The Dutch government has decided to stop the country from being called so and instead use only its real name – the Netherlands – as part of an effort to upgrade its global image.
The national name change, which has been signed by business executives, the tourism council and central government, will be instituted later this year, according to a Guardian report.
Ministers want to shift the focus of the international community from specific aspects of life that the country is widely associated with, such as the culture of “recreational” drugs and the “red lanterns” area in Amsterdam.
Under the new strategy, the Netherlands will be the official name for the next Eurovision song contest to be held in Rotterdam in May and at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. The national football team, often referred to as the Netherlands, will now be called only the Netherlands in all official competitions.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the Netherlands needed a more uniform and coordinated national “advertising”. “We want to promote the Netherlands as an open, inventive and inclusive country. We have modernized our approach”,he explained. He added: “What is particularly important is that an agreement has been reached between all parties involved on the image of the Netherlands that we want to present to the rest of the world in a meaningful and unambiguous way” ….
As he said, the government is adopting a user-friendly and realistic approach to its name, in order to boost exports, tourism, sport and spread its “Dutch culture and values”.
North and South Holland are provinces on the west coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th century, the Netherlands was a politically unified entity and was ruled by the country’s counties. By the 17th century it had become the dominant party of the then Dutch Republic. The Kingdom of the Netherlands, from the Dutch Neder-landen, which means the Netherlands, resulted from Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
Earlier this year, the Dutch Tourism Board, whose website is Holland.com, said it would shift its focus from promoting the Netherlands as a whole and focusing on advertising in lesser known parts of the country. It is estimated that by 2030 the country will be visited by around 42 million tourists annually, up from 18 million in 2018. Amsterdam’s famous attractions are also a major attraction, leading to locals’ complaints and complaints about the Dutch crowding. capital city.
Source: The Guardian
