be a need for so many garbage trucks
so to say. The same goes for construction companies.”
Facilities
Catering for much smaller settlements such as Noordwelle and Ellemeet that do
not even have a tiny grocery shop, Renesse is blessed with a supermarket, two
bakeries, a butcher, a fish shop, a drug store, a diving centre, a jeweller, a pet
shop, several cafeterias, restaurants, cafés, clubs, clothing shops and more;
completely disproportionate when taking into account the number of inhabitants.
Most respondents are very well aware of the fact that many if not all facilities can
exist and survive due to tourism. As one of them illustrates:
“Go and have a look in Noordwelle, Dreishor, Zonnemaire, if it weren’t for tourism
Renesse would be quite deserted. There would not have been a supermarket, a butcher,
a bakery. One café perhaps, no disco, no gas station. The church, a few houses, a tiny
grocery shop at most. And nothing more.”
Liveliness
When asked what Renesse would be like without tourism, facilities and income
were not the only aspects discussed. Many respondents expressed feelings that,
without tourism:
“It would have been boring here.”
“There would be absolutely nothing going on.”
The presence of tourists is said to bring Renesse to life, making the village more
interesting and cosy. A few respondents mention that the village itself would
have been smaller if it were not for tourism, because most outsiders who move
46
to Renesse are thought do so because they have visited the village as a tourist or
because they (want to) work in the tourism industry there.
Downsides
Although all respondents feel very positive about tourism in general, and most do
not think there are real downsides to it, two somewhat more negative aspects
that influence the village are mentioned several times. The appearance of the
village centre, evaluated quite negatively as discussed in one of the sections
above, is thought to be largely due to tourism. Furthermore, Renesse is
perceived to be very crowded in high-season, causing traffic jams and unsafe
situations.
INFLUENCE ON NATURAL SURROUNDINGS (BEACH)
Most respondents feel that the beach is influenced by tourism through tourists’
presence and the existence of basic facilities. This feeling is illustrated by the
following quote:
“I think it becomes more attractive because of tourism. There are many facilities, there
are beach pavilions, the accessibility is good. Tourism has played a big role in facilitating
those. If it weren’t for tourists perhaps there would just be some kind of little path
through the dunes where you would have to walk two or three kilometres to reach the
beach so to say.”
This statement is confirmed by table 5.3.3., showing the outcomes of a Likert
scale ranging from one to seven, where one equals ‘not at all’ and seven equals
‘very much’, that has measured respondents’ conceptions of the extent to which
tourism influences the coastal area of Renesse.
TABLE 5.3.3: PERCEIVED INFLUENCE OF TOURISM ON COASTAL AREA
The coastal area (beach and dunes) is being/has been
influenced by tourism
Mean
Range
Mode
5,9
3-7
7
One respondent thinks that the natural surroundings lose their beauty when they
get too crowded in summer, but most think that there is plenty of space and that
it is always possible to find a tranquil place. The existence of beach pavilions is
often mentioned as resulting from tourism and is generally seen as a positive
influence, benefitting respondents themselves as well. A few are worried that, in
the future, apartment buildings will be constructed along the beach or in the
dunes. They think that such developments should be avoided as they argue that
the pristineness of the beach and the dunes is exactly what makes the coastal
area attractive.
47
INFLUENCE ON PERSONAL LIFE
The ways in which tourism influences the village as a whole have been found to
be very relevant for respondents’ personal lives as well. Therefore, the influences
described above will be evaluated as to how they influence respondents’ personal
lives, followed by some additional comments.
Income
TABLE 5.3.4: RESPONDENTS’ FINANCIAL GAINS FROM TOURISM
Main income
Complementary
income
Directly tourism-related
Indirectly tourism-related
2
8
3
1
Non-tourism-related
6
2
Two respondents, the campsite owner and the campsite handyman, earn a
directly tourism-related main income. One respondent earns a directly tourismrelated complementary income, by renting a spare room to tourists. The two
respondents who are now retired, have earned such an additional income in the
past as well. One respondent earns an indirectly tourism-related complementary
income, by selling his hand-made products to accommodation providers. Eight
respondents can be said to earn an indirectly tourism-related main income as
they own or work in a restaurant, café, disco or beach pavilion. Two respondents,
the housewife - whose husband works outside Renesse - and the physician working outside Renesse as well - are the only respondents who do not earn or
have not earned any form of income related to tourism. In general, respondents
realise that tourism provides an easy and important source of income to most of
them. As one of them illustrates:
“I wonder if I would be able to work if there were no tourists. Because how much work
would there be for the 1500 people living here? Now you step into a restaurant and you
get a job almost immediately, so I think without tourism that would be much harder.”
Facilities
The majority of respondents thinks it is a great advantage that primary facilities
are so close-by:
“Like Noordwelle, where there is no supermarket and you always have to go by car, no I
would not be able to cope with that. I’m happy we got everything we need right here.”
48
“The fact that we do have a respectable supermarket, although Renesse would probably
only have had a really tiny grocery shop when only residents’ needs were to be catered
for. And now we have a really big supermarket and an own butcher, two bakeries, three
pizzerias and two other restaurants. So that’s a real advantage.”
Since many if not almost all of these facilities are thought to exist thanks to
tourism, this represents a positive influence on respondents’ personal lives.
Liveliness
At least half of the respondents feels that tourists bring along considerable
liveliness that they perceive as cosy; they state that it provides the village with a
cheerful atmosphere that could be said to contribute to their general satisfaction
with life in Renesse. The following quote illustrates the general opinion that these
respondents hold:
“It would be quite boring here without any tourists. Really silent, no I wouldn’t like that.”
This is not to say that the other half of respondents do not feel the same way,
however, they did not relate the liveliness of the village to their personal lives.
Crowdedness
Although liveliness relates to crowdedness, the latter is more extreme and
concerns the peak season especially. Indeed, all respondents agree that Renesse
is really crowded in summer, although none of them expresses a general feeling
of dislike about that. Many evaluative statements are rather neutral or even
positive. Respondents state, for example:
“You have to wait for a while when you’re doing the groceries, but I don’t really mind.”
“Of course it’s crowded. But that doesn’t bother me really. It’s quite nice actually.”
“In summer you have to take an extra five or ten minutes for everything you do. At the
start of the season, I always have to get used to it again.”
The shop, bar and campsite owner feel very positive about the crowdedness,
stating that they can only be really grateful that there are so many people
coming to Renesse, because they all bring in their money. This quote by the
campsite owner illustrates all of their opinions:
49
“They provide me with a decent income, so I don’t mind at all if I end up in a traffic jam
or if I have to wait for a while when I’m in the supermarket.”
In general, it could be argued that, because almost all respondents seem to
benefit from tourism somehow, they are more willing to turn the blind eye on the
‘side-effects’. In addition, they have become accustomed to the high-season
crowds and they do not really bother, they consider it to be ‘just the way it is’.
Respondents realise that tourism is important for them as well as for the village,
and crowdedness is seen as a logical consequence that needs to be taken for
granted. However, especially in high-season, some irritations may occur. As two
respondents illustrate:
“In high-season; July, August, then it is too crowded here sometimes. Then I’m like, hey,
I live here and I cannot even walk my dog properly. Everybody’s moaning that I’m in
their way, yes that can be quite frustrating sometimes.”
“You get tired of it in the long run. Just all the small irritations, I cannot even drive
through the village in a normal way, without having a German in front of me who’s
driving at a speed of ten kilometres per hour. At the end of the season you’re really fed
up with it.”
Direct contact with tourists
From respondents words it can be derived that they get into direct contact with
tourists either during work, or while grocery shopping, walking on the street or
sitting on a terrace, in a café or restaurant. Especially in summer, respondents
are asked for directions on a daily basis. This mostly happens when they are
walking the dog or when they are out on the street for some other reason. One
respondent adds that tourists often ring her bell when they want to ask
something:
“When they have a question or if they are searching for something, they ring the bell. In
summer that happens about four or five times a week. And also when you’re walking
around in the village, I don’t know how, but somehow they sense that you live here and
then they start asking questions.”
Three respondents explicitly mention that they approach tourists themselves
once in a while when they are in need of help; they find it nice and cosy to meet
new people and they are happy that they are able to help out. As one respondent
illustrates:
“When we are sitting on a terrace in the village centre, just the two of us, and you see
some people looking around, all the tables are occupied. Then we say: come and sit with
us! That can yield really entertaining conversations sometimes. And then we exchange e-
50
mail addresses and stuff. That happened several times over the last couple of weeks.
That’s just nice.”
Besides these exceptions, a more passive attitude towards contact with tourists
prevails. This is to say that respondents are generally willing to help out when
they are asked to, but that they do not address tourists themselves. A
moderately positive attitude towards these contacts is most common, resulting in
often-heard statements such as:
“It’s okay. It’s can be quite fun actually.”
“To me it’s fine, I don’t really care.”
Especially respondents who were born in Renesse or who have been living there
for many years, express to be used to it; they consider it a normality that
tourists approach them once in a while, which results in a neutral attitude
towards these contacts. However, although evaluated mostly neutrally, contacts
with tourists can occasionally lead to irritations. One respondent explains:
“What’s funny sometimes, is that when I’m by bike, and I’m going straight ahead here
because I live here, then I get called back by tourists yelling stop, stop, the cycling path
is right here! And then I’m like, really? Sometimes I just think, okay, please take care of
your own business!”
Influence on home
TABLE 5.3.5: PERCEIVED INFLUENCE OF TOURISM ON HOME
My home is being/has been influenced by tourism
Mean
Range
Mode
3,8
1-7
2
A Likert scale ranging from one to seven, where one equals ‘not at all’ and seven
equals ‘very much’, has measured respondents’ conceptions of the extent to
which tourism influences their home. The outcomes are displayed in table 5.3.5,
although the variety in answers cannot be derived from the table and therefore
necessitates a more detailed description; eight respondents have filled out one,
two or three, indicating that they feel their home is not at all, or slightly
influenced by tourism. Seven respondents have chosen five, six or seven,
indicating that they feel their home is being influenced by tourism quite
considerably.
