Tourism

The main objective of this research is to explore the issues and politics associated with formal designing of landscape narratives on Statia. To achieve this goal, I will study the proposal for a new heritage trail as one way in which heritage is to be promoted formally within the current context of heritage implementation led by the formal organisations of the island.
The research focuses specifically on a proposal for a new heritage trail (Hellembrand 2010) proposed by Walter Hellembrand, who is director of the Monument Foundation and part of the administrative group of Sint Eustatius. The trail would include an area just outside Oranjestad, the only residential area of the island, rich in important archaeological sites although not all are accessible to the public at this moment. The use of the trail as a case study, together with a general analysis on how heritage is currently implemented on the island, would allow me to investigate the main themes and issues that emerge when designing a heritage trail on Statia. the objective may be divided into two research
questions:

• (RQ1) How does the Golden Rock Heritage Trail stand within the formal process of heritage building in Sint Eustatius, to enhance tourism and promote local identity, through the use of landscape narratives?
• (RQ2) What are the issues of dissonance that emerged during the analysis, upon this heritage trail, arisen with respect to the formal processes of heritage implementation towards meeting the dual purposes of tourism and identity?

The tourism industry is a worldwide growing sector with a significant economic importance. It is responsible for 253 million jobs worldwide and 3.1% of the world’s GDP. This is because the tourism industry creates several impacts in a region. Direct effects arise due to tourist expenditures in the closely related sectors. Indirect effects take place when money earned from the tourism industry is re-spent by the receiving industries to buy supplying goods and services that are necessary for their production. (Stynes, 1997). Induced effects show up when income is re-spent which is earned by the expenditures of tourists (Duffield, 1982). Employees who work in the tourism branch will use their salary to buy products and services for everyday use.

The island economy of St. Eustatius depends on a small number of economic resources: the public sector, the American oil company NuStar and in a smaller degree the tourism sector (Hoogenboezem-Lanselots et al, 2010 and Van de Kerkhof 2014). Therefore, there is a necessity to diversify economic activities in order to obtain economic growth and development. For this reason, the Tourism Foundation and Alterra started in 2014 with the development of a tourism master plan in which the different effects of tourism will be examined (Recreation and Space, 2015). This thesis forms a part of the masterplan and estimates the economic impacts of tourism on Statia.

The estimation of the economic impacts on Statia is done by applying the Input-Output model. This model is derived from the I-O table the which shows the relationships between different economic sectors within a region. Because a national I-O table of St. Eustatius is not available, a regional I-O table needs to be constructed. The most reliable to construct a regional I-O table is to derive it from an I-O table on a higher national level. The ones of Aruba (1999 and 2011) and Malta (2011) are therefore used instead. Several methods exist to perform this procedure, in this study this is done with the Flegg Location Quotient method.

To estimate the impacts, the Leontief Inverse, which shows how much output per sector is needed to meet the final demand in a specific sector. is multiplied with the final demand in a specific sector. The final demand is obtained by means of a questionnaire. Because there is ambiguity in the number of tourists, three scenarios are applied. 1500 tourists in the low case scenario, 2000 for the medium case scenario and 2500 for the high case scenario. The results are that for the situation of 1500 tourists per year, the number of jobs created varies between 38.42 jobs and 45.65 jobs. In the situation of 2000 tourists, this is between 53.45 and 80.85 jobs and for 2500 tourists this varies between 66.80 and 101.03 jobs. According to the latest data, the total number of jobs on the island is around 1100 meaning that the tourism sector has a share between 3.49% and 9.18% of the total jobs. Most of these jobs are created in the hotel and restaurant sectors which are mostly affected by the tourist expenditures. The total value added created by the tourism expenditures is around the 1 million dollars for the low case scenario, 1.6 million dollar for the medium case scenario and 2 million dollar for the high case scenario.

