Fewer boat jams in Giethoorn due to new app

Giethoorn Village has come up with a solution to reduce traffic congestion in the village. Kris Mulder of Giethoorn Village explains: “Our boating route app helps reduce traffic congestion in the village canal.”

1 Million visitors a year

In 2023, the popular water village received about 1 million visitors, both from the Netherlands and abroad, more than half of whom rented a boat. Around 1 million visitors were welcomed again in 2024. On busy days, about 40 a year, between 10,000 and 15,000 tourists come to Giethoorn, with peaks between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.. The village canal then often quickly fills up with boats blocking each other, making it difficult to move forward or backward.

Kris Mulder: “What do you want, when all the (rental) boats have to pass through the same 2,200-meter-long canal?” Images like this of stranded boats are common on social media and make the news every year. A common complaint is that it is difficult to follow proper boating routes. Renters are often given a physical route map, but the color codes on the poles along the water are hard to spot, making it difficult to choose the right course in time.

Largest boat rental company takes responsibility

To address this problem, Giethoorn Village has developed the Giethoorn Village Boating App. This app offers tourists the finest (new) boating routes through and around the picturesque village. Giethoorn Village has more than 250 boats available for rental, and more and more rental companies in the village are using the app to help tourists choose a boat and the most beautiful boating route. Giethoorn Village is the largest party in the village that rents boats. The cost of developing the app is borne entirely by Giethoorn Village.

Is it busy in Giethoorn today?

How cool would it be to be able to see from your home if it’s busy in Giethoorn? This idea came from employee Robert Doevendans. Doevendans: “All boats rented by Giethoorn Village are equipped with a GPS system. By sharing this data with the app, tourists can see live which boating route is busy or quiet.” Also on the Giethoorn Village website, visitors can see in real-time where the boats are located. Doevendans: “This is not only useful for tourists, but also for fellow entrepreneurs and the municipality, who can thus see where the crowds are.”

Preventing collisions

The Giethoorn Village Boating App offers several advantages for both tourists and business owners. “Landlords using the app are spread out in different locations along the popular boating routes. This helps spread out the crowds, which helps reduce inconvenience and prevent unnecessary collisions. Although collisions usually happen at low speeds, they cause damage and additional maintenance costs for landlords,” Mulder said.

Get priority with the app on your phone

The app makes it easier for tourists to find the right route, with routes of varying lengths. Mulder: “Tourists who already have the app installed get priority when renting a boat from us. This further encourages the use of the app.”

The municipality helps

The municipality of Steenwijkerland is also helping to spread the crowds by making an additional stretch of water navigable. “Around April 2025, the shipping routes will safely pass through this new waterway, providing an additional 1600 meters of village canal. Together with the current 2,200 meters of village canal, the total length of the village canal in Giethoorn is estimated at 3,800 meters.” This is great news, Mulder said. The 3800 meters of village moat runs from the far end of South Path to the far end of Inner Path.

More landlords join

In the future, not only will the boating routes continue to be expanded, but work is underway to increase the number of landlords joining the app. Currently 13 landlords are participating, but active lobbying is underway to increase this number. Landlords can sign up with the organization behind the Giethoorn Village Boating App. “By working together, we can create more boating routes, which will help spread the boats around the water.”

Sustainability as an added benefit

An added benefit of the app is sustainability. Mulder: “Instead of printing route maps over and over again, the app is now used, which can be reused indefinitely.”

Credits photos: Canva.com