AUGUST DE BATS COURSE LECTURER

STUDENT 18026206 E-GOVERNANCE MR. M.V. FERREIRA

E-Governing
Rotterdam
Smart Tourism
First opportunity
10-05-2023
Word count: 2000
Table of contents
01 Introduction

02 Tourist Focus

03 Problem Analysis

04 Policy Alternatives

05 Implementation

06 Final Remarks
 Introduction
The city of Rotterdam is a diverse city in many aspects.
The diverse identity of the city can be noticed in its
citizens, its harbors, and of course in its tourism. At the
height of its tourism history, Rotterdam had an
increase of 20% in hotel bookings and generated 93
million euros in the peak year of 2018/2019 (Kasmi,
2020). Unfortunately, the covid pandemic established
tough times for the tourist sector, nevertheless,
Rotterdam is recovering and is almost back on the
same track as pre-covid (Heel, 2023). Tourism plays a
vital role when it comes to the livelihood of the city and
now that Feyenoord is able to become the champion of
the Eredivisie there will be a focus on Rotterdam which
could be beneficially used in promoting the city and
attracting new tourists. Therefore in order to attract
more tourists and to maintain progress at the same
pace, it is important to decide what e-governmental
tools Rotterdam can use and what kind of tourism suits
the city of Rotterdam best, domestic tourism or
International tourism.
 Comparing
International vs. Domestic
Tourism
 Tourism
Conclusion

With these comparisons of pros and cons it can be

noticed that there are a lot of benefits for both forms of
tourism and that there are equal yet different
drawbacks as well. It can be noticed that the economic
costs and benefits will cover and that its either a
question of expensive targeting for a bigger pool or
focused targeting for a smaller pool. However in order to
co-op with the guidelines and wishes of the city itself,
there is one particular form of tourism that suits
Rotterdam best. The city of Rotterdam has a high regard
for the maintenance and distinguishing of the cities
identity (Kasmi, 2020). Therefore it is also important
that a comparison is made with the first ranking tourist
city of the Netherlands, Amsterdam. Amsterdam is
known as the tourist city of the Netherlands with the
most frequent International tourists that come along
with a lot of economic benefits, yet with a cost. Many
Dutch people experience Amsterdam as too commercial
and too touristic in which they have to maneuver
themselves through the floodings of rolling suitcases
and groups of amateur photographers. In the eyes of the
general Dutchman, Amsterdam has lost a part of its
authenticity.
For that reason, in order for Rotterdam to boost its
tourism economy, yet at the same time maintain and
create an authentic city identity, it is best suggested
that the Municipality will focus on domestic tourism. In
this way, the domestic tourists also better understand
the celebration if Feyenoord becomes the Champion and
the possible championship itself will unconsciously
work as national promotion for the city.

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 Rotterdam is a city
you need to get to
know in order to

The Challanges know where you

need to go, since it is
for Domestic Tourism so widespread”

in Rotterdam

As previously mentioned, the city of Rotterdam is doing very well when it

comes to tourism. With its increasing growth of tourism after such short term
of covid recovery, it is an outstanding performance, yet can always be
improved. Due to these confident increases the focus should not anymore be,
how to attract more tourist, but rather, how to improve the experience of the
tourists in order to attract more tourists.
In order for Rotterdam to become a smart city with smart tourism, it needs to
analyze where Rotterdam can improve itself in its public services (OECD,
2021), in order to become a smart city that generates smart tourism, which
will lead to an unforgettable experience for the domestic tourists. Due to a
street interview with a citizen which stated that: “Rotterdam is a city you
need to get to know in order to know where you need to go, since it is so
widespread”, which provided inspiration to connect the widespread touristic
sights and to solve the following problem.
One of the challenges that Rotterdam faces and therefore restrict their
ambitions to become a smart city are the mobility problems. Rotterdam is a
modern city with a good infrastructure for public transport and biking lanes,
yet still most of the residents prefer to use the car over public transport
which create traffic, parking and accessibility problems (de Graaf, 2022). Two
girls whom are resident of Rotterdam indeed admitted in a street interview
that “Rotterdam is made for biking, yet sometimes you can feel unsafe with
all these cars”. These problems also create challenges for the domestic
tourism of Rotterdam, even so domestic tourism also contributes to this
challenge since more than 55% of the domestic tourist travel with the car to
Rotterdam, which is a fast majority if you compare that with the only 22%
who catch the train, 10% with local public transport and only 5% who are
willing to cycle (Kasmi, 2020).
For the sake to tackle the problem of traffic incapability and to decrease the
use of cars in Rotterdam there will be three possible solutions provided.
These three possible solutions will contribute to the increasement of
domestic tourism and their experience and therefore contribute to the
realization of smart tourism in order for Rotterdam to become a smart city.