St. Eustatius, also known as Statia, is situated in the North-Eastern Caribbean. The islands located nearest to St. Eustatius are Saba, St. Maarten and St. Kitts. Approximately 3,800 local residents live on the island and represent more than twenty nationalities.
Tourism is one of the main economic pillars for St. Eustatius. St. Eustatius is aware of the need to develop tourism for economic purposes, but tourism is premature and undeveloped. Multi-destination trips are considered one of the main opportunities to stimulate tourism on the island. Multi-destination trips, also known as ‘island hopping trips’, are a series of short journeys between islands. The objective of this research is to examine the opportunities and constraints for multi-destination trips of which St. Eustatius is part of, resulting from existing tourism networks and flows between Caribbean islands. In order to examine these opportunities and constraints, next sub-research questions were answered:

• What are the current travel patterns and preferences of tourists and local residents of St. Eustatius, Saba and St. Maarten?
• What are existing tourism networks and flows between Caribbean islands?
• Which tourism networks and flows between St. Eustatius and other Caribbean islands can stimulate multi-destination trips?

The research took place on the islands St. Eustatius, St. Maarten and Saba during a nine-week period from the 13th of September till the 13th of November 2015. A quantitative research was carried out to gain insight into the travel behaviour and preferences of tourists and local residents per island, St. Eustatius, Saba and St. Maarten. A qualitative research was conducted to identify the presence and the extent of tourism networks. Also qualitative research was conducted to detect the constraints and opportunities for tourism networks that can stimulate multi-destination trips including St. Eustatius. Theoretically, I framed my research using the following concepts: ‘multi-destination trips’, ‘tourism destination’, ‘network theory’ and ‘mobilities theory’. Based on my research I discerned five tourism networks: a multi-destination network, a dive tourism network, a business tourism network, a cruise network and a local residents network. To improve tourism on St. Eustatius by multi-destination trips, one of the main opportunities is organising day trips to St. Eustatius from St. Kitts and St. Maarten. Diving and the (American) history are St. Eustatius’ unique selling points that can trigger tourists (e.g. American and timeshare tourists) from St. Kitts and St. Maarten for a day trip to St. Eustatius. Moreover, a multi-destination trip including Saba and St. Eustatius in the theme of diving is an opportunity that can stimulate multi-destination trips including St. Eustatius. Finally, different tour operators and a cruise company already offer St. Eustatius as part of a multi-destination trip. If they offer these trips more frequently, it can stimulate tourist arrivals to St. Eustatius. In order to realise these opportunities, better transport connections are required.

Furthermore, this research found that flows in current tourism networks are not ordered in such a way that multi-destination trips including St. Eustatius are stimulated effectively. Several constraints prevent tourism stakeholders from improving or creating networks that aim to stimulate multi-destination trips. The main constraints are: (a lack of) money, negative images, the ‘passive’ tourism policy of St. Eustatius government, strict airline regulations, time-consuming immigration and clearance procedures and the current tourism product of St. Eustatius.

