Centre of Expertise Urban Vitality

Crowd-pleasing, niche playing and gentrifying: Explaining the microgeographies of entrepreneur responses to increasing tourism in Amsterdam

Article

Touristification of consumption spaces describes a process in which retail and hospitality businesses adapt to the tourist demand, eroding place attachment among local residents. While this is an important cause of resistance to tourism, little is known about the mechanisms that drive or mediate this process.

We address this gap by interviewing entrepreneurs in Amsterdam. We found three distinct areas in close proximity where entrepreneurs responded to increasing tourism in markedly different ways; by crowd-pleasing, niche-playing and gentrifying. The resulting microgeographies of touristification of consumption spaces have not only been overlooked in literature, but also in urban policies. This causes a mismatch between the more generic, city-wide regulation and the highly differentiated effects of tourism on consumption spaces.

Reference Hagemans, I., Spierings, B., Weltevreden, J., & Hooimeijer, P. (2023). Crowd-pleasing, niche playing and gentrifying: Explaining the microgeographies of entrepreneur responses to increasing tourism in Amsterdam. Annals of Tourism Research, 102, 1-12. Article 103627. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2023.103627
Published by  Centre for Economic Transformation 1 September 2023

Publication date

Sep 2023

Author(s)

Bas Spierings
Pieter Hooimeijer

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