Industrial Tourism: Where the Public Meets the Private
Industrial tourism comprehends visits to sites that enable visitors to learn about economic activities in the past, the present and the future. It can be seen as a small but growing segment of the tourism industry. In his dissertation, Alexander Otgaar provides insight in how to employ industrial tourism as a tool of marketing and public relations and an additional source of income. It also informs businesses about how to cooperate with regional organisations that look at industrial tourism from a different point of view.
In a systematic analysis, Otgaar looks at the conditions under which companies open their doors, and how the regions in which they are located can take advantage of industrial tourism. The dissertation makes a significant contribution to the relatively small body of literature on industrial tourism, and hence, to the literature on urban and regional tourism in general. In addition, it also contributes to the literature on urban governance: it provides insight in how to reach agreement on a common agenda, an issue that has received relatively little attention in the governance literature. What are the conditions under which public and private actors are willing to cooperate?
The development of industrial tourism can be seen as just one example of a common agenda in which public and private actors have a stake. The approach used in this dissertation – a systematic analysis of public and private interests – is applicable to other issues in urban governance and regional economic development as well. Ultimately, the added value of this research is that it might inform business managers and regional policy makers about the conditions under which public-private cooperation is feasible.
Alexander Otgaar defended his dissertation on 30 November, 2010. His promoter was Prof.dr. L. van den Berg. Co-promoter was Dr. E. Braun. Other members of the doctoral committee were Prof.dr. J. Van den Borg, Prof.dr. R.J.M. van Tulder, and Prof.dr. F.M. Go.
About Alexander Otgaar
Alexander Otgaar was born on December 28, 1974 in Leiderdorp, the Netherlands. He obtained his Master of Science in Business Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam in 1998 and started his academic career there in 1997 at the Department of Regional Economics, Port and Transport Economics of the Erasmus School of Economics. He participated in various international research projects that were carried out by the European Institute for Comparative Urban Research (Euricur).
Alexander’s main research interest, within the broad fields of urban management and regional economics, is the topic of public-private cooperation in urban development. He published several articles and books (as co-author) on a range of topics such as urban attractiveness, corporate social responsibility, sports and city marketing, cross-border and cross-sector cooperation and healthy cities. In his PhD research he takes a closer look at the development of industrial tourism in urban regions. Apart from his research activities he is now a senior lecturer at the Erasmus School of Economics and teaches in several (international) post-experience programmes on urban management.
Abstract of Industrial Tourism
This thesis is about the development of industrial tourism in urban regions. It presents a systematic analysis of the conditions under which companies that open their doors and the regions in which they are located can take advantage of industrial tourism development. Combining insights from tourism, marketing, regional economics, urban governance and theories of the firm we develop a theory that specifies the interests of host firms and urban regions. We state that a common agenda creates opportunities for coordinated action in industrial tourism development resulting in benefits for public and private actors. We test the empirical applicability of this theory by means of four case studies of urban regions with a considerable supply of industrial tourism: Cologne, Pays de la Loire, Rotterdam, and Turin.