Respondents’ motivation for indicating that their homes are not, or only slightly
being influenced by tourism, is that they live in tranquil streets where they do
not encounter many tourists. Minor influences mentioned are occasional noise
51
nuisance, a lack of parking places car and troubles to reach their house because
of a traffic jam. On the other hand, respondents who feel that their homes are
considerably influenced by tourism often speak of tourists who pass by –
perceived as a positive influence, because they make the street lively, or
negative because they produce much noise. Furthermore, one respondent rents a
room to tourists, and two respondents indicate that they would not have been
able to buy their house without their tourism-related income.
Five respondents indicate that they would not want to live in the main street,
because the crowdedness caused by tourism would make them ‘go crazy’. As one
of them illustrates:
“The idea of living in the village centre disgusts me. The summer fair, the happenings at
night, the night market and that kind of nonsense all in front of your door, then I think to
myself, what a hassle in summer!”
To summarise, it can be said that the perceived impacts on respondents’ homes
vary considerably, both in degree and in content. There is no pattern to be found
in distance from the village centre and degree of impact perceived. Living along
routes that lead to campsites and holiday parks seems to be a more important
factor here.
Habituation and adaptive behaviour
Concepts such as habituation and adaptive behaviour were found to underlie
many respondents’ evaluations of tourism. Findings suggest that the longer
respondents have lived in Renesse, the more they have become used to tourism
and the easier they adapt to it. Respondents who were born in Renesse or the
ones who have moved there during their early youth all note that they do not
know any better, they have grown up with tourism and are completely used to it.
They hardly seem to notice that they adapt themselves and their daily lives to
tourism. And if they do notice, it does not bother them that they have to do so; it
is perceived as self-evident. The ways in which these habituations and
adaptations occur are numerous and can best be illustrated by respondents’ own
wording.
“You simple have another pattern of doing the groceries. [His wife continues:] I don’t feel
like standing in the local supermarket in summer. Yesterday I bought enough for the
coming two weeks, and I do that somewhere I can park my car for free and that suits me
perfectly well. I don’t really care, it’s fine to me this way.”
“I do the groceries after work, around seven o’clock. Or really early. Or, if the weather is
really great, I quickly go and do the groceries during lunch time, because then
everybody’s at the beach. But that’s not inconvenient or something.”
- Female (45), born in Renesse since
52
“Especially in summer time I hear them sing or shout across the street. I don’t know, I
sleep anyway, it doesn’t wake me anymore when they yell or something. It’s what I said
already, I just got used to it.”
“We are just so used to them, tourists. It’s part of us actually, it’s in your personality to
be friendly to people, if you see someone who is searching, you just ask: hey, do you
need directions or something? That’s normal, because, from our youth onwards, of
course it provided for everybody’s food. So well, in the past it was emphasised even
more than today, but we had to, I have worked at a beach pavilion when I was 16 or
something. Well you wouldn’t dare to behave inappropriately, because they would tell
you, hey, be friendly! The same goes for learning German, you simply have to know
German. You are simply expected to do so, if someone addresses you in German, that
you are able to help out. But it has always been like that. I don’t know any better.”
“We make 70 per cent of our turn over in less than three months. That is to say that
another 30 per cent remains for the other nine months. That’s quite something to deal
with organisationally speaking. But well, that’s the way it is right? I have been living with
that for forty years, so I don’t know anything else.”
- Shop owner
With one exception, respondents who have moved to Renesse later on in their
lives note that they were aware of the fact that the village is such a popular
tourist destination. They have deliberately chosen to live with the positive and
negative consequences of tourism, resulting in statements similar to the above:
“It’s just, you switch a button inside your head and you know, well now I’m going to
queue for twenty minutes inside a packed supermarket, but that’s just the way it is,
because it is high-season. So as far as I’m concerned, I just switch a button by saying, I
could completely stress out here in this queue, but it won’t make a difference.”
“In high-season you won’t see me going to the beach. No, way too crowded! Can’t park
my car anywhere, no. But well, it’s only a good thing really, that there are so many
people. And I, well I go in the morning, or in the evening. No problem.”
“Last week it was still silent and you’re almost on your own here in Renesse. And now I
walk through packed streets. That’s what you notice. So you can’t go the village by car
anymore, you go by bike. And is that difficult or does that bother me? No, not at all. You
know it. The first time it’s like, oh! It’s crowded again. But it’s a, how should I call it, a
way of life. It’s just how things are here.”
Whereas all of these statements serve to illustrate the ways in which
respondents adapt to tourism, a shop owner takes the whole of it one step
53
further. Considering youth tourism and the visibility of police and security in the
village, he indicates:
“If I have to choose between a little less security and some more smashed windows, than
I’d say, smash one of my shop’s windows, and have some less visible security around. I
think that would be more productive for the way Renesse is perceived, more positive. I
always wonder what tourists will think of all these security guards on the streets. And I
do not only think about it that way as a business owner, but also as a resident.”
Tourism in Renesse – Influence of Youth Tourism
INFLUENCE ON VILLAGE AND INHABITANTS
Whereas respondents’ general opinions about and views towards youth tourism
have already been discussed, it is worth dedicating a separate section to the
perceived influence of youth tourism on the village. This paragraph therefore
describes their feelings about the importance of youth tourism for the village as
well as the more negative effects it brings along.
Income
Several respondents have expressed their opinions on the importance of youth
tourism for income and the general viability of the businesses in the village.
There is quite some disagreement concerning this matter. Five respondents think
that youngsters are not only important for the viability of the clubs and cafés,
but for the other businesses as well. The supermarket, clothing shops, bakeries,
drug store and the general practitioner are all mentioned to profit from young
tourists. A shop owner confirms these respondents’ views by stating that
youngsters contribute considerably to his yearly turnover, as noted earlier.
Especially Pentecost was thought to be the most important weekend of the year
with respect to turnover rates, because the village used to be packed with
visitors. The party crowd did not only benefit the cafés and nightclubs; many
shops had their share too.
However, this view is not shared by all respondents. Four other respondents
argue the complete opposite: according to them, youngsters do not spend much
money and if they do so, most of the money is spend in the cafés and nightclubs.
As one respondent illustrates:
“It is a form of tourism that does not benefit the village a lot, economically. It does not
yield much, except for the entrance fees and the turnover in the nightclubs. And those
are mainly owned and managed by people who are not from Zeeland, so it does not bring
the local population much. At most perhaps some youngsters who rent a pitch on a
campsite, and the bigger supermarkets who make some money out of that. But not much
more, they don’t spend much money but on alcohol and they might buy some sunscreen
at the drugstore and things like that but that’s it. So in that respect it does not benefit
the village really.”
54
Thus, respondents do not seem to agree on the extent to which and the way in
which youth tourism influences financial gains for the village and the general
viability of the businesses in Renesse. Whereas several respondents argue that
youngsters form an important source of income for the village as a whole, others
feel that this is not the case at all.
Liveliness
Three respondents feel that the presence of youngsters significantly adds to the
liveliness of the village, providing the village with a more vibrant atmosphere
than other types of tourists do. These respondents feel that the village would be
more quiet without young tourists, especially in the evening.
Criminality
Respondents who have lived in Renesse for more than a decade all emphasise
that criminal offenses such as theft, vandalism and fights have declined
tremendously over the years. According to them, this is due to the declining
number of party tourists as well as measures such as the installation of
surveillance cameras and the establishment of the sus-team. However, small
criminal offenses do still occur. Examples include:
“The sus-team only surveys the main street, from café Helder up to the church. Outside
of that area, little trees are still cracked and flowerboxes are still thrown over.”
“The WWII memorial has been partly destroyed several times. Or they use it as a public
urinal.”
“If they spot a chair in someone’s garden, they take it with them to the beach.”
As noted earlier, the general opinion about these offenses is that they happen
everywhere and that Renesse cannot be said to have above-average criminality
rates.
INFLUENCE ON PERSONAL LIFE
Several respondents felt that both the way in which and the extent to which
youth tourism influences the village differ from impacts on their personal lives in
some respects.
Income
Whereas tourism in general could be said to have a considerable influence on
respondents’ financial situations, determining the share of youth tourism is
rather difficult. This was already reflected in varying opinions about the
55
importance of youngsters for the general viability of businesses in Renesse. The
bar owner, the nightclub manager and the waitress working in a party café are
clearly dependent on youth, and the campsite handyman can be expected to
receive some share as well since the campsite he works at welcomes visitors of
all ages. If shops and terraces benefit from youth tourism too, about which
opinions vary, it could be argued that another five respondents are likely to be
influenced. However, the degree to which youngsters contribute to their income
cannot be estimated.
Liveliness
As stated above, three respondents think that youngsters are important for the
liveliness of the village. For this reason specifically, they are disappointed that
the number of young visitors is declining. Youth tourism can be said to have a
certain positive effect on their personal living comfort, since:
“I like it better when there are some people around and if there’s something going on.”
Criminality
Several respondents indicate that they have been affected by small criminal
offenses themselves:
“They have stolen a bicycle out of our garden once. During Pentecost our neighbours’
window got smashed once. I find that very annoying, but I think it happens everywhere,
but okay, act normal, don’t demolish everything you encounter on the streets.”
“If they spot a little chair somewhere, they take it with them to the campsite. That
happened once to a bench of ours.”
“When we had just moved here, we did not yet have a roof to cover our pool, and then
we found them in the pool at night. That’s because one of them has spotted the pool,
and they have all drunk alcohol, and one of them says: you don’t dare to, do you? Well of
course I do! And then, splash! Yes, those kind of jokes. Of course you’re startled at the
moment itself, but afterwards you’re just like, well, bunch of crazy people!”
