Industrial tourism visits:the role of company tours within companies’ strategies

This thesis consists of two methodologies: a literature study and a case study about the Amsterdam metropolitan region. Within this thesis the added value of company tours in relation to the individual companies’ strategy is investigated. The literature study is subdivided in two parts. The literature study starts with some insights about industrial tourism, of which company tours are part of. It appears that there is no uniform definition for industrial tourism. Industrial tourism companies operate at the intersection of a ‘market orientation’ and a ‘tourist orientation’. Such companies try to combine the best of both worlds. The second part of the literature study gives an insight on the different interests individual companies have in organizing company tours. According to different scientists, company tours mainly contribute in a non-beneficial way to the individual companies’ objectives. Besides, the role of both monetary and non-monetary costs is relatively minor compared to the (monetary and non-monetary) benefits The literature review is used as theoretical background for the case study about the Amsterdam metropolitan region. The case study starts with an overview of the companies currently organizing company tours in the Amsterdam metropolitan region. Characteristics of the company tours are discussed to give an overview of the practical implications of company tours in the Amsterdam metropolitan region. After this regionwide overview, we take a closer look at 30 companies within the metropolitan region. By means of a survey, they are questioned about the role of company tours within their companies’ strategy. It appears that company tours are mostly seen as a valuable contribution to the marketing policy of companies. Besides, for most companies, the organization of company tours isn’t that beneficial in a monetary way. Nevertheless, companies within the food and tourism cluster are able to generate additional revenues by means of offering additional services like a tasting or a workshop. This is also confirmed by our statistical analysis. We found out there is a positive significant correlation between entry margin fee and on site sales. There is one group of visitors responsible for this positive significant correlation, namely ‘other visitors’. Our statistical analysis shows that other visitors (which are notably tourists) are positively and significantly correlated with on site sales.