Breda is in the top 10 of the most visited cities in the Netherlands, but does not have its own tourist information office. In the coming months there will be a temporary pop-up tourist office in the Houtmarktpassage, where everyone can express their ideas to make the city even more attractive for residents, visitors and students. Omroep Brabant has already conducted a poll.
The historic city center with monumental buildings such as the Grote Kerk and the Castle of Breda attracts more than 1.2 million visitors every year, from the Netherlands alone. Events such as Breda Jazz and the Nassaudag are also crowd pullers. There is no accurate picture of the number of visitors from abroad.
“Do something about those very slippery curbs here.”
Amber van Vugt of Kindergarden childcare, who watch over their offspring in Valkenberg park, does have an idea: “There could be more public toilets. The children now often have to do it in the bushes and that is not nice,” says Amber. She is enthusiastic about the free water points of Brabant Water and the dispensers with free sun cream in the park.
Her colleague Kirsten van der Steen would like more free bicycle parking facilities: “The parking facilities are often already full. As a result, you have to park your bicycle on the street with the risk that it will be stolen or removed by the municipality. It would make the city even more attractive for people who come by bicycle.”
Owner Ton Stam of ice cream parlor Toeti Froeti also has ideas. “People complain about too much and speeding traffic in the center. I would like to see Reigerstraat and Kasteelplein made traffic-calmed: only for local traffic. And do something about those slippery curbs here in the street. You don’t want to know how often I see people crash here.”
“Much more is possible. We are now going to work on that.”
He thinks that Breda should mainly profile itself as a Burgundian city where everything is close together. “A pleasant city center with many restaurants, the Grote Kerk, the Begijnhof, the Chassé Theater. And the new tourist information office should just be back in Willemstraat, where it used to be. Close to the railway station for people who come to the city by public transport.”
The VVV in Breda closed three years ago because there were too few visitors. During the corona crisis, there was no reason to quickly open a new tourist information point. Now that all this is behind us, Hildegard Assies, director of Breda Marketing, is working on the ‘VVV of tomorrow’, which is due to start next spring.
“Tourism contributes to the city’s economy, but much more is possible. We are now going to work on that,” says the director. The pop-up VVV is open until September 24.