Again, it should be emphasised that although all respondents express a strong
dislike towards these offenses, many note that they do not occur all too often.
Noise nuisance
Most respondents mention that they experience noise nuisance sometimes,
either from the cafés and clubs, or from loud youngsters passing by their house.
The first kind of nuisance is obviously related to (living in) proximity to the main
56
street. The second kind of nuisance, however, except for respondents living in
the main street itself, does not seem to be related to proximity. Rather, living in
a street that is part of the route to the beach or a big campsite seems to
determine the degree and frequency that this kind of noise nuisance occurs.
Several respondents living directly next to the main street – but in a street that
is not part of a route to the beach or a campsite – mentioned that they are
hardly ever disturbed by loud youth passing by their house and stated, for
example:
“I don’t notice it at all here. I’m on the tranquil side.”
However, they did mention hearing the cafés and clubs sometimes:
“It happens that I hear music bands.”
In paradox, several respondents living at considerable distance from the main
street – but in a street that belongs to a route to the beach or a campsite –
expressed to be disturbed by loud youth fairly often in summer:
“Noise nuisance, yelling, singing, but also really screaming, just aggressive. Then you
hear them pushing lamp posts, pulling dust bins, and I’m like: act normal! But especially
the noise. In high-season, July, August, it happens every night from Wednesday to
Sunday. Pentecost is a peak, then it’s extreme. And certain weekends such as
Fronleichnam, or Ascension Day, then it’s somewhat more crowded and you notice it
somewhat more. In summer you get used to it. I sleep anyway, because I sleep at the
back side, but my parents are waked every night.”
“We see them passing by and in high-season they wake us sometimes. That’s not that
great, those people who rage at night. It’s really minimal though, it happens only a few
weekends per year.”
“To be precise, we keep the windows shut in summer. Otherwise we get yelled out of our
sleep all the time between two and four o’clock in the morning. Although we live in a
rather tranquil neighbourhood.”
The extent to which respondents perceive the noise as annoying or bothersome
varies. Again, some express to be used to it, and others state that calling it
‘nuisance’ would be somewhat exaggerated. In general, however, noisy nights
are not quite appreciated.
Tourism in Renesse – Municipal Policy
Respondents often spontaneously expressed their opinions about the municipal
tourism policy. Alike their views concerning the influence of tourism,
57
respondents’ evaluations of tourism policy can be separated into general tourism
policy and youth tourism policy specifically.
GENERAL TOURISM POLICY
Although not all respondents have expressed their opinions about the general
tourism policy, the ones who did do so all feel that the municipal government is
not sufficiently active and successful in facilitating tourism. Infrastructure
appears to be the most important issue here. One respondent states:
“If a dune passage has to be renewed, it’s troublesome. Showers should also have been
put in place already a long time ago. In Scharendijke, the whole of the dunes has been
crammed with wooden sticks, too strengthen the sea wall. Well, that’s bullshit really, it’s
just offering employment opportunities. Well, if you think it through properly, you would
construct a cycling path simultaneously, right? But they just don’t do that. I really can’t
understand that. It also has to do with a general weak lobby for Renesse or the Westland
within the municipal government. Now they are going to narrow the road to construct a
cycling path along the roadside. I really don’t get that.”
Several other respondents stress that current walking- and cycling paths do not
meet the demands of visitors. According to them, these paths do not make the
most out of the opportunities for leisure activities that the landscape offers:
“They could do better with respect to constructing cycling paths, and maintaining them.”
“Especially along the dunes.”
Concerning infrastructure as well, the paid-parking policy, fining and the
availability of parking spaces in general are also discussed:
“They seem to think that every German simply keeps coming. The municipal government
is not really tourist-friendly either. It’s all paid-parking spaces, for example. And tourists
are fined quite regularly, although they may not even have realised that they are not
allowed to park their car here. I think they overdo it sometimes.”
This view – that the municipality is too strict in fining tourists who park their car
in a place where they are not supposed to do so – is shared by two other
respondents. As one of them illustrates:
“Every year when the weather is good, and all entrances to the beach are parked to their
full capacity, that they just start distributing fines. People can no longer find a place to
park their car. And then you feel ashamed as a resident sometimes, thinking: why isn’t
this arranged properly?”
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YOUTH TOURISM POLICY
Over the years, the municipal government has implemented several measures to
combat the negative effects of youth tourism. Respondents mention that the
installation of surveillance cameras, the prohibition of public alcohol consumption
and the emergence of a cooperative agreement between the government, police
and association of business owners that has led – amongst others – to the
establishment of the sus-team have improved the situation considerably. Except
for two of them, who perceive any measure taken as an unrequested act of
patronisation, all other respondents have a positive attitude towards these
provisions. One of them explains:
“Nowadays all kinds of nuisance have been vastly diminished due to all measures taken
by the municipal government, it has had a major positive effect on the general
atmosphere in the village, that’s great.”
Especially the sus-team is perceived to be an adequate measure of great
influence. As several respondents state:
“It’s not as extreme as the police, it’s somewhere in-between. Like, okay, let’s keep it
nice and cosy; I think that’s all right.”
“I think they are important, because there is some more surveillance and if you show
that you’re there than that works preventively already. Because they will address you. I
think that’s really good. I think it’s good to show that not everything is permitted.”
“The sus-team is doing a good job. They are not police, but they do well. Especially
Pinky’s or Trinity often had the kind of fellows with bad intentions, who immediately
grabbed you, beat you up or threw you against a tree when you’d done some tiny thing
wrong. That’s not very productive for the reputation of your village or club. But the susteam, they are good, decent, and if you behave inappropriately they approach you and if
it’s really bad then they turn you over to the police. I think that’s good.”
However, the sus-team also receives some critique. A respondent who lives at
the end of the main street indicates:
“Up to the church. That’s where their work stops. But we are often experiencing nuisance
from the parking lot here. And there’s no one taking care of that.”
Furthermore, three respondents comment on the selective behaviour of the susteam guards and the police. As these two quotes illustrate:
59
“We noticed that a few times, that there’s a boy walking around with a can of beer, and
two police officers make him demonstratively pour it out in front of them. And 50 meters
ahead they encounter six of those broad-shouldered giants with large bottles of beer and
then they pretend not to notice.”
“I also have the feeling that it happens that they don’t have anything to do and then they
go searching for it. If someone is somewhat more drunk, he’s immediately torn down by
three of them. Then I think to myself, that’s a bit too much.”
As noted before, most respondents think that youngsters should not be warded
off. However, the municipal government is said to practice a policy of
discouragement with respect to youthful visitors. Many respondents have the
feeling that the government wishes to turn Renesse into a seaside resort that
purely focuses on families and elderly people and that they want to ‘get rid of
youngsters’. In this respect, it is stated that they desire to turn Renesse into
Domburg – a seaside resort known as a very popular destination for families and
elderly people, especially the elite among them. Except for the three respondents
earlier noted to be in favour of disappearing youth and nightlife, this policy
receives some fierce opposition. Youngsters deserve a place to party, they
contribute to the liveliness of the village, nightlife belongs to Renesse, and youth
are the future; those are the most prevailing statements. One respondent
stresses:
“In the past situation, I could understand. But the way they are handling youth
nowadays, those are the families in ten years. I think it’s short-sighted. Because if I’m
not welcome somewhere when I’m 18, or if I’m not allowed to stay on a campsite, then I
don’t go there in ten years from now either. So with regards to the future, I think they
are only fooling themselves.”
This view is shared by several other respondents. Furthermore, another
respondent feels that the village will become rather boring when the youth
depart, an opinion shared by a number of others as well:
“They want to make it a sleeping place instead of a seaside resort. That’s a real shame.
They are trying to hush the village to sleep, well, I’m more into bringing some fun into
the atmosphere.”
One respondent, who is politically engaged himself, opposes the general feeling
that the municipal government wishes to turn Renesse into a family-oriented
seaside resort. He states:
“That’s not true. If you read ‘Tij van de Toekomst’ it says that Renesse should retain a
nightlife district for the island. And that is also possible in a family seaside resort, so why
60
not. And that you strive for an extension of the season by means of attracting family
recreation, that is really good, but the municipality does not want to abandon the
nightlife in Renesse as from today. Then they would contradict themselves, so that is not
really true. The youth should remain welcome in Renesse, at least until 2040.”
To conclude, respondents hold generally positive opinions about the measures
that have been taken to combat the negative impacts of youth tourism.
However, they feel that the municipal government wishes to eliminate youth
tourism completely; a policy that receives approval of a few, but fierce opposition
from the majority of respondents.
4. RENESSE AND I: FEELINGS OF ATTACHMENT
Attachment to Renesse – Extent
ATTACHMENT SCALE
The attachment scale designed by Stedman (2003, p. 676) was used to measure
respondents’ level of attachment to Renesse. Table 5.4.1 displays respondents’
mean scores, the range and mode of the nine statements that they were asked
to rate. These were structured along a Likert-scale ranging from one to seven,
where one equals ‘strongly disagree’ and seven equals ‘strongly agree’.
TABLE 5.4.1: ATTACHMENT SCALE
Mean
Range
Mode
1
I feel that I can really be myself there
5,7
4-7
6
2
I really miss it when I am away too long
5,4
2-7
6
3
4
I feel happiest when I am there
It is the best place to do the things I enjoy
5,7
5,7
4-7
4-7
5
6
5
It is my favourite place to be
5,9
4-7
6
6
It reflects the type of person I am
5,5
4-7
6
7
For the things I enjoy most, no other place can compare
5,3
3-7
-
8
9
Everything about it is a reflection of me
As far as I am concerned, there are better places to be
5,0
3,6
2-7
1-6
6
-
From this table, it can be derived that respondents demonstrated relatively high
levels of attachment to Renesse, although the range and mode display that there
is quite some variation in the ratings of several statements; some outliers exist.
