Expertise centre specialised in futures research and scenario planning for leisure and tourism

Tailor-made research

We create resilient policies, strategies and actions that allow actors in the leisure and tourism industry to manage constantly changing trends and business environments.

Academic research

Together with professors, research-lecturers and students we deliver scientifically proven solutions for current or upcoming problems in the leisure and tourism sector.

Keynotes & Training

Our high-level speakers drive inspiration at leading international events with their research-based insights to ensure resilience in the world of leisure and tourism.

The future of Tourist Information Centers

This year we launched a project titled ‘’Defining key performance indicators to measure the value of tourist information centers’’. The project explored value co-creation in the context of tourist information centers with attention to the economic, social and emotional value. Through a series of focus groups with members of the Knowledge Network of Dutch DMOs and ECM, the students gained valuable insights regarding the ways the economic, social and emotional value is currently measured, the barriers that hinder effective data collection and the opportunities for optimizing the currently used KPIs.

Food is the soul of a place

Food tourism is a trend that has developed strongly since the beginning of this century. Food tourism encompasses both the tourist looking for a unique luxury restaurant experience and the tourist who scours food markets and eats at a food truck. In addition, there is a growing and more recent trend in which agricultural companies show the origin and/or production of our food. There is increasing interest in the beginning of the food chain. Visitors can gain experiences such as milking a cow, see how cheese is made and pick fruit and vegetables in picking gardens. Tourists are looking for the story behind it, the soul of food & place.

How could we plan for urban greenspace that is beneficial for all?

In my previous blog about the importance and future of urban greenspace (link to previous blog), I reflected on the importance of urban greenspace to quality of life for all. In this blog I will give four recommendations on how regions, cities or villages in the Netherlands can make greenspace beneficial for all.

The future of e-HRM and AI in the tourism and hospitality industry

Technologies that facilitate human resource management, labelled as digital or electronic human resource management (e-HRM) are developing rapidly, an observation that is shared by many. Relatively recently the term artificial intelligence (AI) caused a new wave of potential technological facilitation for HRM. The brand-new special issue of the Journal of Tourism Futures presents papers that cover a broad range of talent management related challenges and issues for the tourism and hospitality industry in which recent technological developments play a role.

Do the tourists want to “Build Back Better”?

It is vital to gain insights and develop a better understanding of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourists’ attitude, potential and actual sustainable travel behaviour, the likely gap between attitude and behaviour, and between awareness and attitude. At ETFI, one of our current aims is to gain empirical evidence to answer the questions listed above. We invite you to share your views and insights with us.

What will recreation and tourism in the IJsselmeer area look like in 30 years?

To be able to foresee a future in 2050, scenarios provide a useful instrument. With scenarios possible futures can be explored of how recreation and tourism in the IJsselmeer area could look like 30 in years an extreme yet plausible situation. Subsequently, the scenarios act as a source of inspiration to paint a vision that can guide the development of recreation & tourism in the area. We are involved in the project to design and guide the scenario planning process.