2022-2023
| City Marketing Vlissingen |
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Project description
This research has been conducted by a team of four students. This interdisciplinary team consisted of Katica Frei (International Business), Julian van Gelder (International Business), Kevin Kommer (International Business), and Mandy Verswijveren (Tourism Management). The research aimed to provide insight into the student binding to Vlissingen for the municipality of Vlissingen.
The information given in the report, was gained from surveys, interviews, desk research, field trips and complimentary research. Surveys were used in order to collect the general idea of students and post-graduates living the region. This research served as a base to the interviews and focus group interviews, where the team went into more depth about the needs and wishes of the people spending their student life in Vlissingen.
Field research was conducted to see opportunities provided by other cities in Zeeland and to experience the student life in these locations. During the field research the following cities were visited: Middelburg, Vlissingen, Goes and Zwolle.
Outcomes:
All in all, it can be derived from the research that students tend to leave the city of Vlissingen, as it does not provide enough opportunities for leisure time, and it is not considered as a student friendly city. Most of the respondents described Vlissingen as boring, as parties and festivals are missing from the city and other than the beach there is not much to see.
Client: Municipality Vlissingen, Carlo Markaban
| Delphy – Sweet Potato |
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Project description
Sweet potato is a product that has been in Dutch supermarkets for about 12 years now. For 98% this is import from the US, which is still growing steadily; it is a popular product, partly due to cooking magazines and its (healthy) image. Besides that, a new but voluminous track has also been developed for the processing industry (for example into chips or puree). However, mostly imported sweet potatoes are still used for this.
The cultivation of sweet potato is expensive, the purchase of the planting material and the labor required already account for more than half of the cost price. In 2014 Delphy started a research in cultivation, mainly into the technical aspects of growing sweet potato, and in 2017, Dutch farmers and growers were able to scale up in the production of sweet potatoes.
What is currently missing is the appreciation and experience in the chain. People say they want a Dutch product, but at the end they import the American sweet potato. What is needed to get the Dutch sweet potato to the consumer?
Client: Delphy https://delphy.nl/en/
| Electric Mobility – Scoot-E |
The project is about electric mobility within the region of Zeeland. The client is very enthusiastic and passionate about electric mobility, and more precisely E-Scooters.
To give a more concrete direction, the following research questions have been created:
Possible main question:
How can electric mobility be stimulated in the Zeeland region?
Potential sub-questions:
- How big is the interest in electric scooters in Zeeland?
- What motivates people to switch from petrol to electric scooters?
- How do people search for electric scooters? (online/ offline?)
- What possibilities does B2B offer in stimulating electric mobility? (partnerships)
Client: Herman van Doorn, owner of Scoot-E Scoot-e – Elektrische scooters
| Entrepreneurial promotion – Sluis
HZ Knowlegde center Coastal Tourism |
Project description
Many parties are committed to the tourist promotion of the West Zeeuws Vlaanderen region in Zeeland. At the end of 2022, plans will be made for the tourist promotion of West Zeelandic Flanders for the coming years. The municipality considers it important that the costs for promotion are not only for the government. That is why the wish is now also to provide insight into the efforts of entrepreneurs.
First, different categories of providers are distinguished, according to type of offer (accommodation/entertainment/catering, etc.) and according to size (small/medium/large). Three to four entrepreneurs per category are asked about their commitment to promoting the region. Think of staff deployment (e.g. marketing employees), purchasing advertisements, production promotional material, information folders on arrival, etc. But we also ask about the reach of entrepreneurs, for example through circulation of promotional material, number of followers on social media, etc.
Outcomes
| Film by the Sea |
Film by the Sea (FBTS) is an annual international film festival with the main theme of film and literature. The 24th edition took place from 9 to 18 September 2022. FBTS is the fourth film festival in the Netherlands and one of the most important cultural events in Zeeland. From 9 to 18 September 2022, a wide audience could enjoy about 140 films from all over the world. In addition, prizes were awarded by a Youth Jury, an International Student Jury and a jury for the best French language film. The festival attracts many visitors every year. Who these visitors are and what these visitors think of the festival is being investigated by HZ Knowledge Center Coastal Tourism. Last semester, a ‘Garage Colleague’ has been working on adapting and updating the questionnaire but also looked for best ways to distribute the questionnaire amongst visitors.
After collecting data, it is time for the analysis. How can the results best be presented and what do these results say? Data analysis skills are useful for this or can be improved by practicing with this dataset! After the analysis the findings were reported in a clear and attractive overview/report.
Client: FBTS and Knowledge Center for Coastal Tourism
https://www.filmbythesea.nl/english/
| Green Beach |
The Groene Strand project (Green Beach Project) is a temporary project to improve the nature on Dutch beaches. The project focusses on collaboration between different stakeholders such as organisations, businesses and volunteers. These collaborations are solidified in “communities” who apply the 10 criteria of the project to the local situation to create beaches where nature is integrated in the activities on the beach. Beaches where the criteria and collaboration are completely implemented are awarded with a Green Beach Banner to show that that beach integrates nature in their activities.
