Future development

As stated before in this report, Valkenburg is in desperate need for renewal and development. The municipality and other stakeholders acknowledge this. The various parties are therefore actively thinking of new ideas and developments that could bring Valkenburg back to the top.

It is important to know that Valkenburg has had an enormous growth about 20-30 years ago, where developments were rapidly taking place with little supervision and control. Due to those financially “good” years, the entrepreneurs did not see the necessity to upgrade and invest in new developments and ideas, since tourists were coming in anyway. Nowadays the city still displays the image of the old times, and is therefore outdated and in need for renewal. The municipality has made several plans with other parties involved and are trying to restructure and upgrade the city in order to have a better level of quality and restore the authentic atmosphere of the city.

First of all there is the plan to tackle the problems in the city centre. In Dutch it is called the “Centrum Plan Valkenburg” (Municipality Valkenburg, 2012). This new plan is already taking place, and is expected to be finished in about 2 to 3 years from now. The centre plan focuses on the unique selling

51 points of the city of Valkenburg, and wishes to optimize those in order to distinguish itself from the competition. It focuses on three different points, each with their own specific developments.

- Valkenburg as a historic fortified city, with the only hilltop castle in the Netherlands - The experience of the Geul island, and the connection with the ‘green wings’ (nature) - The expansion of Valkenburg as a shopping destination

The focus of the plan will create and stimulate an attractive city centre which will be an impulse for the tourism industry, the residents, the food & beverage sector as well as the job employment within the city. The plan is expected to generate around 170 million euro in investments. This will be

beneficial for the whole municipality of Valkenburg aan de Geul.

The centre plan is part of the municipality’s vision on the future. They realize that Valkenburg needs to be further developed in order not to be left behind and therefore needs to make decisions. They also cooperate with the province Limburg, which contributed 7.5 million euro to be invested in this plan. The three focus areas all have their own set of developments. First of all the city’s historic buildings and monuments will be restored in their glory in order to create a better quality level. The facades of the old buildings in the city centre will be restored in cooperation with the owners, in order to create that authentic feeling. This also counts for the use of the terraces, sunshades and other objects that contribute to the total experience and feeling when walking through the centre.

Furthermore the city centre will be developed in a way that creates a more romantic, cosy feeling. Wide bridges will become narrow, routing will be improved and better connections will be established with the natural surroundings of the city. They wish to make better use of their natural setting and create an experience if one is visiting.

Lastly there is the development of the city as a shopping destination. There are plans for a new

shopping mall with an underground parking garage, which will create more possibilities to shop as well as more parking places. The city wishes to attract speciality stores and relatively higher quality shops to the city centre, again to create that romantic, cosy feeling. Also regional products and recipes will be offered in order to stimulate the local economy and interest. Furthermore there will be new pavements, streetlights, plants and other things to improve the image of the streets. Traffic will be directed otherwise in other to make it a pedestrian friendly area, as well as accessible for the physically disabled, which will be a trendsetting development for the municipality.

More information the centre plan can be found on the website of “Centrum Plan Valkenburg”. (John Wauben, Municipality Valkenburg, 2012/ Centrum Plan Valkenburg, Municipality Valkenburg, 2012)

Valkenburg also strives to position itself as the city of Wellness. Wellness should be seen in a broad context, with various sub directions. Valkenburg takes the concept of Wellness and adds several other concepts under that Wellness umbrella. It wishes to promote itself as a sports destination, the

Christmas city, the arts and culture city, the culinary city, the shopping city and a place with many attractions.

52 “Global Wellness” is the future theme where Valkenburg will focus on. Below one can find the logo that comes with it.

(www.valkenburg.nl)

The logo displays a W of Wellness, and in that W is the letter V, which stands for Valkenburg. The logo is designed according the following associations;

- Chic - Organic forms - Internationally recognizable - Trans-boundary - Streaming - Water - Balance - Harmony - Flower form

- A source that flourishes

The current and future developments will be made according to the plans made for the future. Wellness stands for enjoying and relaxing oneself. Valkenburg therefore strives to create an overall experience by upgrading buildings and bars, hotels and restaurants. Furthermore the city centre will be renovated and routing will be improved. The city strives to attract shops and specialty stores with a higher quality offer in order to complement the experience. Other developments are the new

shopping mall and the Wellness Boulevard that will be established. By means of upgrading the city the municipality also strives to increase the tourist expenditures in the future.

The municipality Valkenburg knows its financial limitations and the need for regional cooperation in order to achieve success, and therefore has several co operations with other parties. An example is the cooperation with Maastricht, to link the cities of Maastricht and Valkenburg in order to stimulate investments and the tourism industry. Maastricht of course has a good reputation, also abroad, while Valkenburg is mostly famous within the Netherlands. The two cities complement each other and each has their own unique assets. The big city of Maastricht is also famous for its business tourism, while Valkenburg is known for the nature, activities and the peaceful environment. They wish to link the two cities by means of cycle or hike routings, as well as new projects such as the Leeuw brewery, the

53 stimulation and promotion of regional products and better use of the river the Geul, which is the “natural guide” between the cities. The idea is to develop a City Park in the area between the two cities, which will cater for the wellness theme, the business tourism and slow food. It will be the link between Maastricht and Valkenburg.

The cooperation is called GOMV (Gebiedsontwikkeling Maastricht-Valkenburg), which stands for Area development Maastricht-Valkenburg. They wish to create one green, salutary area in order to develop the tourism industry. It is a cooperation between the municipalities as well as the province Limburg. More information on GOMV can be found on their website. (John Wauben, Municipality Valkenburg, 2012/ GOMV, Maastricht/ Valkenburg; twee steden, een gebied, 2008)

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