Tired of tourists, Amsterdam is getting tough with Airbnb, tourist taxes and too much partying

To facilitate the number of visitors and put a stop to the “Disneyfication” of Amsterdam – which expects 18 million tourists this year – the new city government has announced a series of radical measures intended to bring a certain “balance to the city”.

“ Amsterdam, City of Red Lights and Cannabis Cafes, May End the Party Soonis the slogan repeated by the media.

The coalition of parties forming the new city government wants to follow the examples of Barcelona and Venicewhere the flood of unruly tourism has made life extremely unpleasant for locals, forcing authorities to try to control visitor numbers and behavior.

To ensure that “the city remains livable for all residents”, as pledged by the Green Party (GroenLinks), the coalition agreed to ban Airbnb, the home-sharing service, and other home rentals in the busiest neighborhoods, and cut their short-term rentals in half to a maximum of 30 days.

The city is also raising the tourist tax to 7%, which should bring in the municipal treasury some 105 million euros per year by 2022.

Among the tough measures are plans to stop cruise ships from docking at the central port, restrict canal navigation and crack down on ‘fun trips’ including booze boats, beer bikes, shopping by Segway.

Passengers on boats taking a tour through the city’s canals will have to embark and disembark outside the center.

The effort to curb the massive waves of tourists that swarm the city virtually year-round, reflects the discontent of locals who feel the city’s ancient center has been overrun by disorderly, drunken and boisterous visitors, many of whom will do the party – lured by the ease of buying marijuana and other soft drugs sold legally and also lured by the notorious sex zone known as the “red light district”.

“The number of tourists has increased stratospherically”, writes in the Telegraph an expert on towers who lives in town. “Parts of Amsterdam are now so crowded – day after day, in all seasons – that it’s as if the city is constantly in the grip of a huge festival. Pedestrians overflow the narrow sidewalks and walk in the middle of the street. Cycling the hallways are filling up with cyclists who haven’t cycled since they were in school.”

“International tourism is part of it”, GreenLink leader, Rutger Groot Wassink, told the Netherlands timetables. “Because the obvious positive effects take on a dark side in the nuisances caused by a decline in habitability for the inhabitants.”

“With a population of around 800,000, the city expects 18 million tourists in 2018, a 20% increase from 2016 levels,” reports Business Intern. “Anti-tourist and anti-expat sentiment has been growing steadily in Amsterdam, as both are partly blamed for helping to drive down housing prices increasingly beyond the reach of ordinary Dutch people.”

The average purchase price of an apartment in Amsterdam in 2017 was €407,000, 12% more than in 2016.

The new measures should contribute to changing the type of tourism and redirect visitors to “pot and sex” to the cultural centers for which the city is famous, including its world-class museums that house some of the most famous works of art on the planet.

Advertising campaigns have focused on the city’s canals, the Anne Frank House, museums packed with the greatest works of Van Gogh and Rembrandt.

The city has made efforts to rebrand in the past, closing a third of its brothels and all marijuana cafes near schools.

In its zeal to better tame tourism, the government also plans to restrict cars and buses taking tourists in and out of the city. They will be excluded from the central area of ​​the city known as the Ring. “Tourist buses will be allowed to stop at the bus deck behind Amsterdam Central Station,” said the NL Times Explain.

“In the city centre, GroenLinks, D66, PvdA and SP (coalition parties) want to extend commercial supply management. In addition to banning new stores for tourists, they are also considering limiting the number of branches of major retail chains.

In order to create quieter streets, the parties will also reintroduce taxes on advertising and ban advertising street signs showing videos.

Amsterdam Marketing, the organization that promotes Amsterdam internationally, will be transformed into a knowledge center and given a new name.

Tourism was a key issue behind recent mayoral election results which saw the main Liberal Democrat party overtaken by the Greens, whose main campaign theme was to reduce the influx of tourists and provide more accommodation to middle incomes, a shortage which, in part, according to the party’s proposal, has been exacerbated by the wave of short-term rentals led by Airbnb.

“Amsterdam is a city to live and work in – it’s only a second tourist destination,” the city said.