Tourism Case Study: Analyzing Amsterdam's Instagram Effect & Impact

This case study examines the impact of the Instagram effect on Amsterdam's tourism industry. It begins with an introduction highlighting the trend and the chosen destination, Amsterdam, a popular tourist location. The report discusses the increasing use of social media, particularly Instagram, and its influence on tourism, leading to overtourism. It then explores Amsterdam's consumer appeal, including its museums, historical sites, and entertainment venues. A brief history of Amsterdam, including its development and key landmarks, is provided. The study evaluates host-guest interactions, highlighting the friendly and helpful nature of locals. The report assesses the economic, social, and environmental impacts of tourism visitation, including job creation and the strain on local resources. Suggestions for future tourism management include setting limits on tourist numbers, promoting ethical tourism through influencers, and fostering a healthy relationship between tourists and residents. The conclusion summarizes the findings, emphasizing the need for sustainable tourism practices to mitigate negative impacts.

Running head: TOURISM
Tourism and Hospitality
3-31-2020

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Instagram Effect.....................................................................................................................2
Consumer Appeal in Amsterdam...........................................................................................3
History of Amsterdam............................................................................................................3
Impact of Tourism visitation..................................................................................................4
Suggestions for future.............................................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The aim of this report is to present a paper highlighting the key trend that is the Instagram
effect on the selected destination. For this report, the destination that has been selected is
Amsterdam which is considered to be one of the favorite tourism destinations. The paper is
also discussing the consumer appeal for the selected destination along with the overview of
the destination history. Besides this, the paper is also explaining the nature of the host-guest
interaction and identifying the impact of tourism visitation on the destination.
Instagram Effect
As it is known that there is increasing use of social media platforms by people due to easy
access to the internet. Different social media platform allows people to share their feelings,
ideas, and experiences through images, videos, and stories such as Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter, etc. (Ospina, 2019). But, as per the recent trend, Instagram has gained increased
popularity as it allows to share attractive pictures and videos with friends and followers about
their experience. People are also using these sites to share their holiday and trip experience,
due to which there is an increased number of businesses including tourism and hospitality
industry businesses promoting their services through this. However, as per the analysis of one
of the favorite tourist destinations that are Amsterdam is getting impacted. Instagram is
majorly impacting the lives. From the way people socialize and allow the business to reach
their target market, this platform is majorly adding to the growth and culture evolution.
However, this trend is leading to over-tourism.
Over-tourism is a term used for highlighting an increased number of vacationers who travel
to the same destination. As per some definition of over-tourism, it reveals that it degrades the
travel experience quality and disrupts the local inhabitants’ lives (Pechlaner, Innerhofer and
Erschbamer, (2019). It has been believed that a sustainable amount of tourism is better and
healthy for the local economy, offer cash and create jobs. But, when there are too many

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tourists at a single destination it results in increasing traffic, increasing the cost of living, and
locals become unfriendly to tourists. Airbnb has been considered as the contributing fact in
increasing the rent prices in Amsterdam. The influence of the over-tourism is very difficult to
quantify (Humby, 2019).
Consumer Appeal in Amsterdam
Amsterdam which is the capital of the Netherlands is considered to be one of the most
famous tourist destinations in Europe. The major customer appealing places at this
destination are its academy research institutes, universities, and its 40 museums (Dearsley,
2020). Besides this, this destination also attracts people for its theaters and entertainment
venues. In addition to this, the destination is well-known for its historic homes that are
constructed with the pattern of concentric segments. To be precise the top locations that
attract customers to visit Amsterdam are Rijkmuseum, Anne Frank House, Van Gogh
Museum, Jordaan, Vondelpark, Royal Palace of Amsterdam, etc. (Dearsley, 2020).
History of Amsterdam
Amsterdam one of the greatest planned city of Europe is very famous for its history and
perform a major role in the Netherland’s history too. This place was introduced in the 13th
century as the fishing village. During the 14th century and 15th century the destination endured
a fast development, which resulted in the foundation of the Golden Age (Amsterdam Tourist,
2020). Today, there are some of the few medieval buildings are surviving. A few of the
instances of the building are Houten Huis (which is generally known as Wooden House) and
the Old and New Churches. During the Middle ages, the houses that used to build were
normally of wood, which is called to be the most vulnerable kind of material for construction.
The well-known wooden house that is Houten Huis is not any exception to this rule of the
destination. But with time many of them were demolished (Amsterdam. Info, 2020).
However, there is a huge number of Amsterdam houses are still made up of timber frames.

