very real TROLLEYS AND very Fake DUNGEONS

The term touristification was first used to explain the process of change in urban forms and functions derived from the implementation and growth of tourism activity (Jansen, 2009). Touristification has been described as an orderly eviction of ambiguity and randomness of things, trying to make them greatly predictable in their smallest details, definite paths and visible and certain goals to make sense of a city’s variety of places. (Van Borg et al., 1996, p. 316)

Obvious transformations brought about by the touristification of the cityscape and rhythms are the proliferation of services catering for the needs of tourists. These are hotels, souvenir shops, information kiosks, city-tour buses, vehicles such as bicycle taxis, rental bicycles, horse-drawn carriages, a plethora of musea (the Madame Tussaud franchise, the Heineken Experience in the Nine Streets canal district neighborhood, the Museum of Prostitution, of Sex, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, etc.); rows of eateries that sell the same type of food, whether standard international (Americanized) fast food, indigenous snacks, or in the case of Amsterdam, a peculiar pastiche of both and and more: Dutch-style waffles with Nutella spread, pizzas and ice-cream, with Spanish churros making an entrance lately. The sheer volume of tourists, their patterned activities and gear (rhythms, flows, paraphernalia, outfit, behaviours) are also part of the perceived touristification of a city.

Daniel Harvey in Spaces of Capital (2001) explains the political-economy behind touristification and the cycles it creates: “the exploitation of local marks of distinction with the potential to yield monopoly rents inevitably tends to lead to homogenization, which decreases uniqueness and ‘erase(s) the monopoly advantage’ which can be extracted from a place, item or event [...] drawing on uniqueness and local specificities to maintain a competitive edge and appropriate monopoly rents implies that capital has to ‘support a form of differentiation and allow of divergent and to some degree uncontrollable local cultural developments that can be antagonistic to its own smooth functioning” (Colomb and Novy, 2016, p.16).

The allowing of “some degree uncontrollable local cultural developments” could be applied to how the liberal or edgy reputation of Amsterdam spilled out of ‘alternative’ consumption and by mainstreaming itself along other consumption areas spawned or intensified phenomena such as the already mentioned British stag parties, beer boats, beer bicycles and the presumably unintended transformation of window brothels in the red light district into a zoo-like show for tourists.

Disneyfication can be thought of as an extreme or specific form of the theming and homogenization caused by the monoculture of profit-driven projects (Cfr. Bryman, 1999). Unlike just touristification, disneyfication is associated to big and fast entertainment that conveys an overarching sense of worldwide uniformity (Campbell et al., 2004), and the term is used to emphasize the internationalization of Western entertainment values, particularly American ones (Matusitz, J. & Palermo, L., 2014).

The process of theming of Amsterdam’s city centre is fairly visible in certain areas but different members in our team have different perceptions about the intensity of its presence in Amsterdam -if understood in the aforementioned terms. One exception is the Amsterdam City Dungeons, which we all agree is a text-book example. It was pointed out to us by the Mee in Mokum volunteer tour guide Jan as a “typical tourist trap”, a phrase accompanied by very dismissive body language that revealed his frustration with such type of attractions. This reaction came as no surprise for the Mee in Mokum Tours promote a radically different experience of Amsterdam through walks off the beaten track and tell the history of the physical and social making of the city and of the distinct character of Amsterdam’s society. Jan says that “to really get to know Amsterdam you need to look up,” referring to the hidden corners, inscriptions and figures displayed in frontispieces and plaques, gargoyles, the peculiarity of some buildings -remnants of the city’s trading and manufacturing medieval past, old ways of urban problem-solving. By contrast, the Dungeons are a made up horror theatre show that leases a 14th century church (which never had dungeons) and was put together at a cost of over seven million euros in 2006 by the UK-based company Merlin Entertainment, which specializes in attractions like Madame Tussauds Wax Museums (Amsterdam has its own) and and Legoland Parks (The Amsterdam Dungeon, 2018).