Heritage attactions and the case of the dutch windmills

• Autores: Omar Moufakkir
• Localización: Tourism analysis, ISSN 1083-5423, Vol. 12, Nº. 5-6, 2007, págs. 493-497
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • There are windmills in several countries in Europe; however, it is the Netherlands that is known as the country of windmills, because it has the largest concentration of windmills in the world. As heritage buildings, windmills contribute to national pride and to the tourism marketing images of the country. However, the number of windmills has been decreasing. The decrease has traditionally been the result of natural catastrophes. Today, windmills are facing other challenges. The problem with most windmills, as is the case with other backdrop heritage attractions, is that most of them do not have a direct use value. It has been a tradition that governments and associations fund windmills for their preservation as heritage objects, but governments downsizing for heritage has become a norm, especially when the economy is in recession. The purpose of this article was to learn more about the Dutch windmills. Two face-to-face unstructured in-depth interviews with a former windmill association president had set the ground for a telephone survey to collect information from millers. This resulted in information about (a) windmill ownership, insurance, and taxes, (b) windmill business, (c) millers and motivation, (d) windmill visitors, and (e) millers' opinion about the future of windmills.