Strengthening the Limburg tourism industry with data

Our province is a hospitable top destination within the Netherlands. This is also reflected in CBS figures. In 2020, Limburg was, after Gelderland, the province with the highest number of domestic vacations.  The Dutch went on vacation in Limburg almost 2 million times, which is 12% of the total number of domestic vacations (source: CBS - Trend report tourism, recreation and leisure 2021).

Limburg is in huge demand. At the same time, there are also challenges there. The corona crisis taught us that there is no provincial data dashboard on which tourism companies and governments can base decisions. Here lies a need and an opportunity. After all, measuring = knowing. To best serve our tourists, it is important to understand their behavior. This can be done by using data. But each party has its own data, so the whole thing is rather fragmented. 

Connecting data

There is a need to link the available data. Data from governments, knowledge institutions, business and civil society organizations. A data portal in which each party has an overview of the most important figures. But which figures will be included in such a portal? Data in abundance, only the relevant data must be processed into clear information that is usable by the various stakeholders. Based on this information, municipalities, for example, can make policy decisions.

And in this, Brightlands Smart Services Campus can facilitate like no other. The Public Services Lab took up this challenge, together with a delegation of municipalities from North, Central and South Limburg and the Province of Limburg. Therefore, they organized October 28 a first exploration phase for this issue. What information needs do the municipalities have? What stakeholders are there? But also: What is realistic and feasible.

Collaboration

Based on this first session, a number of follow-up sessions will follow in which together we will determine what information is already available and what preconditions are needed to arrive at a single tourism data portal. The starting point will be user-friendliness and the needs of both municipalities and entrepreneurs and other stakeholders.