How pissed off am I at this? Well, incandescent is a nice word:
“The nitty gritty on Bloggers in Amsterdam, Feb ’06:
? The bloggers going to Amsterdam in February ’06 (over there on the left) get a free roundtrip flight on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
? They’ll be able to stay for five nights at either the Lloyd Hotel or the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky — both five star hotels near the center of Amsterdam.
? Last but not least, they get an I amsterdam Card, giving them free transportation around the city, gratis entrance to lots of museums and discounts at restaurants, etc.
? No blogging about the trip will be required. In exchange for the trip each blogger will [a] be interviewed about the trip (the Dutch Tourism Board may be using this for online/offline promotions), [b] give Holland.com one month of premium adspace, and [c] put the “Bloggers in Amsterdam” logo in their nav bar for one year, linking it to this blog post to disclose the nature of the trip. The mantra here is transparency.”
I cast no opprobrium on those invited – in fact I have just extended a cordial invitation to majikthise and any others who are coming . Neither am I suggesting that any of the bloggers involved are at wrong for accepting and nor do I impugn their integrity in any way.
Aaargh. Bloggers In Amsterdam? No, except in the purely technical sense and then for only 7 days.
Bloggers the invitees undoubtedly are but here they’re tourists, just as I would be, blogging from NY or San Diego for a week. I’ve been here a couple of years now and I’m no expert -how could they be anything else but tourists, just here for 7 days?
The US bloggers are very welcome notwithstanding my beef with the short-sighted mutts at holland. com. So English-language bloggers of Amsterdam unite. Let’s give our fellow-bloggers a warm welcome, but let’s also stick it to the tourist board.
Tags: Netherlands, Blogging, Advertising, Marketing