Msc thesis

Tourism is an attractive development option for countries where other alternatives for development are limited. It namely creates among others opportunities for jobs. St. Eustatius, a small island in the Caribbean Sea, is an example of a country which would like to develop tourism. Therefore, it is developing a Tourism Master plan which aims at doubling the number of tourism related jobs from approximately 150 in 2014 to 300 in 2020. This study contributes to the Tourism Master plan by creating an understanding of the labour market in general and the tourism labour market more specifically in St. Eustatius. In order to create an understanding of the Statian (tourism) labour market the characteristics of the labour market and how these characteristics can be explained were firstly examined. By means of semi-structured interviews with local experts on the (tourism) labour market and document analysis it appeared that St. Eustatius' labour market is small, static, lacks diversity and has a lot of small businesses. In addition, it is dominated by three large employers, respectively the government, the oil firm NuStar, and the tourism sector of which NuStar is the biggest private employer. Furthermore, the third largest employer, the tourism sector, is perceived to offer high potential for economically developing the island. A last characteristic is that it is difficult to match demand for and supply of labour with each other as there exists a lack of qualified people and motivation among potential candidates. Several external factors were found to influence the labour market. Firstly, the physical geography of the island causes the island and its population number to be small. Opportunities are therefore limited, which contributes to the labour market being small, static, lacking diversity and having many small businesses. Also, the political economic situation contributes to this as political instability and lack of island government's budget complicates the island government to invest in the economy. Laws and regulations impede the population to set up businesses. In addition, culture plays a role, since the way of working and work attitude is affected by this. This influences for example the level of motivation to work. Another factor is education. Brain drain is a problem occurring on St. Eustatius, as many students do not return to the island after graduation. As a consequence, workers are brought in from abroad or foreign entrepreneurs start a company on St. Eustatius. A last external factor is the organizations on the island which influence the labour market by giving trainings, fitting vocational education to the labour market, striving for a favourable investment climate, acting as an intermediary between matching demand for and supply of labour, etc. The labour market is also influenced by the independent decisions which people make. People's decision to stay in or quit a job is affected by their job satisfaction. Moreover, whether they decide to work in a certain sector is affected by their perceptions of this sector and other sectors in the economy. These perceptions (with a special focus on the perceptions on the tourism sector) were examined by means of a self-administered survey, which was handed out to employees working in the government sector, tourism sector and private sector. First of all, total job satisfaction appeared to be equal for the government, tourism and private sector employees. However, tourism employees were more satisfied with ''The way company policies are put into practice'' than government employees. They were least satisfied with ''The pay and amount of work'', but most satisfied with ''The chance to do things for others''. This research also examined what people found important in a job and whether they thought jobs in the three largest sectors on the island could offer them what they perceive as important in a job. The four most important job factors were respectively ''A job that I will find enjoyable'', ''A secure job'', a ''Pleasant working environment'', and ''A job which gives responsibility''. Although the three sectors were in general perceived as not offering what employees found to be important in a job, NuStar wasmost positively perceived regarding offering the job factors which are valued important, followed by respectively the government and the tourism sector. In addition, perceptions on the economic sectors on Statia were investigated with a particular focus on the tourism sector. ''A job that I will find enjoyable'', ''Colleagues that I can get along with'', a ''Pleasant working environment'', ''The opportunity to travel abroad'' and ''A job where I can care for others'' was perceived to be offered by the tourism sector compared to the government and NuStar. However, the respondents perceived the tourism sector as providing the least ''Good starting salary'' compared to the government and NuStar. All of the above functioned as input to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats regarding the tourism labour market. The strengths 'Satisfied with jobs' (S1) and 'Positive image regarding a few job aspects compared to the government and NuStar' (S3) (e.g. enjoyable job, pleasant working environment, etc.) were the most important strengths of the tourism labour market. etc.). The largest weakness was 'Skill deficit: low level of service in the sector' (W5) and the biggest opportunity was the 'STDF (promotes, advices the government, raises awareness)' (O4). Lastly, the greatest threats to the tourism labour market were 'Lack of qualified people on the island' (T2) and 'Positions in the tourism sector are mainly occupied by foreigners' (T3).

Based on the results general recommendations regarding the development of the tourism sector and in particular recommendations regarding the tourism labour market were made:
 Collect reliable statistical data Without reliable statistical data, it is more complicated to design a proper general labour market policy and tourism labour market policy in particular.
 Increase tourist accommodation by means of attracting investors More tourist accommodation needs to be build in order to develop the tourism sector and create jobs on St. Eustatius.
 Improve the island's accessibility The island's accessibility (i.e. via air and sea) should be improved in order to develop the tourism sector and create jobs on St. Eustatius.
 Prevent the construction of a second oil terminal of NuStar The realization of a second oil terminal of NuStar on St. Eustatius should be prevented as it would hamper the development of the tourism sector and its potential to be a job generator.
In order to stimulate local employment in the tourism sector, also recommendations with regard to the tourism labour market were created:
 Emphasize positive aspects of working in the tourism sector This could be done by presenting at the career fair, giving information at schools and making the tourism market labour information open to the public.
 Improve the conditions of employment Several strategies were proposed, like raising salaries, introducing career ladders and increasing the level of job security.
 Stabilize the island government As the island government should be the key player in the labour market, it is recommended to stabilize.
 Develop human capital Ways for developing human capital are assembling tourism employers on the island in order to subsequently form a network, let people who are brought in from abroad for a specific job train locals, so that they can fill up the gap if that person leaves again, let tourism students do an internship at one of the neighbouring islands, and let tourism employers offer possibilities for further training to their employees.

