The big city

Big cities all around the world, like Berlin, are constantly changing. These changes also include tourism in a city.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, tourism in Berlin really started to explode, even though the city struggled financially because a lot of big companies had left after World War 2. The upcoming tourism sector, however, was and still is one of the reasons of the transformation of the city into a touristic highlight. Berlin is said to be attractive because of the (quite) recent pas with WW2 and the Cold War, because of its landscapes and parks, because of the image of constant transition and the open-minded mindset of the city (Novy & Huning, 2009).

Stadsschouwburg Groningen (source: toerismegroningen.com)

Even though Groningen is not as big as Berlin (not even close), the two cities can be compared when looking at the aspects named above, to see what might make Groningen famous. First of all, Groningen is not quite as 'historical' as Berlin. Sure, Groningen has a few old buildings and churches like the Martini- and A-church and the Stadsschouwburg, and in the province some historical farms and villages (like Bourtange), but is doesn't have the humongous historical context that Berlin has. Groningen does have some nice parks, like the Noorderplantsoen and the Stadspark. Even though Groningen might not have the image of 'constant transition' (always being in the process of becoming and never meaning to be - Karl Scheffer), it has the image of a young city, with lots of young citizens who can become whatever they want to be. The mindset of the Groningers might not be that open-mind though, especially in the suburbs and province.

In conclusion, the aspect that make Berlin attractive for tourists don't really apply to Groningen. This might explain the difference in size between the two. What do you think?

source:

Johannes Novy & Sandra Huning (2009): New tourism (area's) in the 'New Berlin'.

Der A-kerk (photo by Reimer Vonk)