Many scholars have claimed ‘length of residence’ to be an important predictor of
attachment levels (e.g. Hay, 1998; Relph, 1976; Shamai, 1991;Tuan, 1975); it
has been the most popular predictor used and researched (Lewicka, 2011).
Therefore, although determining predictors for attachment is beyond the scope of
this paper, it seems relevant to relate attachment levels to respondents’ length
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of residence. As visualised in table 5.4.2, a difference in levels of attachment
exists between respondents born in Renesse or respondents who have been
living in Renesse for more than 25 years, and respondents who have been living
in Renesse for less than 10 years. This difference is fairly minimal though, and
cannot be tested for statistical significance. It can only be concluded that on
average, respondents of this research project who have been living in Renesse
for a long time, demonstrated higher levels of attachment than respondents who
have moved to Renesse less than ten years ago.
TABLE 5.4.2: LEVEL OF ATTACHMENT BY LENGTH OF RESIDENCE
Born in Renesse, or more than 25 years of residence
< 10 years of residence
Mean
1-8
Mean
9
5,60
5,39
3,33
4,29
EXPRESSIONS OF ATTACHMENT: PRIDE, IDENTITY, FEELING AT HOME &
ATTITUDES TOWARDS LEAVING RENESSE
To illustrate the attachment scale and to provide some additional and
complementary insights, the interviews are considered very useful; they revealed
feelings of pride, identification with the village, expressions of feeling at home
and attitudes towards leaving Renesse that are considered important illustrations
and manifestations of attachment (Twigger-Ross & Uzzell, 1996).
Five of six respondents born in Renesse felt that the village is their cradle, their
home because they have been born there and spent all their lives there. The
remaining one expressed to feel not particularly attached to the village, because
he did not spent much time there during his youth. Additionally, at least six of
the respondents who were born elsewhere have explicitly expressed to feel very
much at home in Renesse, one of them – born in a nearby village –
demonstrates strong feelings of rootedness because he has spent most of his
youth in Renesse. Two other respondents who feel strongly at home in Renesse
indicate that they have spent all their holidays in the village when they were
young, and therefore feel they have experienced the most beautiful moments of
their youth in Renesse. One of them indicates that the village has his heart; they
both express to feel proud of Renesse. These feelings of pride are shared by two
elderly respondents who were born in the village.
It remains rather difficult to determine to what extent respondents perceive
Renesse to be part of who they are. It could be argued that all respondents who
were born in Renesse, have spent their youth in the village, created memorable
experiences there, feel at home, feel a ‘real Renessenaar’, feel proud, or feel the
village has their heart, identify with the village to a certain extent. Taking these
62
feelings into consideration, it can be said that for at least ten respondents
Renesse is part of their identity, albeit in differing degrees.
When asked whether they would consider leaving Renesse, most respondents
indicated that they would prefer to stay in the village, in line with relative high
levels of attachment measured by the attachment scale. Six respondents – of
which three were born in Renesse and one has spent much of his youth there –
felt very passionate about leaving Renesse. They stated, for example:
“I would never want to leave Renesse. Whatever happens.”
“Living somewhere else? I wouldn’t bother about it!”
“I would never want to return to the Randstad! I simply love it here, I want to die here.”
Another five – of which one was born in Renesse and three have always spent
their holidays in Renesse when they were young – strongly prefer to stay in
Renesse as well, although somewhat less passionately than the ones quoted
above. They indicate:
“I will always stay here. Unless I have to leave for some reason.”
“I really like it here, but I may have to leave when I have finished my studies. But I
would not simply give up on Renesse.”
“I live perfectly fine here, I don’t want to leave.”
The remaining four respondents – of which two were born in Renesse – feel
positive about living in Renesse, although they do not necessarily have to stay in
Renesse to feel most happy. They illustrate:
“Happiness is not bound to a specific place.”
“I happen to be born here, and I live here totally fine, but I could also have lived
somewhere else.”
“I may want to move when I get older, return to the Randstad to have more facilities
nearby.”
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Attachment to Renesse – Binding Factors
The attachment scale may be useful in providing an overview of overall levels
and feelings of attachment, it does not give any insight into the bases of
attachment. The qualitative data obtained from the interviews are a more
valuable source here as well. Expressions of what respondents would miss most
when they would leave Renesse, combined with their arguments for why they
still live in Renesse are considered to form the most important factors underlying
respondents’ feelings of attachment. These will be discussed along table 5.4.3,
that provides an overview of the most important reasons for living in Renesse.
TABLE 5.4.3: REASONS FOR LIVING IN RENESSE, PER RESPONDENT
Born
here,
roots
Spent
youth
here
Family,
friends,
contact
Tranquillity
Space
Nature,
sea,
beach
Mentality/
nice
people
Facilities
X
X
X
X
1
2
X
X
3
X
X
X
4
X
X
X
X
5
X
6
7
X
8
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
9
X
X
X
10
X
X
X
11
12
X
X
X
X
X
13
X
X
14
X
X
6
3
8
X
X
X
X
8
8
15
Work
Lively
X
X
Lively
X
X
15
X
Other
Work
X
Diversity
4
4
ROOTS
Six respondents – five of them born in Renesse, one who has spent most of his
youth there – feel rooted in the village; to them, this is their overarching reason
to stay in Renesse:
“It’s my village. I can’t explain that really.”
“It is easy to say, don’t move an old tree. When we are with our son [who lives in Asia],
then I think to myself, well, I would have liked to live here too. Life is way more cheap,
more relaxed, the weather is always good. That’s nice for my aging bones. But no, we
don’t actually move there, I mean, my roots are here.”
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This feeling of rootedness is often related to knowing many people and having
friends and family in the village:
“Because I was born here I have built up quite some contacts.”
“My grandparents lived here, my aunt, my cousin whom I often visited. And I have
always practiced soccer here. So I always came here quite often already. So a real
Renessenaar actually, at least that’s how I feel.”
MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES
Two respondents who were born elsewhere and have always spent their holidays
– and thus much of their youth – in Renesse, are very passionate about the
memorable experiences they created during these stays. To them, they
represent an important basis of attachment to the village:
“It has been a home to me from the day I was born, from the day my parents had a
caravan here, I wanted to be here. We spent all our spare time here; I just got really
habituated to this place. I have experienced the most beautiful periods here that I have
remembered best, so I really wanted to move here.”
“Renesse has always been my second fatherland. The village has my heart. And that’s
not Haamstede or Scharendijke, no, it’s Renesse. I think it’s because I have learned to
walk here or something. I don’t know. We just always came here and that has always
been the greatest time to me. If we came back from our holiday in Renesse and we had
to go to school again, then I really had some issues with that for a week. It just was the
best time of my life somehow.”
FRIENDS, FAMILY & CONTACTS
At least half of the respondents express that family, friends and contacts are
important reasons for staying in Renesse. Such social bonds are most prevailing
among respondents who were born in Renesse or who have been living in the
village for most of their lives. These opinions can be illustrated by several quotes
from the interviews, for example:
“I have my own little groups and I would miss them if I were to go somewhere else, then
you don’t know anyone there. We are supporting each other and I would not want to
miss out on that.”
“The grandchildren. Yes, they are our family, what binds us here.”
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“You know everyone of course. It’s village-like, you have all your social things. I don’t
see myself leaving. I know everyone and everyone knows me.”
“You start loving an area more because you get to know more people. I have my little
restaurants where I like to go and it’s nice when people say: ‘hey, there you are again!’
The people in the village who approach you for a talk, that’s nice, the village gets more
fun when you get to know more people, for me that’s the way it is.”
FREEDOM, SPACE & TRANQUILLITY
It was already noted earlier that freedom, space and tranquillity are perceived to
be part of Renesse’s identity. Respondents who have moved to Renesse from the
Randstad indicate that these were important pull factors that have played a role
in their decision to move to Renesse. Now they have been living in the village for
a while, these factors remain important:
“Especially the space and the tranquillity. The city is always crowded.”
“The tranquillity would keep pulling me back.”
“That’s something different, when you’re back here surrounded by tranquillity. I’m
always happy to have left the city. Then I think to myself, pff, all the traffic, the traffic
lights, you don’t have that here. I sleep better, my children have the freedom to do
whatever they want.”
Whereas many respondents from the Randstad have moved to Renesse to find
space and tranquillity, these factors are also important for at least two of the
respondents who were born in Renesse; they state that they would never want
to live in the city:
“The advantage is that it’s open and not crowded and it’s a tranquil environment
compared to Rotterdam or Utrecht. Living there would not make me happy.”
“I think, it’s quite spacious. You can go the beach, to the forest, enjoy a bicycle tour. I
wouldn’t be able to live in the city, I don’t want to have to stop for a traffic light and here
you can go outside when you feel like it or go to the beach.”
NATURE, SEA & BEACH
The last quote forms a bridge to the importance of nature, sea and beach that
are intertwined with freedom, space and tranquillity. However, the former are
66
more apparent in respondents’ reasons for staying in Renesse. All 15 of them
indicate that the natural surroundings contribute to their satisfaction with life in
Renesse; to some, nature even forms the most important basis of attachment.
When respondents talk about nature, most of them refer to the sea and the
beach specifically:
“There’s also very beautiful nature at the Veluwe, that would suit me as well, but I would
miss the sea. That provides such a spacious outlook.”
“When we were winter sports fanatics, I used to say to those Austrians: it’s amazing here
but there’s one thing you don’t have and that’s a shame: the sea.”
“To me it’s quite unique that the beach is so close by.”