Research-through-designing (RTD) is a method used in the landscape architectural discipline, where designing is used as a research method. Adaptive Delta Management (ADM) is an approach used in the Dutch Delta Programme to make water management strategies while dealing with uncertainty in future developments. In part one of this thesis (not included in this report) an extensive coding research revealed that in the Dutch Delta Programme, RTD was used to localise the ADM approach in four different ways: as an explorative method, a testing method, a method to create synergy and as a communication method. Part 2 of this thesis (this report) aims to assess if RTD is indeed a useful way to localise the ADM approach in a local design case.
The development of sustainable tourism in Lower Town (LT), Sint Eustatius (Statia), a special municipality of the Netherlands, is selected as a design case. LT has to deal with water related issues, such a sea level rise and coastal erosion, which make it an interesting case for ADM. Sustainable tourism developments form a linkage opportunity to give water management strategies an added value. RTD within the ADM approach was used as main method for the research. Part 1 of the thesis and a literature study on sustainable tourism provided a theoretical framework for the analysis and design.

A desk study and visit to Statia of a month with interviews and field visits resulted in qualities, challenges and ambitions for Statia and LT. A broad range of spatial scenarios were developed and shared with the inhabitants of Statia. Feedback received during the exhibition revealed that creating a good coastal protection is the biggest challenge for LT. Coastal protection options were explored, but too many uncertainties remained. Therefore the development strategy advises to place developments in the higher situated Upper Town, rather than in LT, and focus the design on connecting these two areas. A no-regret design was made for one area as incentive for future developments.
A reflection on the research process showed that RTD was indeed a useful way to localise the ADM approach, in particular for exploring problems and solutions and defining new questions. However, using RTD in this way results in local knowledge and not generalizable new knowledge, which raises the question if RTD is an actual research method.

Student thesis.

Sint Eustatius (Statia) is the special municipality of the Dutch Kingdom and intends to economically develop by means of sustainable tourism. Local entrepreneurship is necessary to achieve economic development; however entrepreneurship seems to poorly develop in the Caribbean region. The purpose of this research is to gain insight in the Statian entrepreneurial culture by investigating Statian identities. An adapted model of multiple dimensions of identity was used, in order to understand the local entrepreneurial culture from the individual’s social identity perspective. The empirical part of this research was conducted mid-October 2015 on Statia. Qualitative data for this research were collected among individual Statians by means of semi-structured in-depth interviews. Research findings shed light on intersecting identity dimensions – including culture, history, race, religion, political affiliation and family background – and economic factors – including capital, education, fiscal policy and industrial policy – influencing the local entrepreneurial culture on Statia. On the basis of the research findings, it can be concluded that the Statian community is heterogeneous and therefore ‘the typical Statian’ does not exist. The main conclusion of this thesis is that intersecting identity dimensions – including culture, family background, history, race, religion and political affiliation – of the Statian community affect the local entrepreneurial culture on the island.

Introduction and aims
With the introduction of smart phones that also take photos combined with GPS tracking applications, more tourists are able to take more geo-tagged photo’s during their travels. In combination with the options to upload these photos to online platforms, new ways of collecting data from the Internet provide new research opportunities. These digital footprints, combined with their specific meta-data regarding geo-location the data provide much information to be of use in spatial-temporal research.
A previous study on Bonaire showed the potential of this kind of research. It showed some understanding of the spatial movement of tourists and the number of tourists that visit different parts of Bonaire. In order to use these kinds of data in e.g. potential impact studies, we aimed to give a follow up.
In the present study the approach from Schep et al. (2016) was revisited with the following goals:

