Literature Review - Netherlands Drug and Sex Tourism - Case Study Assessment Answer

Literature Review Assignment

Assignment Task

The case study should identify the main issues for NETHERLANDS Drug & Sex Tourism and contrast these with concepts from at least ten (10) recent and relevant academic literature sources. Assessment 2 (Literature Review) will assist this with additional literature required. You can draw on other sources to support. Be sure to follow the structure and criteria below.

Case study structure

1. Introduce the location and outline the main themes to be discussed and analysed in the case study. (100 words)
2. Provide analysis of the tourist visitation to your location. Use relevant statistics to support your answer. (350 words)
3. Explain what makes the destination attractive to tourists. Relate to the tourism system, tourism motivation or satisfaction theories introduced in this unit. (250 words)
4. Identify and critically analyse the important issues related to tourism and destination development at the location. (750 words)
5. Identify and critically analyse the negative and positive impacts of tourism activity on the host community at the location. (750 words)
6. Identify and critically discuss four (4) policy implications to achieve sustainable tourism outcomes for the destination. (300 words)

Include a reference list of all references you have cited (using the Summers and Smith (2006) guide) at the end of the case study (the reference list is not included in the word count for this assessment).

Netherlands, the country known for its flat landscape, is found on the northwestern part of Europe. It has been famous for its 13 major sites that are within the capital city and that have been existent since the end of World War II. The tourism sector in Netherlands contributes to approximately 15% of the total Gross Domestic Product and total percentage of the employment opportunities (Ahmed & Baghdasaryan 2015). Germany has been the largest contributor to Netherland’s Tourism growth in the past years. The most common sight of interest is the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. The following report is an analysis of the Drug and Sex tourism sector within Netherlands.

Analysis of the Tourist Visitation in Netherlands

Tourism in Netherlands is booming and introduces an average of 16 million visitors on a daily basis. There are 13 main sights and events of interest that the tourists visit on a daily basis. Amsterdam holds the most appreciated sites in the country, being the capital city of Netherlands. The country has several tourist visitation rights and maintains a welcoming demeanor in terms of the people involved in the tourism sector. The largest museum is the Rijksmuseum which receives a ton of attention on a daily basis and promotes high revenue development. Each site is based on the relevance it had towards the growth of Amsterdam, both during and after World War II (Campbell 2014). The tourism sector shows great hospitality and appreciation for the people that visit. The statistics for the years 2014 -2016 indicate that Germany is the most promising when it comes to visitation and also tourism activities. The country caused an increase in the profit margin over the years and also grew in terms of how much they appreciated the touristic sites in Netherlands.

The country that shows the least interest in Netherlands is Russia and is ranked as ten in the list of the countries with the most visitation records. There are 12 historic cities and 20 National parks within Netherlands in which much interest is shown. The historic cities focus on promoting their heritage while the National parks are well known for the beautiful landscape and the amazing Flora and Fauna. Prostitution in Netherlands has been legalized and regulated using all rights towards those involved. This makes sex tourism a huge source of revenue in the country (Heinen, Maat & Van 2013). The indicators of these activities being legal are the red light districts of Amsterdam and their famous high number of prostitutes as stated in a common Dutch magazine. Sex tourism in turn promotes drug use, the most common being the use of cocaine. The efforts to shut down Dutch Coffee houses in Netherlands were null and void as they were the highest promoters of drug use in Netherlands.

Factors that make Netherlands Attractive

Netherlands is well rated for political stability and is very conducive for any form of foreign business. This factor makes it a very peaceful and highly important country to any person that visits (Fletcher et al 2015). The Amsterdam canal is the most famous and most beautiful attraction site in Netherlands. It is a blend of Flora, Fauna and other man-made features that create the attractive and unique features for the same (Komppula 2014). The second most intriguing features are the number of museums that are found in the country and are relevant for the growth of the country’s tourism sector. The Keukenhof garden, best known as the garden of Europe is a flowery and colorful garden that takes the largest portion in comparison to other flower gardens in Europe.

