It is not news that you can walk well in Drenthe. But, according to the province and Drenthe Recreation Board, there is room for improvement in terms of walking offering and promotion. And that is why the two organizations are allocating 350,000 euros for a new action plan.
“Walking does a person good. It is very valuable time,” says Yvonne Cornax of Marketing Drenthe. The finances of the catering industry play a role in this. “But,” says Cornax, “It mainly affects our well-being.”
Drenthe is in the top three most popular walking provinces in the Netherlands according to a study by Wandelnet, just behind Gelderland and Limburg. The province of Gelderland profiles itself strongly with, for example, the Nijmegen Four Days Marches, Clog Paths and the Liberation Route, and Limburg does this with height differences and pilgrim routes.
Deputy Willemien Meeuwissen likes third place, but she also sees opportunities to improve the image. “We just want it to be clear to our residents and the people who come here as tourists what you can do in Drenthe. Where can you find the routes? And why is it so much fun to walk them? We also want to organize a major walking event so that we are well on the map.”
“We actually want that understanding that other provinces have as well,” says Cornax. “That’s what we’re going to focus on.”
Drenthe Recreation Board also sees the added value of it. “We now have 35 experience trails, but many of them are at least 15 years old,” says Albert Broekman. In Westerbork and Gieten, among other places, the Recreation Board is working on new plans for more thematic walking routes.
According to Meeuwissen, there is no problem with the quantity. The province has more than 300 hiking trails and a recently constructed junction network of approximately 5,500 kilometers. In addition, the range of walks is increasing. While Drenthe had approximately 9 million walks in 2018, this was already 23.7 million in November 2022 to 2023. Meeuwissen: “For us, the icing on the cake is that you know where you can walk here.”
But won’t it be too busy? According to Cornax, that’s not too bad. “It is mainly our own residents who use it. Drenthe is also very large and spacious. Step away from the better-known places and look a few kilometers further and you will be completely in the silence.”
Meeuwissen also points out the spread. “In Drenthe there are still many places that are beautiful for walking where no one actually walks. In our marketing of new routes, we also take into account that we promote the quieter places, so that we spread people out across the province. Then we also look: where nature is vulnerable, then we don’t go there for a while.”
Cornax gives the example of Bargerveen or her own neighborhood near the Peizer Onlanden. “These are places that are less known and that we would really like to draw attention to.”
The amount of 350,000 is intended for the next three years. Deputy Meeuwissen: “I think we have come a long way. I think walking will continue for a long time. You see that after the corona period it has become completely established and that many young people also walk. So we will probably continue to do that together for a long time.”
