Whiskers' Guestbook

Welcome back...
Your itinerary for Europe sounds amazing. I look forward to reading all about it.

Thanks
Thank you very much! That's all I needed to know from you. Best regards, Theo

follow-up questions
Hi, Thank you very much for your response! It helps my thesis a lot. I have a few follow-up questions I'm hoping you would answer as well. It would help me a lot. 1. What was the main reason to visit the less-known places of Holland this time? 2. How many times did you visit Holland (the whole country) before? Did you also visit the less known places then or only the the touristic center (provinces North-Holland and South-Holland and the city of Utrecht?) 3. Did you communication with your son-in-law's parents contribute to your decision to visit the less-known parts of Holland? In what way? How did this communication influence your image of the less-known parts of Holland? Best regards, Theo

question list
Hi, This post contains the question list for my research about bloggers that visited the less-known places of Holland. I added an explanation with the questions. Feel free to ask any questions. My time for this part of the research is very limited, unfortunately. Thats why I have to ask you to answer as soon as possible, if possible before next friday, so that I can ask a few follow-up questions if necessary. It's a fairly short list, so it shouldn't take too much time. Thank you very much for helping me with my research and I am very curious about your answers! Best regards, Theo ------------------- Interview questions This interview consists of a set of questions. The first part contains some short questions about the characteristics of the trip. The second part contains some more in-depth questions about the information gathering in front of the trip, the reasons of visiting the less-known places of the Netherlands (which contains the whole country except for the provinces North-Holland and South-Holland and the city of Utrecht). Some info might already be described in your blog, but for consistency purposes I have to ask the same set of questions to every blogger. Please feel free to give extensive answers and explain about the underlying reasons and motives you might have or had during or in front of the trip. This interview has an explorative and qualitative nature. It’s not about large groups of respondents, but about rich data that really tells something about the person who is being interviewed, so it’s about your opinion, your image of Holland. Before you visited it, and while you were visiting it. It’s likely that I will have a few follow-up questions after returning this list of questions. Because the time for this part of my research is limited I would kindly ask you to return the list as soon as possible, but at the max in 5 days if possible, so that I am able to send follow-up questions and to analyze the data. I thank you again for participating in my research! Part 1: (Make the option of your choice bold, or delete the other options). All questions are about your holiday trip in the whole country, you don’t have to make a distinction between well- and less-known places, unless explicitly asked. 1. What is your gender? - Male - Female 2. What is your age? 3. In which country do you live? 4. How many nights did you stay in Holland? 5. How did you travel? - Alone - With my partner - In a group - Other,… 6. How did you travel to Holland? By… - Car - Airplane - Boat - Train - Bus - Bicycle - Other,… 7. Which means of transportation did you use the most (in kilometers/miles)? - Car - Airplane - Boat - Train - Bus - Bicycle - Walking - Other,… 8. During which season did your holidaytrip take place (for the most)? - Spring - Summer - Autumn - Winter 9. Which locations did you visit during the whole trip in Holland? Name places like towns, cities and villages and attractions. Please mention your complete travel schedule as complete as possible with visited locations on every day and locations where you have stayed for the night, chronologically. Part 2: These questions are about (preparing for) visiting the less-known places of Holland. The questions have the purpose to find out how your image of the less-known places of Holland was formed prior to your trip and how it influenced your decision to visit these places in Holland. The research focuses specifically on the role of social media and blogs. This area consists of the provinces Groningen, Friesland/Frisia, Drenthe, Overijssel, Flevoland, Gelderland, North-Brabant, Zealand, Limburg and Utrecht except for the city of Utrecht itself. Places like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht city, Leiden, Delft, Alkmaar, Haarlem, Zaanse Schans, Volendam, Keukenhof, Kinderdijk are not part of the less known places because they are situated in the provinces North Holland and South Holland, the main tourist area of the country. Note: Giethoorn is part of the less-known places. 1. Are you familiar with the “Visit Holland” campaign from the Dutch Tourist Board (NBTC) on Facebook or other social media platforms? If so, please tell which social media platforms and how you got in contact with this campaign (Where you deliberately looking for it, or did you ran in to it? Did somebody tell you about it? etc.) 2. If you are familiar with the campaign, how important was the role of the information you got from this campaign in your decision to visit the less-known parts of Holland? Was this for the major part because of the information the Dutch Tourist Board (NBTC) communicated (in text and pictures), or because of the information posted by other tourists? 3. What sources of information did you consult about Holland on the subject of your trip? (This can be deliberately, for the purpose of finding information about Holland, or unexpected, the point is that it contributed to your image about Holland and the decision to visit Holland). Think of items like books, travel brochures, travel guides, travel agencies, websites, social media, tv shows etc. How did this contribute to your image about Holland? 4. If you used social media, what kind of social media did you consult? (This can be deliberately, for the purpose of finding information about Holland, or unexpected, the point is that it contributed to your image about Holland and the decision to visit Holland). Think of platforms as blogs, facebook, twitter, youtube, google+, pinterest, tumblr, instagram, vine etc. Please tell about how you used this platform in the context of getting the information about Holland. Where you deliberately searching for information or were you just browsing and seeing information you weren’t looking for on purpose? How did you use the platform to get the information about Holland? Was it information coming from friends, people you didn’t know or from commercial or professional parties like a travel agency or tourist board? How did these consulted social media platforms contribute to your image about Holland? 5. Did you communicate interactively on this social media platform (blogs included) with commercial or professional parties or with other individuals about Holland in a conversation or in a reaction you posted? With what party or individual (another tourist for example, and was it someone that had already been in Holland or was thinking about visiting Holland?) and on which social media platform did this conversation take place? How did this contribute to your image about Holland? 6. About what subjects and locations did you communicate? Why did you choose to communicate directly with these organizations or individuals? 7. What where your reasons and motivation for consulting social media in getting information about Holland? (This could be everything from accessibility to reliability, fun and so on). Please explain these reasons or motivations. 8. What information source (also other than social media) do you think was the most important in your image of Holland and your decision to visit it? 9. Did other people (other than me) contact you about your blog about your visit of the less-known places of Holland? What kind of individuals or organization were these and what kind of information were they looking for? 10. To what extent did your image about the less-known places of Holland match with the actual visit of these places? What kind of information source was the most reliable in your opinion? 11. What were the most important positive and/or negative points you communicated in your blog about your trip to the less-known places of Holland (in light of the extent that your image of Holland prior to your trip matched with the actual visit or not)? 12. To what extent did the information that you got from social media influence your decision to visit the less-known places of Holland, in your opinion? -------------------

Still in use
The MLC signs are still in use. Though military presence has decreased it has not disappeared completely.