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Nature of Host-Guest Interaction
The relationship between host and guest in Amsterdam is very friendly, as the people of this
location are friendly and show hospitality to tourists. The people of Amsterdam are also very
helpful for the tourist in guiding their way to different places.
Impact of Tourism visitation
Economic Impact – The tourism industry of Amsterdam is considered to be one of the
important and growing sectors in which providers better benefit the economy of the
Netherlands. The industry of tourism has revealed a growth rate of around 3.9% in
comparison to the 3.7% global GDP in the year 2018 (Apriani, Arp and Hodde, 2019). This
reveals that the tourism industry of the city is growing at a quick rate than the economy of the
world.
Social Impact – The tourism industry is said to be the one that helps in increasing the social
interaction among different people belonging from different places and cultures. Similarly,
people who visit Amsterdam get to know more about the culture of the country and receive
the best hospitality from its citizens. Besides this, the visiting of the tourist helps in
increasing the availability of jobs for the citizens of the country (Statista, 2018). However, as
discussed above the increasing number of tourists or over-tourism is impacting the life of the
local people because it is resulting in increasing the price of rent, traffic, etc. This shows that
visiting tourism not just has a positive impact but also has some negative impact on the
destination as well as on the life of citizens.
Environmental Impact – Nowadays, the focus of the government and the concerned
authorities has increased on the environment, because the increasing number of tourists to the
location is resulting in negatively impacting the environment or damaging it (The World
Counts, 2020). The increasing demand for temporary residential areas like resorts and hotels

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due to tourism is resulting in the construction of buildings, which is leading to deforestation
at the destination. Besides this, the increasing number of tourists at the destination is resulting
in increasing traffic which is leading to pollution and harm to the life of inhabitants and
wildlife.
Suggestions for future
From the above analysis, it has been identified that the increasing trend of Instagram is not
just informing people about new things but it is also negatively impacting the environment
and social life. Considering the Amsterdam case, tourism is resulting in increasing the prices
of rent, traffic, etc. due to which the citizens of the city are suffering. In order to reduce the
negative impact of this trend, the government of Amsterdam must raise some limits for
tourism and tourist to the city. The issue of increasing tourists is not just impacting local
people but also impacting the environment which is leading to global warming. In order to
reduce this, the government must develop a restriction policy under which only a limited
number of people must be allowed to visit specific places like museums, parks, etc. Besides
this, the government can also put restrictions on the number of tourists visiting the city at a
time.
In addition to this, the negative impact of an Instagram trend that is over-tourism can be
controlled. It is known that influencers perform an essential role in motivating and
influencing people. Different influencing sites can produce organic content that helps in
encouraging ethical and healthy tourism to the destination. For example, by spreading the
messages like “Leave No Trace”, influencers can support in shifting the huge number of
tourists away from the specific location or area.
Influencers also hold a special position to respectfully share the stores and cultures across the
world. This can support in increasing an honest empathy between tourists and local citizens
and can provide support in driving considerate tourism.

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Conclusion
The above report has provided a detailed understanding and the position of Amsterdam is the
most favorable and famous tourist location. However, the increasing trend of Instagram is
resulting in over-tourism which is negatively impacting the lives of local people. It has been
identified that over-tourism is leading to increasing traffic, prices of rent, and unfamiliar
behavior of locals with tourist which is not healthy for the Netherland. Besides this, the
increasing tourist to the location is resulting in negatively impacting the environment.
Therefore, in order to overcome these challenges, the report has suggested that the
government of the Netherland and Amsterdam come together and place some restrictions on
increasing tourism to the location. This will help in reducing the number of tourists to
Amsterdam which will somewhere help in reducing the negative impact. Furthermore, the
report has also highlighted that influencer performs a major role in motivating and
influencing people. The government can take the support of some good influencer businesses
that produce organic content for encouraging the ethical and health tourism to the location.
Besides this, they can also help in developing a friendly and healthy relationship between
host and guest.

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References
Amsterdam. Info (2020) History of Amsterdam [online]. Available from
https://www.amsterdam.info/basics/history/ [accessed 31 March 2020]
Amsterdam Tourist (2020) Early history of Amsterdam [online]. Available from
https://www.amsterdamtourist.info/about-amsterdam/history-of-amsterdam/ [accessed 31
March 2020]
Apriani, I.I., Arp, M., and Hodde, J. (2019) Sustainable Tourism In Amsterdam [online].
Available from https://www.wur.nl/upload_mm/8/2/1/26f38e3d-743a-4c78-8833-
5fe17b8b974b_Sustainable%20tourism%20in%20Amsterdam%20Final%20Report.pdf
[accessed 31 March 2020]
Dearsley, B. (2020) 21 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in Amsterdam [online]. Available from
https://www.planetware.com/tourist-attractions-/amsterdam-nl-nh-amst.htm [accessed 31
March 2020]
Humby, B. (2019) Ben Humby Discusses Over-Tourism and The Impact of Instagram on
TRT World [online]. Available from https://pmyb.co.uk/ben-humby-discusses-over-tourism-
and-the-impact-of-instagram-on-trt-world/ [accessed 31 March 2020]
Ospina, O.E. (2019) The rise of social media [online]. Available from
https://ourworldindata.org/rise-of-social-media [accessed 31 March 2020]
Pechlaner, H., Innerhofer, E., and Erschbamer, G. (2019) Overtourism: Tourism
Management and Solutions 1st ed. U.S: Routledge.
Statista (2018) Number of jobs in the tourism industry in Amsterdam (Netherlands) from
2010 to 2018 [online]. Available from

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https://www.statista.com/statistics/954542/employment-in-the-tourism-industry-in-
amsterdam-the-netherlands/ [accessed 31 March 2020]
The World Counts (2020) The negative environmental impact [online]. Available from
https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/consumption/transport-and-tourism/negative-
environmental-impacts-of-tourism [accessed 31 March 2020]