It is famous for its variety of flowers that bloom on various seasons and the most interesting season being spring. The attraction sites in Netherlands are unique and unlike in most places, have historical and cultural value behind their being that unique and famous. Netherlands is mostly made attractive by its extremely clean air and positive population. This goes hand in hand with the serene waterside settings that are well known in other cities such as Rotterdam. The country shows a great deal of uniqueness when it comes to policies and regulations in the tourism sector (Tan 2016). The historic buildings in Delft are uniquely attractive and make the city special to visit and a sight to behold. It is clear that through these attractions, tourists have a high satisfaction rate only when the destination provides the most fulfilling aspects towards what they expect. In Netherlands’ case, the main source of motivation is Serenity.

Important Issues related to Tourism and Destination Development in Netherlands.

The main focus for the Netherlands’ tourism sector is to increase entrepreneurship, boost foreign investment and tourism, and also increase sustainability (Bar & Weiss 2015). It is extremely important that Netherlands increases its visitors to a record number of several millions far from what was recorded in 2014 which was also a high record in comparison to other years. The country wants to increase its visitors and balance those in Japan, Brazil and China with those from Germany and Belgium (Van & Brandellero 2015). This is because Germany and Belgium are the most promising when it comes to tourism in Netherlands. Unlike in other parts of the world, Operating a brothel in Netherlands is legal and very lucrative. Red light districts are the main indicators of where the business is undertaken.

The important issue that the tourism sector in Netherlands is worried about is the availability of loopholes for criminal activity in the brothels. This means that there has to be measures taken to prevent the increase of the criminal activities within these areas (Hall, Grossling & Scott 2015). The areas are what harbor criminals since they are not as restricted to entrance as the other tourism sights. The trend is mostly a result of the foreign prostitutes that would come to seek market from Thailand to Netherlands. This was a trend that led to many prostitutes seeking refuge in Netherlands from the central and Eastern parts of Europe. However, the issue in this case arose with the fact that 80% of the prostitutes in Amsterdam were foreigners where 70% of the total was not even certified and neither did they have their immigration papers. The sex tourism industry is therefore complicated and the fact that it is legalized makes it hard to solve such issues (Seals 2015). This is mainly because the issues that lie within the sex industry are not completely looked into and are therefore ignored thus growing into bigger issues than what is really expected.

Drugs and sex tourism go hand in hand since most of the drug addicts were said to be hiding among the prostitutes in the streets compared to those that had been established elsewhere. The reason why foreign prostitutes come to Netherlands is because they are economically motivated. They have been found to work mostly with Netherlands top visitors which are Germany and Belgium. The Drug and sex tourism industry was not existent in the middle ages and was strongly abolished (Connelly & Sanders 2016). Some reasons as to why it was abolished are that it led to insecurity and several other crimes within the country. There are ways in which the legalization of prostitution is justified in Netherlands even with the sense that it is wrong and is of a wrong doctrine. The court and Sheriffs within Netherlands gave up on trying stopping the legalization of the same following the doctrine that prostitutes should be accepted in the community as they are accepted in church.

This is a wrong doctrine since it only supports their various interests in prostitution as a lucrative industry. The most lucrative are the club escorts who are only linked to the higher class of the social niche and can not be put any lower. The higher class of the society has the ability to influence what the escorts will earn determined by how much they are attached to their services (Deinema & Aalbers 2012). Drug and sex tourism has become a norm in Netherlands with the growing level of criminal activity being a result of the specific industry. The issues need to be solved by plans and policies against the various aspects of the reasons as to why criminal activity is on the rise. Solid plans to ensure that the brothels are under constant security surveillance would be a great plan to ensure that the same is not increased to a much bigger problem. The drug and sex tourism industry shows faults in how it is handled in that there is minimal concern for the governance of those within (Steg et al 2014). The issues in this case are that the main and most important objectives are not identified and neither are the methods of achieving the objectives identified, evaluated or defined. The industry does not fully consider comprehensive planning. This therefore means that tourism resources, organization markets and programs within Netherlands are not all considered. Having policies for this sector will ensure that there are rules defined for the specific industry and thus will reduce criminal activity. Another aspect is that there all be a common direction for the whole industry along with the necessary stakeholders, which will then lead to uniformity.