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 OPTION 1: TRAIN + BIKE

In Collaboration with the NS and the

initiative of Rotterdam ‘ontdek Rotterdam’
(Info, 2023). There will be a deal offered in
which tourist who arrange a train ticket to
Rotterdam will also be capable of renting
an OV sharing bike which they can make
use of two additional routes that have been
lined out through the beautiful sight seeing
parts of Rotterdam and stops between nice
sidewalk café and terraces areas.

OPTION 2: TRAIN + WATERTAXI

An feature of Rotterdam that is often

neglected are the Water Taxis. The water
taxisare a great alternative of
transportation and navigate with speed
through the Maas and other waters of
Rotterdam. This unique experience shows
the harbor identity of the city and provides
city sighting from a different perspective

OPTION 3:
TRAIN + PUBLIC TRANSPORT
In order to stimulate the use of public
transportation among tourists there will be the
creation of different touristic routes in
collaboration with the municipality of Rotterdam,
the national train company ‘Nederlandse
Spoorwegen’(NS) and the local public
transportation organization ‘Rotterdamse
Elektrische Trams’ (RET)’. The public
transportation of Rotterdam is a very efficient
system that enables its users to explore the
beautiful parts that Rotterdam has to offer, from
the city center to the beaches of Hoek van Holland.
 Policy Decision
RET-Tourism

REAL ESTATE ACCOUNTING

Policy decision:
For this proposal, policy proposition 3 has been chosen as the solution to boost the
tourist experience and therefore attracting more domestic tourist to the city. As the
collaboration has been previously stated, the NS functions as the main transportation
for the tourist to reach Rotterdam from outer regions. Therefore the focus is on the RET
and the Municipality which can provide smart technological and smart innovations for
the solution.

RET-Tourism:
Now the challenge that might arise with this solution is rather the problem will be
displaced to the public transportation sector? Well in order to avoid overcrowded
public transports, the Idea is to create Metro’s and trams that are mainly meant for
Tourism. The city of Rotterdam already has a ‘City Tour Tramline 10’ (Info, 2023b), the
nostalgic tram that shows the city sights, yet the solution wants expand this
implementation. The expansion will consist of special ‘Rotterdam Elektrisch
Touristsiche Trams’ (RETT), extra metro and tram vehicles that are meant for touristic
destinations and stop there. In this way there is an expansion of regularity in public
transportation and therefore citizens of Rotterdam can also enjoy the terms if the
destination is convenient for them and for the tourist the trams and metros are easy to
spot so that they know which public transport they need to catch.

Smart City Lighting

Now of course the tourist who take the tram or metro still need to walk towards their
destination. Yet how will they find their way? Of course you can use a google maps, yet
then you still need to do your research and what if you missed out on a place?
Therefore Rotterdam will implement streetlights that adjust their colors with a motion
sensor. In that way the people who are walking under the lights can follow the lights
towards their destination, which also gives quite an astonishing view at nights.

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 STAGE 4: 10 YEARS
STAGE 2: 1 YEAR

STAGE 3: 5 YEARS
STAGE 1: START

Implementation Strategy
In the first stage the NS, RET and Rotterdam municipality will
collaborate with the deals for tourists to promote traveling by public
transportation.

Stage 2 is the result after a year in which the RET has been able to
create trams and metros that distinguish themselves as RET-Tourism
and are implemented in practice.

Stage 3: After 5 years domestic tourism has increased significantly due

to the RET-Tourism deals and the implementation of extra tourism
public Transportation and smart city lighting.

Stage 4: After 10 years there has been a decrease in the use of cars
within the city since domestic tourist are more eager to take the RET-
Tourism deal and since Rotterdam citizens also make use of the more
regular public transportation
 Final Remarks

THIS POLICY PROPOSAL HAD THE MAIN

GOAL TO INCREASE DOMESTIC TOURISM,
TACKLE THE OVERCROWDED CAR TRAFFIC
IN ROTTERDAM AND CONNECT THE
WIDESPREAD CITY SIGHTS THAT
ROTTERDAM OFFERS. AS A MAJOR CITY,
ROTTERDAM WILL ALWAYS HAVE TOURISM
AND IS ABLE TO BOOST THEIR TOURISM BY
SEEKING FOR E-GOVERNMENTAL
IMPLEMENTATIONS WHICH PROVIDES EVEN
MUCH MORE.
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