New initiatives will be brought forward to help get more day-trippers into the city
The city center of Groningen is only attracting about sixty percent of the number of visitors as before the Coronavirus outbreak. The number of visitors has also plummeted in other inner cities in The Netherlands, and this combined with a “dizzying growth” in online shopping is putting huge pressure on retailers. These developments are causing many stores to struggle, which may eventually lead to the disappearance of perhaps 20 to 30 percent of the inner-city stores, says Eric Bos, chair of the Groningen City Club. As reported by the GIC.
Bos yesterday met with both Alderman Paul de Rook (D66) of Economic Affairs, and a representative of sector organisation INretail. The conversation was prompted by the waning interest in inner cities of the public due to the outbreak, especially among tourists and day-trippers.
The situation is even more serious in some cities. In Amsterdam, only around forty percent of the normal number of visitors are coming to the city.
INretail will continue to have conversations with the administrators of all major cities in The Netherlands, with Groningen the first city. Bos says that he was satisfied with the talks: “we are working on a plan of approach to return the number of visitors to a more sustainable amount. That plan should include measures for how to safely create more visits, especially from tourists and day-trippers”.
Image via Wikimedia user Effeietsanders. License here.