Negative and positive impacts of Tourism activity on the host community

Drug and sex tourism has both Negative and positive impacts. Just like there are legalized brothels in Netherlands, there are also drug cafes. The destination has become very common for tourists from all over Europe who visit the various vibrant cities to indulge in the illicit drugs. The legal drugs to use in public places are Marijuana and hashish (Moufakkir & Kelly 2014). They are all licensed to be sold in shops. Just like any other normal item that is licensed to be sold, there are laws that govern the sale of these drugs. There is also a limit of the sales to which they are limited to only under 5 grams. However, the drugs that are illegal are such as cocaine, LSD, amphetamines and heroin. The use of these drugs may lead to a court sentence and which is always severe.

Negative

There are people who travel just to use drugs for recreational purposes and also for personal use. They feel that the travel experience is enhanced by how much they indulge in drugs. The negative issue about this is that it is equally capable of causing life threatening alterations in the system and in some cases may also cause death. Some people indulge in these drugs not knowing the dealer or even the strength of the effect that the drugs have on them (Hoffman 2014). This is what has caused fatal incidences in Netherlands within the years that prostitution has been legalized. This is because it harbors the sources of the drug users and also creates a leeway for more drugs to be disbanded without the knowledge of the authorities.

There have been cases of individuals who get coerced to smuggling drugs with most of them being forced to do the same. the drug dealers become the authoritative ones among these people and start creating their own policies. The policies in most cases lead to a level where the authorities’ policies are no longer considered. The pursuit of the drugs has caused the drug users that travel all the way to overlook the rest of the tourism sights in Netherlands. The country creates its own mess and woes by introducing illicit drug peddlers knowing that the effect may be huge and very consequential in a negative way. Netherlands may end up losing their culture and traditions due to the high prevalence in tourism drug use and sex tourism.

The money earned from drug and sex tourism does not go to local communities. The industry is run under personal and selfish terms that do not indulge the smaller economic aspect of the country. The drug and sex tourism will promote an influx of drug producers which will be easier by how fast they learn the tactics and how inclined they are to growing under legal terms. With this industry being at such a personal level, poverty is maintained and is not a solution to the increased criminal activity (Cho, Dreher & Neumayer 2013). This therefore becomes an inevitable problem and is scary for the growth of the tourism sector. Policies do not apply in this case and are distorted by the misguided industry. This is as a result of the tourists who arrive from other countries just to have drugs in the drug café and carouse while torturing the local residents. The results of this are that the drugs influence bad behavior and cause the people to cause chaos within the community’s along with causing a change in laws and banning inappropriate hard drugs. The trend is bound to cause a decrease in other sectors of tourism if it is not resolved.

Positive

The positive issue in this case is that the drug and sex tourism sector increases in the travel experience of the tourists that visit. The tourists may come only to experience the feeling of using the illicit drugs for their personal gain or even as a result of being adventurous. Netherlands’ red district has been famous for the way it makes the cities a place where tourists are lured by the night party life (Zerva, Kourtit & Nijkamp 2016). The liberal approach to drugs and sex tourism by Netherlands has made it a very common place for the growth of foreign visitors. The cycle completes for those with a wild and adventurous spirit. The focus on drugs may also be educative, looking at an actual victim and being able to analyze what they may be suffering from.

Policy Implications to achieve sustainable tourism outcomes for Netherlands

Policies are what guide decision making. A framework to which decisions are made is made clear through these policies. The decisions concerning tourism in Netherlands can only be made by use of policies since they provide a guideline for the same. The policies will ensure that the stakeholders and those in charge act in unison and act accordingly in line to the objectives of the industry (Braissoulls & Van, 2013). The policies that are supposed to be implemented to help achieve the tourism outcomes for Netherlands should set out activities that are acceptable to all the operators. This also applies to the behaviors that are set out. The operators also include the total stakeholders in the tourism industry. The result for this is that the policies will in turn provide common direction and guidance for all the tourism stakeholders that are within the Netherlands tourism sector.

The policies have to have the capability to facilitate concern around the specific strategies and objectives for tourism development within various destinations. The policies are supposed to give the tourism sector a more effective interface with the other sectors of the economy. The problem in this case is that the drug and sex tourism sector has been developed in isolation which leads to the conflicts of interest for the whole tourism sector (Janssen et al 2014). Good policies will raise the standards of living through the economic benefits that will be consequently bore to the industry. The policies are bound to optimize visitor satisfaction and diversify the economy as well.