“[I still live here] because I really love the beach and the sea, all year through. In my
spare time I go there a lot. In winter, when there’s a storm or when it’s raining, I don’t
care.”
Indeed, the beach was often mentioned as (one among) respondents’ favourite
place(s) to be. However, several respondents highly appreciate more general
features of nature as well:
“If I would have to move to a big city, I wouldn’t know if I would do that. I would
consider a small city, but I definitely need some nature around.”
“[I never miss Rotterdam] because it’s so beautiful here. The fresh air and all the green.”
“The reason to live here is the fresh air, the pleasure of being outside, nature.”
MENTALITY
Four respondents who were born elsewhere, have been positively surprised by
the mentality of the people of Renesse. Although they moved to Renesse for
motives related to nature and space, they now feel attached to the mentality and
the general community in Renesse as well. One of them illustrates:
“The city I used to live is very crowded, with moody people; I like it way better here,
more pleasant people, nice atmosphere. People greet each other on the street, they are
more friendly.”
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Another respondent illustrates her passionate feelings towards the people of
Renesse by discussing the neighbourhood barbecue that they organise once a
year:
“They all say: I take care of this, I take care of that! It’s unbelievable. Two big tents, a
huge barbecue, sophisticated fridges, a whole bar, everybody has something and tries to
contribute. That’s cosy. It really makes me cry sometimes, that I can experience this,
I’ve never seen something like it. The warmth among people. That’s just incredible, it’s
so beautiful! Those are unique things, and then I think to myself, I’m really happy that I
live here.”
Finally, one respondent indicates that the open-minded mentality of the people
of Renesse has formed an important factor in their decision to move to Renesse:
“There are villages, well, we don’t go to church or something, they could blame you for
that. Then you don’t get accepted by the community and here everything is possible.
That is one of the reasons, yes, quite crucial for our decision to move to Renesse.
FACILITIES
It was already outlined that Renesse offers many facilities when compared to
surrounding villages. Three respondents consider these as rather crucial for their
comfort of life, by stating, for example:
“Ellemeet or Noordwelle, I would never want to live there. Of course it’s close, but it feels
different. When you live there you always have to go by car.”
“It was a necessity. Without shops and facilities I would not have moved here. Absolutely
not.”
LIVELINESS
Two respondents explicitly state that the liveliness of the village is one of the
reasons to live there. According to them:
“[Without tourism my life would be] not as nice. And I wouldn’t know if I would have
stayed here then. Because then it would always be silent, and after winter I’m fed up
with the village being deserted.”
“If you come from the big city and you move to a village where there’s nothing going on,
that’s quite a big step. So we really like it that there is something going on and that its
lively here. Because all the silent villages, we didn’t know whether we would be able to
feel at home there.”
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Another respondent also expresses to be attached to the liveliness in the village,
but his account is more appreciative of the variety that Renesse offers in this
respect:
“That’s the advantage here. It’s not the same all year long. Every day is different here.
It’s never boring, there is always something going on. And if there isn’t, it’s also quite
nice again.”
BUSINESS
Lastly, two business owners feel attached to Renesse because they have their
business there. A shop owner states:
“[I still live here] certainly because I have my business here. My father started it and
then I rolled into it so to say. That’s how it goes.”
A campsite owner expresses somewhat different reasons for staying in Renesse;
to him, the fact that Renesse is such a popular tourism destination, is most
important:
“Well, why did I start a campsite, because my parents had one and I ended up doing it
as well, because I liked it. But if my father would have been butcher, I may have become
a butcher too. And eventually we think that Renesse is a real tourist attraction. It’s one
of the better places in The Netherlands to have a recreation company. I have looked in
other places in The Netherlands where there were campsites for sale, but eventually we
said to ourselves, with respect to tourism, these spots are not as good as Renesse. So
let’s stay in Renesse. That has been the decisive factor for us to stay here.”
Attachment to Renesse – Social versus Physical Dimensions
From the discussion of the binding factors above it can be derived that both
social as well as physical dimensions of the village play a role in respondents’
feelings of attachment to Renesse. Table 5.4.4 indicates whether respondents’
feelings of attachment to the village are primarily based on physical or social
dimensions of place.
TABLE 5.4.4: WHAT WOULD YOU MISS MOST WHEN LEAVING RENESSE?
Physical
Children and grandchildren
Social
X
Tranquillity, nature, sea
X
Grandchildren
Sea, community
X
Tranquillity, space, beach
X
Tranquillity, space, sea
X
Friends
X
X
X
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Soccer
X
Home, nature, sea, beach
Clean air, nature, sea
X
X
Beach, sea, tranquillity, space
X
Community, warmth
X
Island-feeling
X
Community, atmosphere, friends
Tranquillity, space, fresh air
X
X
(continued)
From the table above it can be derived that attachment to the physical dimension
of place prevails: eight respondents feel primarily attached to the physical
landscape, the social environment is most important for six respondents and one
respondent did not indicate a preference for either, thus expresses mixed
feelings. Lewicka (2011) suggests that attachment to the physical dimension of
place develops faster than attachment to the social dimension of place, since “it
takes longer to create a network of stable social relationships than to develop
affective bonds with beautiful nature” (p.215). Therefore, newcomers may feel
more strongly attached to physical features, whereas social bonds are of greater
significance for residents born in the village. The table below provides an
overview of the significance of social versus physical dimensions of Renesse,
structured along respondents’ length of residence.
TABLE 5.4.5: SOCIAL VERSUS PHYSICAL ATTACHMENT - LENGTH OF RESIDENCE
Born in Renesse, or >25 years of residence
<10 years of residence
Social
Physical
Mixed
5
1
3
5
1
0
Although no statistically significant conclusions can be drawn from this table
because of the small sample, it can be concluded that among respondents of this
research project, residents who were born in Renesse or who have been living
there for most of their lives have more social bonds, whereas newcomers have
more physical bonds with the village.
5. HOW TO MOVE ON: VISIONS OF THE FUTURE
Although respondents’ wishes for the future stem from the topics that were
already discussed, keeping in mind the master plan for Renesse that is to be
developed from inhabitants’ points of view, it is deemed valuable to provide an
overview of desirable developments and alterations that respondents proposed.
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Wishes for the Future – General Visions
HOUSING
Although housing matters were not discussed with all respondents, the ones who
did reflect on the issue all wish for more and cheaper housing opportunities. As
outlined earlier, especially young adolescents are said to have little chance to
find appropriate housing, because there is a lack of (social) rental housing and
owner-occupied housing is too expensive for them. Respondents desire the
construction of new, cheaper dwellings, facilitating both owner-occupied as well
as rental housing. Respondents think that an increase in housing opportunities
will give the local youth a fair chance to be able to stay in Renesse while
simultaneously attracting young adolescents and young families from elsewhere.
Maintaining a balance between young and old is considered desirable for the
village as a whole, as explained earlier.
FACILITIES
With respect to retail, respondents generally express a wish for more permanent
shops and shops of quality. Bomont is most often mentioned as an example of a
shop that is highly appreciated. In addition, a diversification of the products and
shops on offer is desired as well. As one respondent illustrates:
“Some more shops of quality so to say. We have some, there’s Jonker and Bomont and
the new one, Studio 33. Those are doing really well, but indeed, there are still too many
of those shabby, cheap tourist shops.”
Where entertainment is concerned, several respondents express a wish for some
‘poor-weather facility’. A cinema and an indoor climbing centre are proposed,
although respondents realise that such facilities may be hard to maintain. The
nightclubs remain a point of discussion, although the majority of respondents
would like them to stay.
Lastly, a few respondents would appreciate a qualitative upgrade of restaurants
and eating places in general. They wish for more local products, meals of decent
quality and neat and well-groomed restaurants.
INFRASTRUCTURE
A considerable number of respondents think that the Hogezoom main street
should become a low-traffic or completely car-free zone for purposes of safety
and comfort. They state, for example:
“The village centre is so chaotic in summer. I had to pass through it by car this morning,
well no one is paying attention, because it looks like a pedestrian zone, but it isn’t, so
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everyone is walking on the street, wheeling the bicycle, because you simply can’t get
through. And then I really think to myself: turn it into a car-free zone!”
“When it’s so crowded in the village centre then there shouldn’t be cars driving through,
because that’s really dangerous. Some drive like crazy and that’s a shame, because it
could be so much cosier if you have nice terraces and when it’s a car-free or low-traffic
zone. That would be much better.”
One respondents illustrates the dynamics that underlie the on-going discussion
about this topic:
“In my opinion the municipal government should turn it into a car-free zone. There are
cars all over the village centre, that’s simply ridiculous! Get out! Throw out all the cars
and put an obstacle there, a post or something. You put it up at ten in the morning and
then no one is allowed to enter anymore. But then you have the Jumbo [the
supermarket, located in the middle of the main street], arguing: But I have four trucks
per day delivering fresh products, so that’s not going to happen! Well, then I think,
municipal government: now it’s time for you to intervene. But eventually it’s the business
owners in Renesse who have to be entrepreneurial. But they aren’t. So it doesn’t really
matter what the municipal government does, they don’t do anything anyhow.”
APPEARANCE OF THE VILLAGE
It was noted earlier that respondents wish for a more beautiful village centre
with more trees, plants or flowers and a less outrageous, more unitary
appearance with respect to shops, restaurants and nightclubs. Suggestions to
improve the appearance of the village centre include:
“Just make sure that everything is getting renovated a little, cheered up.”
“In the presentation about the Jan van Renesseweg [the road connecting Renesse to the
beach] I saw they want it to become a boulevard. Well, start to decorate the whole of the
village first, with some flower boxes, and if you want to do something between the
village and the beach, that’s fine. But start with the village entrance. That’s the first thing
you see when you enter. And indeed, in the village centre, I hope that the economic
developments make it possible for businesses to evolve, that things can be renewed and
made more beautiful.”
