Entrepreneurs from the hospitality and tourism sector kick off the tourist season together in Roden. A unique partnership, of which the entrepreneurs mainly wonder why it was not there yet.
Getting to know each other and the offer in the three northern municipalities in Drenthe better, so that tourists are better informed during their visit. That is the goal of the new collaboration between hospitality and tourism in the head of Drenthe. Excellent idea, says Geert te Velde of restaurant Authentieq in Assen. “There are also people walking around here who have never heard of the Klompenmuseum in Eelde. Especially after the difficult time we have had, it is important to work better together.”
Idea of entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs themselves came up with the idea, after which a working group consisting of members of the tourist foundation Kop van Drenthe and the three municipal departments of Koninklijke Horeca set to work. The knowledge event on Tuesday in hotel-restaurant Onder de Linden in Roden is the first concrete step in the collaboration.
One of the initiators of the collaboration is entrepreneur Loes Talens from Veenhuizen. “When we came up with this, we immediately thought: why didn’t we do this before?” she explains. “It is important that we look a little wider and give each other something. For a visitor, a provincial or municipal border is not interesting, they just want to know what to do in the area.”
To do together
Partly for that reason, there are speakers from the province and the municipality of Assen who talk about new cycling routes and what activities are being organized around the European Cycling Championships. According to Viola Mulder of Koninklijke Horeca Noordenveld and Tynaarlo, the full room says enough about the need for better cooperation between the sectors.
“We have to do it together in Drenthe,” says Mulder. “If you know each other, it is much easier to approach people and arrange things.”
The improved relationship between entrepreneurs from both sectors will not immediately be visible to tourists or visitors. “But if all goes well, they will soon know even better what to do in the head of Drenthe,” says regional coordinator Jantina Doornbos of the tourist foundation Kop van Drenthe. The working group hopes that the joint kick-off of the season will become an annual event.