CELTH at the Hospitality Domain Collaboration Table

Phase 1

The leisure sector attaches great importance to cooperation between business, government, and knowledge institutions, but there is no common point on the horizon. In the first phase, the collaboration table therefore mainly focuses on gaining support for defining a shared interest, making an inventory of the relevant social and economic developments, and determining the intended goals. The collaboration table has described a joint task for the sector, aimed at and considering the transition tasks facing the Netherlands and Europe. Perspective 2030 (2019) served as a framework for this. The result of the first phase is recorded in a progress report. This progress report is therefore primarily an exploration of the possible governance and implementation structure as the basis on which we can concretely organise what we want to achieve together in this complex field. The joint strategy was drawn up and approved by the Taskforce in mid-2023.

Phase 2

With the Taskforce's approval of the progress report, a start has been made on the second phase. The goal of the strategy is to achieve a National Council for Recreation and Tourism in 2024. To this end, connections will be sought in the coming period with other - two or three - ministries in addition to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate. Close involvement of the provinces is also required, together with trade organisations, Destinatie NL, DMOs, knowledge institutions, and regional partners and companies.

Establishing a National Council is an important first step in shaping the transition process. However, this only makes sense if the parties involved - government, business, and knowledge institutions - can choose the common interest as a starting point and assume mutual trust in the collaboration. The practice of this 'triple helix structure' requires joint development of policy, implementation, and seeking solutions. The future Council will have to act as a robust, reliable, and consistent partner in discussions with representatives of other policy areas.

The objective of the National Council for Recreation and Tourism is to arrive at an integral and coherent policy vision and strategy that guides the long-term development of the leisure domain. A model is being set up at the three levels of government that we have in the Netherlands, in which all parties take their role and responsibility:

• The national layer is aimed at achieving a coherent integrated vision and appropriate strategy at the national level. This layer is composed of a representation of all relevant parties in the sector. The council must connect horizontally in the field of policy and vertically to the provincial level.
• The provincial layer focuses on an integrated development program, tailored to each province. This layer also has a horizontal layer, focused on policy and the sector, and vertically to both the national layer 'above' and the regional and local layer 'below'.
• The regional layer is asked to come up with local implementation projects.

Continued phase 2: update

The content and organisation of the proposed model will be further elaborated in the autumn of 2023, which should be in place in the first half of 2024. Discussions are being held from the collaboration table with the various departments, among others, to work together when it comes to the aforementioned (transition) tasks. In addition, there are discussions with the provincial level, because they play a pivotal role between the national and regional levels. The structure of the different layers is slowly taking shape and various teams are currently working on further elaboration. As soon as more clarity becomes available, we will inform you here.