Holland cuts tourist staff in New York

Amsterdam has few equals when it comes to beauty.

The economic troubles in Europe are having a devastating affect on the continent's tourism sector with many countries being forced to close offices abroad because they lack the funds to operate them.

The latest victim is the Netherlands Board of Tourism (NBTC), which yesterday handed lay off notices to most of its staff in New York after having its budget cut 65 per cent by the Dutch government. Half the NBTC's staff worldwide has now been dismissed thanks to the cutbacks.

Holland's New York offices oversaw all of its North American tourism operations.

European countries are facing unprecedented cutbacks thanks to the economic chaos now gripping  dysfunctional members of the European Union - the most costly and useless government body in the world - and other countries have notified their tourism boards abroad to get ready for major layoffs as well.

European countries closed their Canadian offices years ago and now with the shutdown of their U.S. offices, which oversaw the Canadian tourism market as well, the job of selling overpriced and overtaxed Europe will be much tougher.

Sadly, there's a human cost to all this. People like Brigitta Kroon-Fiorita, the NBTC's manager of media relations in New York, one of the best in the business, was notified this week that her job has been cut.

The talented Brigitta, who did a great job promoting the Netherlands to the North American media for 22 years, will be missed!

Flying Dutchman hits the water

Flying Dutchman bus cruise takes you on a tour
of Amsterdam's great canal system.

Henny Groenendijk, our good friend at the Netherlands Board of Tourism - she's the best in the business, folks - sent me a list of things visitors can do while in her remarkable country this Fall.

One of the things that caught my eye was a new amphibious tour being offered passengers at Holland's great Schiphol Airport - the best in Europe.

Passengers with a long layover at Schiphol can now take a canal tour aboard the "Flying Dutchman" - half boat/half bus - and they can board the floating craft at the airport's new "Splash Zone."

The amphibious bus carries 48 passengers, cruises the canals on battery power and is a partnership between the airport, the city of Amsterdam and a local cruise company.

Tours last two hours and 45 minutes and are offered three times a day. Tickets cost about $56 (39 euros) for adults and about $28 (19.50 euros) for children. Booking online offers a 10 per cent discount.

Toronto's Annette Fatael, who had a nine-hour layover at Schiphol while en route to Tel Aviv recently, tried the bus cruise and said it was a great way to kill time. "It’s a huge tour bus and it was hard to believe that it was going to go into the water,” she was quoted as saying.