“Determine four colours in which the buildings are allowed to be painted, and stick to
that. Put some more green, because it’s all concrete. All the green has been removed,
and then I think to myself: just make it a little more beautiful! That people can sit in a
little park or something. It’s all concrete until the beach.”
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However, as with the discussion about a car-free village, there are many
different interests to be taken into consideration where future developments are
concerned. With respect to planting trees, for example, a bar owner remarks:
“You can’t put three trees in front of my bar! They block the sunshine which means my
turnover’s gone. It’s part of the plans designed by Alterra, but really, I would go crazy!”
Wishes for the Future – Tourism-specific Visions
TYPES OF TOURISM
Although a heated discussion remains with respect to the direction that Renesse
should take, the majority of respondents is in favour of a mix in age groups.
Maintaining variety and catering for the needs of a wide group of visitors seems
to be the most preferred situation by many; neither do they not want to return
to the 1980’s and 1990’s, when Renesse was mainly visited by youth, nor would
they like the youth to disappear. However, as outlined before, three respondents
fiercely oppose youth tourism. One of them, a campsite owner, feels that
Renesse cannot satisfy both families’ and youngsters’ needs at once:
“In my opinion the combination is really difficult. Of course, it would be possible, but
either the one or the other would not feel comfortable with it. So I think that you do
precisely nothing, when you focus on two highly different group. So you can’t satisfy
either one. So I think it would be better to make a choice.”
The newly implemented national alcohol legislation that does no longer allow
youth between 16 and 18 years old to buy and consume alcohol is perceived as a
great threat to the persistence of Renesse as a nightlife district. Besides owners
and employees of nightclubs and cafés, several other respondents are worried
about the effects of the legislation as well. As one of them illustrates:
“I am worried that it decreases, that youngsters do not necessarily want to go here
anymore and then they will be replaced by elderly people and families with small
children. I think it is going to become increasingly boring; I hope that it stays like it is
now actually. Not too crazy. About five years ago it was still a crazy village somehow,
and I’m glad that’s not the case anymore, but I’m happy that there is some liveliness
still. And I hope that remains. And you keep it if the youth keeps coming.”
On the other hand, respondents who would like the youth to leave perceive the
alcohol legislation to be of great help to solve their ‘problem’. In this respect,
many respondents argue that the future of Renesse is highly insecure.
FACILITATING TOURISM
Several respondents feel that the municipal government should be more active in
facilitating tourism by making the village and its surroundings more attractive
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and visitor-friendly. This is not to say that the number of visitors should be
increased; it is to say that the village should become more suitable to facilitate
the activities that tourists like to engage in through a welcoming attitude and
adequate facilities. According to respondents, this should be achieved by the
construction of new and better maintenance of existing bridle- walking- and
cycling paths and considerable beautification of the village centre. Three
respondents feel that a more coastal atmosphere in the village centre would be
appropriate:
“It has to get more of a coastal appearance somehow, for the tourists.”
“They have to take a closer look at the landscape and integrate it in the village.”
“The village centre and the sea should be linked more, they should form a coherent
whole. Bring a sense of the dunes, the beach and the sea into the village centre.
Visualise them there. It shouldn’t look like any random village on the Veluwe so to say.
When you’re in the village centre, you should be able to say to yourself: Oh, I’m in a
seaside resort here! That’s nice. I would like to see some gardens of dunes, because
there is little green in the centre of Renesse. Or something with those posts, that’s
related to the sea somehow. Sand reed, those kind of things. I don’t mean the water
should be brought into the village physically, but just so that you can say, I’m in a
seaside resort here.”
In general, respondents feel that tourism should be facilitated by an increased
emphasis on the beautiful, natural and diverse landscape surrounding the village.
These are perceived to be Renesse’s most important tourist attractions.
SIDE NOTES
The last section already briefly touched upon the existence of many different
interests, that all have to be taken into account. Several respondents illustrate
this issue somewhat more elaborately:
“There are really good ideas, like a passage from the backside of the transferium parking
lot to the village. But the business owners on this side of the street say: well, then
there’s no one passing by here anymore. Well indeed, all the people walk around on the
other side of the street, no one here. If you want to change that, of course you oppose to
such a passage. But if you want to create an accessible village, where you can park your
car close to the village, although on a separate parking lot that allows the rest of the
centre to become a low-traffic zone, then you create many more pedestrian zones, that
make it easier for people to walk to this side of the street as well. But that’s the difficult
thing here, money is everybody’s top priority.”
- Bar owner
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“Most business owners are fine with the way things go now. They don’t have money or
don’t see the use of painting their facades or try another range of products, change their
nightclub into something where elderly people feel comfortable too and may grab a beer
as well. And as long as that doesn’t happen, we’ll have to cope with it.”
- Campsite owner
“There are just so many different interests here, so I can imagine that it’s really hard to
develop a policy that satisfies everyone. The elderly people living at the outskirts, for
example, detest the youth and would rather get rid of them as soon as possible. But the
nightclub owners say to the municipal government: what are you doing?”
From these and earlier statements it can be derived that all the different
interests are perceived to form a threshold to the development of the village.
Furthermore, business owners are blamed to be non-innovative and
uncooperative. With respect to whether or not the people of Renesse – and
especially business owners – are open to change, respondents state the
following:
“I think it’s perfectly justifiable that a set of external people is hired to help Renesse
improve. Yes, very just. Together we will never be able to work it out, the interests of
the village council can be very contradictory as well, although you all want the best for
Renesse.”
- Village council member
“Change won’t be initiated by Renesse itself. So if something is to be changed, it has to
come from outside Renesse. I think there are several business owners who are open to
change, but the ones who say: it’s been like this for ten years now, we’re doing fine, so
why would we change anything? will always remain as well.”
- Campsite owner
A couple who has moved to Renesse recently and who have engaged themselves
to help Renesse forward, indicate they have experienced the people of Renesse
as fairly stubborn and not open to change. Another respondent, living in Renesse
for about the same period of time, comments on this statement, by stating:
“The people here have always worked very hard, and of course you can doubt whether
the right decisions have been taken, but that’s afterwards. If you know people many
things are discussable and changeable, but not in a harsh way, and also not if people
don’t know you at all. That’s almost insulting, because we have always carried on without
you, so why would we change everything to your wishes now?”
These side notes illustrate the on-going dynamics in the village that have to be
taken into account where future developments are concerned, since they can
form thresholds as well as opportunities for change.
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6. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION:
BASES FOR ATTACHMENT AND THE RELEVANCE OF TOURISM
FOR RESPONDENTS’ SENSE OF PLACE
ATTACHMENT, DIMENSIONS OF PLACE & LENGTH OF RESIDENCE
Respondents generally demonstrated rather high levels of attachment to
Renesse, indicating that they feel strongly connected with the village. The claim
that feelings of attachment can only be developed after a long period of
residence (e.g. Hay, 1998; Relph, 1976; Shamai, 1991; Tuan, 1975) is not
supported by the findings of this research project. Respondents who were born in
Renesse or who have lived there for at least 25 years were found to demonstrate
somewhat higher attachment levels than respondents who have moved to
Renesse less than ten years ago. However, it cannot be argued that these
differences in levels of attachment are necessarily due to differences in length of
residence. Moreover, respondents who have moved to Renesse recently still
averaged 5,39 on the attachment scale, indicating that they certainly do feel
attached to the village.
Feelings of rootedness and the presence of family and friends were found to form
the most important bases of attachment for roughly half of the respondents,
whereas being surrounded by tranquillity, space and the natural coastal
environment formed the strongest bases for attachment for the other half. In line
with the paper by Stedman (2003), these findings point towards the importance
of the physical dimension of place for respondents’ feelings of attachment. This
opposes the social constructivist belief that sense of place is merely a social
construction (e.g. Stokowski, 2002). Categorising respondents by length of
residence revealed that social dimensions of place provide the most important
bases of attachment for respondents who were born in Renesse or who have
been living in the village for more than 25 years. On the other hand, respondents
who have moved to Renesse less than ten years ago feel more attached to
physical elements. These findings support the statement by Lewicka (2011) who
suggested that newcomers may feel more strongly attached to physical features,
whereas social bonds are of greater significance for residents who were born in
the place. In addition, the majority of respondents who expressed to be mainly
attached to social dimensions of place, considered themselves to be very social
creatures - attaching much value to social contacts in general, being socially
active and engaging in all kinds of associations and committees. Similarly, the
majority of respondents who feel mainly attached to physical dimensions of place
expressed to be a more reserved, introverted type of person. This suggests that
personality may also play a role in the development of physical versus social
attachment to place.
Kianicka et al. (2006) claimed that childhood memories form one of the most
important bases for local residents’ feelings of attachment. Indeed, respondents
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who were born in Renesse often indicated that rootedness – resulting from the
fact that they were born in the village and described as knowing many people,
having many friends and family who live in Renesse, having created valuable
memories, and engaging in all kinds of activities in the village – was their most
important reason to stay in Renesse. However, since a considerable part of the
villagers come from elsewhere and have not spent their youth in Renesse,
childhood memories cannot form a potential basis for their attachment to the
village. Residents who have spent most of their holidays in Renesse when they
were young, form an exception here: for two respondents who were born
elsewhere, childhood memories created during their holidays in the village played
a considerable role in their feelings of attachment to Renesse. Furthermore,
Kianicka et al. (2006) also suggested that local sense of place is mainly based on
everyday life, where social dimensions of place are most prevalent. Whether this
claim can be said to hold true for respondents of this research, depends on how
‘local’ is defined: a distinction should be made between respondents who were
born in Renesse or who have spent their youth there, and respondents who have
moved to Renesse more recently.
IMPACTS OF & ATTITUDES TOWARDS TOURISM
Possible positive and negative impacts from tourism described by Amsden et al.
