Noord-Brabant pushes for branding change by banning “Holland"

The province of Noord-Brabant is pushing to ban the term “Holland” from the names of sports and cultural events in their region. Bas Maes (SP) is leading the initiative, arguing that there is a conflict between international branding and regional identity. 

Dutch province fights for regional identity

Noord-Brabant is located in the south of the Netherlands, bordering Belgium and the province of South Holland. Their College of the Gedeputeerde Staten (GS), the executive branch of the province's government, requested that the word "Holland" in names of significant events in the region be changed to “The Netherlands” or “Dutch”. 

The initiative originated in a case from 2019. The Dutch branch of the cycling competition La Vuelta a España, titled “La Vuelta Holanda”, brought the discussion to the provincial government. 

While Noord-Brabant cannot enforce a full ban just yet, the GS is in conversation with relevant organisations to indicate their preference for excluding “Holland” from event titles. Valuable and relevant events, such as the cycling tour of the Netherlands, currently named “Tour of Holland", may take place regardless. 

Maes has faith that the initiative will slowly see results in the region. He sees the name of the "Dutch Cycling Festival", scheduled for 2028 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Royal Dutch Cycling Union, as a milestone in the fight. 

We are not Holland, we are Brabant

Do you say you live in Holland or the Netherlands? Especially abroad, these terms are seen as interchangeable. Internationally, many use Holland as a synonym for the Netherlands, and organisations tend to prefer Holland as a branding term because it sounds nicer.

Officially, Holland only refers to the provinces of North and South Holland on the west coast of the Netherlands. The cultural connotation of the term goes much deeper and proves more complex than a drawn-up border.

Noord-Brabant, which geographically does not belong to Holland, sees a conflict in the regional identity of its residents and the use of Holland as an umbrella term for all of the Netherlands. According to Maes, many of Noord-Brabant's residents don’t identify as from Holland, but as residents of the Netherlands. “We are not Holland, we are Brabant”, he told RTL Nieuws.