ABSTRACT
Fortress towns have a number of distinctive characteristics and are archetypal examples of gem cities. The fortress of Naarden has largely a residential, shopping and tourist function. The fortress at Bourtange was invested, bribery of the garrison attempted, but ultimately the position was turned by the fall of Coevorden in the south which opened up the way to the city of Groningen, rendering Bourtange all but irrelevant. The potential conflict between the political and economic uses is obvious but dissonance can also arise between tourism markets most notably because the nearest potential foreign tourism market, especially for Bourtange, is German. There is nothing remarkable about the same historical resources being transformed into a variety of different heritage products intended for different heritage markets. It does however require accurate segmentation and sensitive targeting and the extent to which this is achieved is perhaps the most important challenge in the selling of fortress towns.
