Perspective on Visitor Management

We are working together with SWEK and the partners involved in the Kinderdijk Governance Platform (including the municipalities of Molenlanden and Alblasserdam, the Province of South Holland, the Rivierenland Water Board and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands) on a shared vision and approach to visitor management. This future-oriented strategy is intended to contribute both to maintaining the liveability of the area and ensuring that many people can continue to visit and experience the World Heritage site, with the customer journey at its core.

Visitor numbers are rising and are expected to continue increasing in the coming years (source: NBTC). This is a positive development, as paying visitors form the financial basis for the preservation and management of the site. However, it also calls for measures to ensure a healthy balance between residents and visitors, limiting pressure on the area and enhancing its liveability. This can be achieved through an integrated visitor management strategy, which allows planned and future activities to be assessed for both desirability and feasibility, while also supporting ambitions related to sustainability and liveability. The first measures are already being developed and implemented, including projects on parking and visitor flow management and the regional opportunity map.

Working from the same starting points and framework conditions, coming up with measures together

In a series of workshops and in-depth discussions, BLOC engaged with all stakeholders, supported by research and our experience from other areas. What do the various parties see as important, and what is the role and value of the visitor? How can the site remain accessible to all, while limiting the number of visitors (maximum of 500,000)? How do we manage supply and pricing in both time and space? How do we involve the surrounding area, and what is the role of mobility and innovation? This input formed the basis for the perspective, supplemented with highly concrete measures.

For example:

1. A smart approach to the accessibility of Kinderdijk and the required use of mobility and how the various forms of this connect (chain mobility). This includes extensive attention to water-borne transport, given the unique location in the delta of the Maas, Merwede and Lek rivers with a Waterbus route connecting two important destinations (Rotterdam and Dordrecht) with Kinderdijk.
2. Identifying smart linkage opportunities in the ‘hinterland’ of Kinderdijk, partly mapped within the project: de kansenkaart Alblasserwaard.
3. An elaborated organisational structure that enables stakeholders to shape the implementation and financing of the projects and measures to be carried out within the strategy and thus realise the shared ambitions for the area.

Several of these measures are now in progress or in preparation, meaning that the perspective is actively being brought to life within the region. By establishing this shared vision, we are fostering ownership of both the challenges and the opportunities, and thereby building commitment to take collective responsibility. This allows all involved parties to implement appropriate actions in the coming period to ensure Kinderdijk remains a sustainably accessible World Heritage site.