(2011) were all perceived to apply to Renesse: respondents feel that welfare has
increased considerably and that tourism has provided them with facilities they
would not have had at their disposal otherwise. In addition, liveliness was often
mentioned to be a positive effect as well. Negative impacts concerning
congestion and increasing property values described by Amsden et al. (2011)
were also recognised. Furthermore, the appearance of the village was said to
have been negatively affected by tourism. Despite these, respondents expressed
a very positive attitude towards tourism in Renesse, mainly based on the
financial benefits that the tourism industry has brought the village. According to
Gu and Ryan (2008), these initial positive views based on economic benefits can
change into negative attitudes as the industry grows and brings along all kinds of
nuisance. The findings of this project suggest that respondents do not feel this
has happened in Renesse, since they indicate that positive effects largely
outweigh the negative ones. Moreover, since tourism is conceived to be very
important for the village and its inhabitants, respondents often take negative
side-effects for granted.
TOURISM: A REASON TO LIVE IN RENESSE?
For the campsite owner, the popularity of Renesse as a tourism destination is the
primary reason to stay in the village. Although this cannot be said to hold true
for other respondents, the majority certainly benefits from tourism. Job
opportunities, the increased liveliness of the village and the existence of primary
facilities – all facilitated by tourism – contribute considerably to almost all
respondents’ quality of life. Many respondents feel that without tourism, Renesse
77
would be a tiny, desolate and boring village lacking basic facilities; negatively
impacting upon their personal lives as well. Furthermore, some respondents who
were born elsewhere indicate that factors such as liveliness and basic facilities
were crucial for their decision to move to Renesse. Indeed, it could be argued
that tourism is perceived to be essential for the liveability of the village; for
locals as well as for newcomers.
Also important to note is that five respondents have developed their first
affiliations with the village as tourists themselves; having spent their holidays in
Renesse for a long time, they decided to move there mainly because of the
natural environment. If it were not for tourism they may never have moved to
Renesse in the first place, because they have become familiar with the village
due to its status as a popular seaside resort.
Thus, although respondents’ social and physical bases for attachment outlined
above do not seem to stand into direct relation to tourism, tourism has played a
significant role in several respondents’ first experiences with the village. Also, the
importance of tourism for respondents’ general comfort of life should not be
underestimated.
TOURISM: A WAY OF LIFE?
Many respondents feel that Renesse is highly intertwined with tourism; according
to them, the two cannot easily be separated. The influence of seasonality is
considered a major factor of importance here. As the findings have illustrated,
the seasonal character of the tourism industry highly determines the rhythm of
life for the village and a great deal of its inhabitants. Renesse literally wakes up
in April and falls asleep again in November. Indeed, several authors have
recognised that seasonal fluctuations in tourism demand may largely affect the
local population (e.g. Andriotis, 2000; Murphy, 1985). Although Baum and Hagen
(1999) suggest that the impact of seasonality differs greatly from location to
location, many of the elements that characterise the seasonal pattern in Renesse
can be found back in other authors’ accounts of the dynamics of seasonality.
Respondents have indicated that in winter, many shops are closed, the village
centre looks rather deserted, everybody takes a good rest and enjoys catching
up with friends and family. The closure of most shops during low-season was
noticed in Crete as well (Andriotis, 2005) and writings by Butler (1994) confirm
that the winter season is often the only time that local residents can live their
lives in a ‘normal way’, and that they are able to engage in social activities.
In March, Renesse starts preparing for the tourist season: hotels, restaurants
and shops are being refurbished, there is some activity again, the village is
starting to awaken and so are its residents. When the tourists start coming
during Eastern and the May holidays, all shops have opened again, the terraces
have been reinstalled, and the village centre looks cosy because of the hustle
and bustle. Respondents indicate that everyone has been looking forward to the
78
new season, all enjoying a fresh start. This way in which the village lives up in
spring to refurbish and prepare for a novel season has been recognised in Crete
as well (Vaughan, Andriotis and Wilkes, 2000).
Then, when the season reaches its peak in July and August, the village is flooded
by masses of tourists, many villagers work all week and do hardly have any
spare time. The streets are congested, the queue in the supermarket has
reached an abnormal length, cash drawers are bulging out; the whole village is
running at full capacity. Several respondents mention that there is no time to
have a chat with the neighbour or to go out. These high-season characteristics
have likewise been outlined by several others (e.g. Andriotis, 2000; Butler,
1994; Hudson & Cross, 2005).
When the season reaches its end at the beginning of September, the crowds
start leaving and the village breaths again. As one respondent puts it: ‘there is a
sigh of relief going through Renesse’. Little by little, everything is cleaned up and
stored; by the first of November, shops have closed, terraces cleared. The
villagers take a good rest, go on holiday, restore their contacts and relationships.
The village and its residents reload to prepare for a fresh start in April once
again. All this resembles Murphy’s (1985, p. 81) statement that the end of the
season “provides a definite light at the end of the tunnel for individuals and
communities alike”.
Respondents’ attitudes towards this seasonal influence are mostly neutral with a
positive twist: respondents who were born in Renesse indicate that they do not
know any better. To them, it is perfectly normal. Respondents who were born
elsewhere, but who have been living in Renesse for a considerable period of time
feel similarly. They have become accustomed to moving with the seasons, to
them it is just the way it is; indeed, one respondent states it is ‘a way of life’.
Even respondents who have moved to Renesse recently find themselves
organising their lives along the coming and going of the seasons. In addition,
most respondents feel somehow positive about the diversity that seasonality
offers. It is not without reason that many indicate: ‘we like it when they arrive,
but we are also glad when they leave again’. Murphy (1985) has suggested that
seasonality often results in social costs that form a burden for residents. As a
result, communities may develop negative attitudes towards tourists and the
tourism industry in general. Although this statement has been supported by
other authors (e.g. Butler, 1994; Hudson & Cross, 2005), the findings of this
research project do not correspond to their view. Whereas it is recognised that
seasonality highly influences Renesse and also impacts upon respondents’
personal lives, respondents feel generally positive about tourism in Renesse and
do not generally perceive the seasonal character of the industry problematic.
Despite these positive attitudes, it is generally realised that an extension of the
tourist season would be more beneficial for local businesses. But whereas the
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campsite owner is very much in favour of a year-round industry, the shop owner
states that he has been coping with seasonality for more than 40 years, and has
therefore become accustomed to it. Further research is required to provide
insight into whether or not the majority of private business owners views
seasonality as a problem. For respondents of this research, it can be concluded
that seasonal diversity is either taken for granted or rather appreciated where
their personal lives are concerned. Indeed, as Andriotis (2005, p. 222) concludes
in his study about seasonality in Crete:
Many [residents] have learnt to live with seasonality as a fact of life rather than as
a dilemma that must be addressed (…). It is not always possible or desirable for
the local population to eliminate the seasonal concentration of tourist flows
entirely.
Apart from seasonality issues, it is also remarkable that most respondents are
very concerned about tourists’ evaluations of Renesse. Since tourism is important
for the village, and the village is important to them, many respondents feel that
Renesse could be beautified and improved to benefit visitors rather than
themselves. This has been illustrated by several quotes throughout the findings
section. Statements such as the one made by a shop owner, about rather having
a smashed window than too much visible police, support the suggestion that
respondents take tourism as a normality and a way of life: it is considered
natural to adapt to tourism and to be concerned about how the village as well as
the regional tourism policy could be altered to serve tourists in the best possible
way, albeit sometimes at one’s own sacrifice.
CONCLUDING REMARKS: TOURISM & LOCAL SENSE OF PLACE
This paper has provided an insight into respondents’ feelings and opinions about
their place of residence, with a special focus on tourism-related issues. However,
sense of place is a very broad concept; it encompasses all subjective qualities of
place (Hay, 1998). Therefore, although this research has attempted to uncover
and discuss at least some of these, this paper cannot provide an allencompassing or exhaustive account of respondents’ sense of place.
This research has focused on two dimensions of sense of place: place attachment
and place meanings. The former has been conceptualised rather clearly in the
findings section as well as in the discussion above. Place meanings, however, are
more difficult to grasp; they consist of the whole of respondents’ evaluations,
feelings and opinions concerning the village, of which a considerable number
have been outlined in the findings section. Combined with feelings of attachment,
these place meanings form this paper’s account of respondents’ sense of place.
To conclude on what tourism means for respondents’ sense of place, it can be
argued that feelings of attachment were found to be largely - though not
completely - independent from tourism. However, many tourism-related place
80
meanings have been identified. This is to say that respondents attach a certain
meaning to tourism-related issues, expressed by all their feelings, opinions and
evaluations about matters that concern the village. These meanings help them to
make sense of their hometown, and therefore form important factors in the
formation of their sense of place. Furthermore, respondents have argued that
tourism is an essential part of Renesse’s identity and that the village would be
very different without it. Thus, since the village itself is highly intertwined with
tourism, respondents’ lives in the village are also affected to a certain extent,
albeit some more than others. Besides the influence that the seasonal character
of the tourism industry has on the rhythm of life in the village, the presence of
tourism was found to significantly add to most respondents’ quality of life,
although many have to adapt their lives to tourism as well. Taking into account
all of the above, tourism and the ways in which the industry affects the village
and its inhabitants can be argued to form very relevant factors in respondents’
construction of a sense of place.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
Although this research paper has provided insight into sense of place among 15
inhabitants of Renesse, the outcomes cannot be generalised beyond these
respondents. Therefore, if a broader understanding of sense of place among
inhabitants of the village is to be obtained, more extensive research should be
conducted. Such research should cover a larger part of the population as well as
the best possible variety of views. Furthermore, this research has only concerned
current residents; it may be relevant to consider residents who have moved out
as well. Whereas respondents of this project do not wish to leave Renesse, exresidents can provide valuable insights into their motivations for moving out.
