‘Enjoy the Flowers, Respect our Pride’ is the title tourists are being welcomed with to the Dutch Bollenstreek, or Flower Region, in the coming weeks. The reason they are currently looking for new ambassadors is due to a distress call that came from the bulb industry. They want to ensure the protection of the flowers against overly enthusiastic visitors. A collaboration between the bulb sector, marketing organizations, Greenport/Flower Science and townships came up with a pilot project, which will be tested during the busiest tourist weekends. Tourists are being welcomed with open arms, can get extra information and will be pointed towards locations where they are able to take pictures. This is meant to keep tourists from roaming through the fields on their own.
Ambassadors wanted
At its core, the campaign is educational. The parties who are working together all agree that creating awareness contributes to a better understanding and more respect towards the flowers. The team is urgently looking for new ambassadors, preferably ones with experience in the sector. These volunteers will be deployed in pairs of two during the busiest weekends in April. Everyone who is willing and able to clear up some time in their schedule to participate for a few hours in one of these weekends will be invited to sign up. Ronald Heruer – a veteran at the Visitor Center in Noordwijk – has been asked to assign the volunteers to the various fields. During the aforementioned weekends, Ronald can be found in the Tourist Office of the Dutch town of Noordwijkerhout. The ambassadors will be welcoming the tourists to the Bollenstreek, explain a few things about working in the bulb sector, show how to take the best pictures and point the tourists into the direction of spots in the region where they can enjoy the beauty of the flowers to the fullest. Do you want to help out as well? Then send an email to Ronald saying you want to sign up at rheruer@gmx.nl or call him at +31(0)6-43121015.
Tourist offices are working together with bulb growers
The Bollenstreek is glad to receive tourists from all over the world so early in the season already. The beautiful pictures tourists post on their social media accounts are the best type of marketing you could ever hope for. Unless while taking those pictures they cause irreparable damage to the flower field. Because of this, a package has been developed to help the growers point out the fact that the fields are not meant to be accessed by the public. With the slogan “Enjoy the flowers, respect our pride”, the tourists are being made aware that they should handle all of the beautiful flowers cultivated by the growers with the respect they deserve. Materials for spreading this message are located at a central point in the Bollenstreek. The coordinators and guides can also be found at this location. The choice to employ this method is made by the growers themselves.
For more information:
Flower Science
www.flowerscience.nl