Amsterdam wants foreign tourists to ‘stay away’ from drugs, alcohol and sex

Amsterdam City Council plans to launch a campaign to discourage foreign tourists from accessing alcohol, drug and sex-related activities, and it is implementing a comprehensive set of measures to combat tourism” harmful “.

Amsterdam’s deputy mayor, Sofyan Mbarki, is embarking on a “discouragement campaign” to limit tourist nuisance by limiting several popular activities in the Dutch capital.

The proposed plan will affect millions of tourists who every year enter cannabis cafes, visit the red light district and enjoy pubs and bars.

Mbaki presented a set of measures at the end of November aimed at cleaning up Amsterdam’s “reputation”, as many tourists associate the Dutch capital with drugs and alcohol and the red light district, which attracts “voyeur tourism”.

The move is part of a larger plan to “clean up” tourism in Amsterdam by limiting alcohol, drug and sex-related activities, and councilors fear these activities could attract a type of tourism perceived as undesirable in the city by residents.

“The discouragement campaign aims to keep away visitors we don’t want. If we love the city, we must act now,” Mbarki said in a statement. Press statement.

“Action must be taken to prevent nuisance and overcrowding. Amsterdam is a global city, and bustle and liveliness go hand in hand, but to keep our city livable we must choose limits over irresponsible growth,” he continued.

Mbarki also said the city consulted with residents, local businesses, experts and interest groups in making this decision and concluded there was an urgent need to reduce the amount of low-level tourism.

Therefore, Amsterdam plans to launch a campaign next spring, in line with the vision to clean up the city’s image.

The “Stay Away” campaign will begin in early 2023 with a deterrent campaign targeting foreign visitors who come to Amsterdam solely “for alcohol, drugs and sex”.

Among the proposed measures, Mbkai aims to limit river cruises, tighten the opening hours of pubs, bars and restaurants and prostitute themselves in shop windows in the red light district during weekend nights. Additionally, he wants to fight bachelor parties and ban pub crawls and smoking activities in parts of the city centre.

Amsterdam is one of the most visited capitals in Europe, with more than 21 million tourists a year, according to the city council.

The policy of tolerance towards cannabis and other “soft drugs” and the regulation of prostitution have over the years created an attractive leisure offer for many tourists.

However, the Amsterdam council now wants to limit these activities that disturb residents, according to a report titled “Vision of the visitor economy in Amsterdam 2035”.

“Nuisances and ‘overtourism’ are signals that the limit has been reached and that the quality of life is in danger. Visitors are still welcome in our city, but this should no longer be at the expense of habitability and of accessibility for our residents,” the report reads.

The report complains that the international image of Amsterdam has been stereotyped by cafes, sex theaters and windows in the red light district, leading many tourists to misunderstand the idea of ​​freedom with a lack of morality.

As a result, “groups of visitors have the impression that Amsterdam is a city where anything goes,” the report says.

“We want to get rid of this type of tourism, so we are also attacking the offer specifically intended for these audiences”, continues the report.

In particular, cannabis coffee shops and foreign cannabis consumers have recently been targeted by the Mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, who proposed to ban tourists from buying cannabis products in cafes.

The Dutch capital has more than 160 cafes that sell cannabis products to hundreds of thousands of tourists every day. More than half (92) are located in the city center and have become one of the main activities for many tourists visiting Amsterdam.

According to a survey by government and non-profit research agency I&O Research cited in the report, for 16% of tourists surveyed, the main reason for visiting Amsterdam was to go to a café. Additionally, around half of incoming tourists to Amsterdam either visit a cannabis coffee shop or say they definitely will.

Another market research report from Breuer&Itraval shows that more than half of the visits to the city’s cafes are made by foreign visitors.

In order to build sustainable and socially responsible tourism in Amsterdam, the councilors also aim to limit the access of tourist groups of any kind to the city center.

Additionally, downtown bars and clubs may have limited opening hours and be forced to close at 2 a.m.

Such restrictions may apply to window prostitution and brothels in the red light district.

The proposed regulations also plan to tighten rules on Airbnb and short-term rentals and encourage landlords to turn them into housing for residents, and a tax could also be applied to tourists when the city is overcrowded.

There are plans underway to close some of the city’s cannabis cafes as well, while smoking and drinking alcohol may become restricted in some parts of the city.

The package of measures and the plan to create a new type of tourism in Amsterdam by 2035 will be submitted to the city council for approval on December 21.

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