These could form an equally important source of information where place
attachment and sense of place are concerned.
With respect to research methods, the employment of the quantitative
attachment scale by Stedman (2003) provides a valuable indication of
respondents’ degree of attachment to Renesse. However, the scale does not
provide any insight in the bases for and content of these feelings of attachment.
Therefore, future researchers should not underestimate the value of qualitative
data obtained from interviews: whereas quantitative data provide useful
overviews, qualitative data provide insight into individual variance as well as the
content of constructs of meaning and the mechanisms underlying sense of place.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author wishes to express her gratitude to Timo Derriks MSc, Dr. ir. Karin
Peters and Prof. Dr. Rene van der Duim for giving her the opportunity to develop
a thesis project along her own interests as well as for their input during the
brainstorm sessions that have led to the eventual delineation of the research
topic. The constructive feedback and professional support provided by her
81
supervisor, Dr. ir. Karin Peters, have been of great help throughout the whole
thesis process and were highly appreciated. Furthermore, the author would like
to express her great appreciation to all respondents; their time and effort have
been crucial to the realisation of this research project and their openness,
friendliness and welcoming attitude were greatly appreciated. Many thanks also
to all the inhabitants of Renesse who have offered their help in finding
respondents that suited the research project. Finally, the author would like to
thank her friends and family for their continuous support throughout the whole of
the thesis project.
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Andriotis, K. (2000). Local community perceptions of tourism as a development
tool: The Island of Crete (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Bournemouth
University, Poole.
Andriotis, K. (2005). Seasonality in Crete: problem or a way of life? Tourism
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84
APPENDIX I: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Identiteit Als ik Renesse zeg, wat komt er dan bij u op?
Waarom?
Identiteit Hoe denkt u dat buitenstaanders Renesse zien?
Klopt dat, of klopt dat niet? Hoe zou u graag willen dat buitenstaanders Renesse zien?
Als u iemand (een buitenstaander) op bezoek heeft, wat laat u ze dan zien? Wat gaat u
met ze doen?
Persoonlijk Waarom bent u in Renesse komen wonen /woont u nog steeds in Renesse?
Wat vindt u hier fijn?
Wat vindt u hier minder fijn?
Omgeving Wat zijn uw favoriete plaatsen in Renesse?
Waarom?
Zijn er ook plekken waar u minder graag komt?
Sociaal Zou u zichzelf omschrijven als een echte Renessenaar?
Hoe zou u de inwoners van Renesse in het algemeen omschrijven?
Activiteiten Kunt u mij vertellen over uw dagelijks leven? Wat doet u zoal?
Wat zijn uw hobby’s? Beoefent u die in Renesse? Waarom?
Sociaal Met welke inwoners heeft u veel contact?
Is dat belangrijk voor u? Waarom?
Sociaal Ik heb gehoord over evenementen zoals Strao. Kunt u mij hierover vertellen?
Zijn dat evenementen waar veel inwoners samenkomen?
Zijn deze belangrijk voor u?
Toerisme Hoe zou u toerisme in Renesse omschrijven?
Wanneer is het er, wie komen er, wat doen zij?
Toerisme Als Renesse niet zo’n bekende toeristische bestemming zou zijn, hoe zou het
dorp er dan volgens u uit zien, hoe zou uw leven hier dan zijn?
Hoe komt u in uw dagelijks leven in contact met toerisme/toeristen? Wat vindt u
daarvan?
Wat vindt u van toerisme in Renesse? Positieve/negatieve aspecten?
Omgeving Is het Renesse uit uw jeugd/ van vroeger ook nog het Renesse van nu of is
er in de loop der jaren veel veranderd? (Alleen voor inwoners die er minstens 10 jaar
wonen)
In welke zin? Hoe komt dat? Wat vindt u daarvan?
Persoonlijk Bent u van plan Renesse ooit te verlaten?
Waarom? Als u Renesse voor een tijdje zou verlaten, wat zou u dan het meest missen?
Slot Is er tot slot nog iets dat u mij nog graag wilt vertellen?
85
APPENDIX II: QUESTIONNAIRE
1. Uw kijk op toerisme
Zeer negatief
Zeer positief
In het algemeen is toerisme voor Renesse
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Persoonlijk vind ik toerisme in Renesse
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
2. Uw gevoel bij verschillende plekken in Renesse
Kunt u van de volgende plekken aangeven in hoeverre u het eens bent met de
onderstaande stellingen:
2.1 Uw woning
Geheel mee oneens
Geheel mee eens
Hier kan ik echt mezelf zijn
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Als ik lang weg ben mis ik deze plek erg
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Als ik hier ben voel ik me het gelukkigst
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Dit is de beste plek om de dingen te doen die ik graag doe
Dit is de plek waar ik het liefst ben
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
2
3
4
5
6
7
Deze plek weerspiegelt het type persoon dat ik ben
1
De dingen die ik het liefst doe kan ik nergens zo goed doen als hier
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Alles aan deze plek is een weerspiegeling van mijzelf
Er zijn plekken waar ik liever ben dan deze
Helemaal niet
Deze plek is/wordt beïnvloed door toerisme
1
Heel erg
2
3
4
5
6
7
Toelichting: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
86
2.2 Hogezoom (Centrum)
1. Hoe vaak komt u hier meestal?
Elke dag
Meerdere keren per week
Eens per maand
Eens per week
Minder dan eens per maand
2. Wanneer komt u hier meestal?
Welke periode van het jaar? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Welke dag(en)? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….....
Welk tijdstip? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..........................
3. Wat doet u hier meestal?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Geheel mee oneens
Geheel mee eens
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Helemaal niet
1
Heel erg
2
3
4
5
6
7
Toelichting: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
87
2.3 Strand & Duingebied van Renesse
1. Hoe vaak komt u hier meestal?
Elke dag
Eens per maand
Eens per week
2. Wanneer komt u hier meestal?
Welke dag(en)? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….....
Welk tijdstip? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..........................
3. Wat doet u hier meestal?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Geheel mee oneens
Geheel mee eens
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Helemaal niet
1
Heel erg
2
3
4
5
6
7
Toelichting: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
88
2.4 Renesse
1. Hoe vaak verlaat u Renesse meestal?
Elke dag
Eens per maand
Eens per week
2. Wanneer verlaat u Renesse meestal?
Welke dag(en)? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….....
Welk tijdstip? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..........................
3. Wat doet u meestal als u niet in Renesse bent?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Geheel mee oneens
Geheel mee eens
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Helemaal niet
1
Heel erg
2
3
4
5
6
7
Toelichting: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
89
APPENDIX III: INFORMED CONSENT
Beste inwoner van Renesse,
U bent gevraagd om mee te doen aan een onderzoek naar de betekenis van Renesse
voor haar inwoners, de invloed die toerisme heeft op het dagelijks leven van inwoners en
de gevoelens die inwoners bij Renesse hebben. Dit onderzoek is een afstudeer opdracht
en wordt uitgevoerd door mij, Daniek Nijland, studente toerisme aan Wageningen
Universiteit.
Tijdens dit interview zal ik u vragen hoe u over Renesse denkt, wat u hier fijn en minder
fijn vindt, hoe uw dagelijks leven er uit ziet, hoe u in contact komt met toerisme en wat u
daarvan vindt. Ook zal ik u tegen het einde van het interview een lijstje met stellingen
voorleggen die betrekking hebben op uw gevoel bij verschillende plekken in Renesse.
Als deelnemer staat u volledig in uw recht; het is mijn plicht om ervoor te zorgen dat u
zo veel mogelijk positief en zo min mogelijk negatief wordt beïnvloed door deelname aan
mijn onderzoek. Hiertoe stel ik u op de hoogte van het volgende:
Het interview wordt opgenomen met een voice recorder, zodat ik mij volledig kan
focussen op uw verhaal en nadien nog eens terug kan luisteren wat u mij heeft
verteld. De opname zal niet voor verdere doeleinden worden gebruikt en dient
enkel en alleen als informatiebron voor mijn onderzoek.
De informatie die u mij geeft zal vertrouwelijk worden behandeld. Uw naam zal
nergens worden genoemd.
U hoeft niet elke vraag te beantwoorden; als u een vraag om wat voor reden dan
ook niet wilt beantwoorden, doet u dat ook niet.
U kunt mij, de interviewer, op elk gewenst tijdstip vragen om te vertrekken. Zelfs
als u deze verklaring tekent, kunt u later nog beslissen om af te zien van
deelname.
Het enige risico dat u naar mijn weten door deelname aan dit onderzoek zou
kunnen lopen, is een eventueel ongemakkelijk gevoel bij een bepaalde vraag die
ik u stel.
Het voordeel van deelname aan dit onderzoek is de kans om uw verhaal te
vertellen aan een geïnteresseerde luisteraar. U draagt bij aan de
afstudeeropdracht van een student toerisme, die uw hulp zeer waardeert. Ook
ontvangt u begin juli een digitaal exemplaar van het afgeronde onderzoek.
Met al uw vragen omtrent het onderzoek, kunt u terecht bij Daniek Nijland via
[email protected] of [MOBIEL NUMMER].
Door ondertekening van dit formulier verklaart u, als deelnemer, dat uw deelname aan
dit onderzoek volledig vrijwillig gebeurt; de beslissing om deel te nemen is door u zelf
genomen en door niemand anders. Tevens verklaart u het formulier te hebben gelezen
en het volledig te begrijpen: al uw eventuele vragen zijn beantwoord. U gaat akkoord
met deelname aan dit onderzoek en zult een kopie van dit ingevulde formulier
ontvangen.
Handtekening Deelnemer:
Datum:
Handtekening Interviewer:
Datum:
90

Local Sense of Place in a Tourism Space

Transcription

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