• Update distribution maps with the latest data (2016-2020) and evaluate the reproducibility of the maps.
• Detect whether distribution patterns and densities has changed following the recent developed trails and thus tourist spreading.
• Study if densities at specific locations can be related to local characteristics, such as:
  • Spatial characteristics such as distance roads
  • Landscape characteristics (landscapes)
  • Tourist type (cruise versus stay-over)

Methods
For this study, FLICKR was the only online platform to collect photographs and their metadata. Others were no longer available or unsuitable. All photographs taken between November 2002 and October 2019, within a Bonaire surrounding bounding box were collected, including their meta-info. This resulted in 13026 photos, coming from 421 photographers.
Using a self-built Python application “PhotoCategoriser” each photo was assigned to a category (coastal, seascape, wildlife, underwater, terrestrial, other). Metadata of each photo and the assigned category allowed to analyse on origin of the photographer, to estimate the type of tourist (cruise or stay-over), their interest, and differences in spatial and temporal distribution. The specified resolution to aggregate the data was set at grid cells with a mean surface area of 0.301 km2.
Photographer intensity is determined by condensing photographs into Photo User Days (PUD). One PUD stands for one (or more) photographs taken on a given day by specific photographer for a category in a grid cell.
Results and conclusions
Overall results

• The report provides various figures and maps presenting the spatial distribution of PUD as a proxy for tourist distribution. Temporal aspects in PUDs reflect the annual dynamics in tourist numbers.
• Trends in tourist numbers are not equally reflected in the numbers of PUDs. PUDs are therefore a proxy of tourist distribution, but not a strong indicator for trends in absolute numbers and intensity.

Reproducibility

• The additional ~ 4000 photos on top of the estimated ~ 10.000 FLICKR photos that were analyzed by Schep did not add much extra information. Also, the applied resolution did not refine the possibilities of performing risk assessments on habitats or species due to the limited number of data in those areas. Distribution patterns and intensity trends were similar. Category distribution however differed slightly. This can be explained by the differences in used datasets, and by the boundary criteria for assigning categories.

Detection of (changed) distribution and relation to local characteristics

• The overall distribution of PUDs shows higher intensity along the west coast, near Kralendijk and its tourist area. In addition, some higher intensity spots are visible near Sorobon in the east, and Seru Largu in the middle of the island. The hotspots such as Goto and Washington Slagbaai in the north are clearly highlighted, as well as several scenic spots along the southern flats (Salt pans, Slavery houses, Lighthouse).
• Less frequented regions mainly include landscapes on the eastern part of the island. The low numbers of PUDs in these regions did not allow additional analysis on changes in distribution of PUD between years. It was considered not to be of added value. Hence, the effectiveness of the recent established trails could not be assessed any further, and an additional preliminary risk assessment for habitats or species was left out of the study.
• Distribution of PUDs reflect mainly the accessibility of regions: hence the roads and hotspots are clearly visible, and only limited PUDs were plotted further away. Analysis of distribution of tourists in specific habitats or nearby certain living areas of species were therefore considered not to be of added value.
• The interests (reflected by the categories) of the photographers slightly vary over the years and within a year, both by origin and by tourist type (also reflected by the cruise season). Also, the distribution and intensity of tourist types and origins seems to slightly vary. Details are provided in the report.

Future application and methodological issues

• We suggest that studies that use these data sources first look into the generic distribution and intensity of photo’s PUDs collected (data coverage) before taking the effort of categorizing. Based on the general overview, following analysis steps such as categorizing and environmental risk assessment could be added.
• Manual assignment of categories to photos is a subjective exercise. Assigning categories requires strict criteria and midterm evaluation of results.
• Online platforms are variable in their existence and terms of use, leading to an uncertain accessibility and application of these kinds of data in future studies.

Tourism in Bonaire should develop in a planned and orderly manner so as to provide the maximum benefit to the island and its residents and to ensure that any adverse effects on the social, economic, cultural and general quality of life of the people of Bonaire and the environment are minimized. The objective should be to achieve a managed growth path and a sustainable level of tourism development. This necessitates finding and striking the fine balance between the facilitation of tourism growth and the control of associated developments, bearing in mind that without careful conservation of Bonaire’s primary tourism resources, it may cease to have a viable tourism product. A comprehensive national tourism policy is therefore essential if tourism is to grow in an orderly way.