One of the goals of the Green Beach project is to have more natural materials on the beach. By switching from mechanical to manual cleaning more natural materials, such as seaweed, that washed ashore can stay on the beach. This natural material plays an important role as food and hiding place for insects who, on their turn are an important food source for shorebirds. Seaweed is also needed for new dunes to form, the dune plants use the seaweed as nutrients to grow and hold sand forming new dunes. One of the difficulties with convincing businesses/ entrepreneurs located on the beach is because nature is often not their focus. They have other things on their mind (mostly revenue) yet they are part of the (eco-)system of the beach. For this project the focus is specifically on businesses and entrepreneurs located on (and close to) beach sites and how nature education can enhance more value and awareness to their organization and its environment.
Client: Het Groene Strand
| Polar Cruise – Oceanwide |
One of the main concerns of cruise expedition companies who sail to the Arctic and Antarctic is how to find the right balance between providing tourists with the unforgettable experience of visiting the polar regions while at the same time minimizing any environmental impact that may be caused by too much tourist flows to such extremely vulnerable areas of the planet. In Europe, Netherlands based Oceanwide Expeditions offers this type of experiences to travelers with a wide range of fitness level and for this they use their own fleet of ice strengthened vessels. Travelers get to enjoy the cruise trip to these remote areas and to spend shore time to get to know the polar environments more deeply.
Oceanwide is committed to play a contributing role in achieving a sustainable polar planet. It is therefore the purpose of this study to elaborate on the possibilities that technological and business model innovations can bring about and the opportunities to a more sustainable polar expedition industry. In fewer words, it is about supporting this industry in finding a way to promote an unforgettable tourist experience while using a less invasive way (through technology) to explore the landscape.
Client: Oceanwide and HZ University of Applied Sciences
| Klok’uus |
Project description
Speelboerderij (play farm) Klok’uus has a large indoor and outdoor playground for children. But not only do they offer fun for children. Klok’uus also offers activities such as lasergaming, paintball, solex tours and farmers golf for adults.
As Klok’uus offers many different activities, it is not surprising that many people with different needs and wishes visit. To get a better understanding of who these people are and what they wish, a target group analysis is needed. In this project it is asked to get a better insight in the target groups, by creating a customer journey and collecting questionnaires.
Outcomes
Reaction client
Heel fijn was om de 2 weken contact. Niet heel verassend omdat ze zo betrokken waren. Iedereen was op tijd. Hebben persona's die zijn gemaakt al gebruikt bij campagne. Sommige uitkomsten waren verrassend, sommige wisten ze al een beetje.
Client: Klok’uus https://www.klokuus.com/en/
| Therapeutic recreation activities |
The project is about unraveling challenges of organizations that offer therapeutic recreation activities, and exploring opportunities to link these with HZ education projects.
The objective is to better understand the ecology of practices related to surf therapy organisation and its challenges in order to support the shaping of practice based research agendas on this intersection of lifestyle sports, community, and therapy.
Client: Timo Derriks, HZ Master Vitality
| Yerseke tourist info |
Yerseke is the mussel and oyster village of Zeeland. The mussels are primarily caught in the Waddenzee, and in part in Zeeuwse waters such as the Oosterschelde estuary. As well as mussel fishing, oysters are bred in Yerseke too. This happens mainly in the Oosterschelde estuary and the Grevelingen lake.
When visiting the village on the Oosterschelde tourists can experience where the famous Zeeuwse mussels and oysters come from. Visitors are attracted to Yerseke to enjoy these delicious seafoods in one of the many local restaurants, take a boat trip out on the Oosterschelde estuary and take a guide tour around the historical oyster ponds. And/or a stroll around the delightful shops in the picturesque fishing village. On the outskirts of Yerseke lies the Yerseke Moer – named after the ancient Dutch word for salt harvesting. This natural (peat) area is home to many a bird. It is also one of the most valued natural and cultural landscapes of Zeeland. There are various walking and cycling trails to enjoy in the area.
Although Yerseke attracts many tourists all year round, the tourist info organization sees room for improvement in regards to strengthening the tourism sector in Yerseke. At this moment families visit Yerseke during the summer holiday, but don’t spend that much in the village. Elderly visitors (manly Dutch, Belgians and Germans) visit in low season and have higher spending pattern. As Yerseke has such a rich history, the wish is to attract also younger generations and educate them about what Yerseke all has to offer. In addition to this, the current image of Yerseke is mainly based on the mussel and oyster farms, but the destination also offers a variety of natural area’s, such as the Yerseke Moer. Therefore research needs to be conducted regarding the image of Yerseke and how this could be improved.
The research should lead to answering the question:
How can we strengthen Yerseke as destination for the tourism sector?
Client: https://touristinfoyerseke.nl/
Referenties
- MijnLievelingsplek, Joyce de Visser, 6 februari 62023.