Impressively, since the 1970’s Bonaire has championed efforts to protect its natural environment and resources. There is no doubt that these efforts have interlaced themselves with the resident’s everyday life and are a fiber in the fabric of Bonaire’s culture. Bonaire is a global gem that has received recognition for its natural areas and enjoys an international reputation for some of the world’s best ocean activities thus leading to a potent economic sector for the island – the tourism industry.

Currently, the tourism industry underperforms for the economic welfare of the majority of Bonaire’s residents. Although the tourism industry could provide Bonaire with economic opportunities for the majority of residents, the professional opportunities linked to tourism have not transpired. This is largely due to two main reasons. The first reason being that natural conservation efforts have displaced development that could provide professional and educational opportunities for Bonairians. This has resulted in a dilution of Bonairian culture where nearly 60% of the island’s population was not born in Bonaire. Bonairians have transplanted to other countries to seek opportunities. The second reason is that the tourism sector does not contribute to the economic wellbeing of the majority of residents but rather contributes to a select few.

With the lack of educational and professional opportunities available on the island, Bonairians have developed a relatively low perception of their quality of life and their satisfaction with their lives. In the last year, about 50% of Bonairians have observed a decrease in their income. Many residents and industry stakeholders feel that the tourism industry can direct and improve the future of the island. In order for this to occur, there must be changes in the distribution of the economic benefits to increase their reach to local households; as well as the industry must be capable of stimulating changes in Bonairians’ quality of life. Thus, this strategic tourism master plan (STMP) was designed to ensure that the tourism industry is capable of generating money, creating

jobs, and stimulating sustainable economic linkages to other sectors on the island.

Worldwide heritage management focuses on tangible heritage, which also applies to heritage trail design. However, besides tangible heritage, incorporating intangible heritage in heritage management is important for maintaining community identity and has great social significance. In the Proposal for the Golden Rock Heritage Trail at St. Eustatius plans are described for making a heritage trail that aims at developing tourism at the island by showing the tangible heritage remains to the tourist. These tangible remains are also seen as being part of the identity of the island. The tangible heritage local people do not relate to, and do not see as their identity, which is a conclusion from previous research. This thesis aims to find a different approach to designing the Golden Rock Heritage Trail at St. Eustatius incorporating intangible heritage.

The notions identity and tangible and intangible heritage are translated to the landscape narrative research method that is used for finding the intangible heritage underlying the Golden Rock Heritage Trail through interviewing local people and historical experts. Local people do not relate to the tangible remains, but are attached to their personal memories of the past, experiences and current use attached to the places of the Golden Rock Heritage Trail. Many intangible heritage stories were collected and a new place of importance arose. Historical experts mostly relate to the stories attached to the tangible remains of the Golden Rock past.

The design for the Golden Rock Heritage Trail lets the visitor experience the intangible heritage stories by giving the possibility to step into the footsteps of the intangible heritage stories that are made visible through spatial design. Besides intangible heritage stories the tangible remains are also incorporated in the trail by giving information on the history of that specific place.

Maintaining community identity requires incorporating intangible heritage in heritage trail design which is possible through a landscape narrative approach based design making visible intangible heritage resulting in the heritage trail from below from a bottom-up, local-people centred approach. This is different from the Proposal for the Golden Rock Heritage Trail that encompasses the main focus on tangible heritage. The approach to heritage trail design proposed in this research tries to actively contribute to maintaining community identity by making visible intangible stories which appeared to be more important to local people and more part of their identity than the stories attached to the tangible remains. However, the tangible remains are also important in heritage management. Steps to take in implementation are protecting and maintaining existing remains, implementing the route for accessibility and execute place designs that may contribute to maintaining local community identity and tourism development at St. Eustatius.

This document was retrieved on October 3 2018 from WUR eDepot