THE RED LIGHT DISTRICT
A tax on day trippers and Airbnb ban: ideas to
upgrade Amsterdam tourism
Business
November 27, 2020
A tax on day trippers, a discount card for
residents and a total ban on holiday rentals via agencies such as Airbnb are
some of the ideas drawn up by city council marketing agency Amsterdam &
Partners to overhaul city tourism. The recommendations have been drawn up by
researchers, residents, local firms and representatives from the cultural
sector with the aim of making sure that the days of mass budget tourism are
over. ‘Coronavirus has shown us what we are missing through the absence of
visitors but also how nice it is to be a customer and visitor in our own city,’
Amsterdam & Partners marketing chief Geerte Udo told the Parool newspaper.
Over the past few years, a number of residents have become estranged from the
city because of the enormous number of tourists, Udo said. The suggestions now
being put forward for further investigation include a tourist tax for day
trippers. Tourist tax on overnight stays and boat trips generates some €200m
for the city’s coffers in a normal year. ‘About half of all tourists are here
for the day, and it is not okay to make hotels and canal tour operators the
only ones to pay the price,’ Udo said. ‘We are not saying you need to introduce
a toll for everyone who comes to the city from outside. Our advice is to
research if a city tax would have a role.’
Discounts
Another
idea to give residents a special discount card for museums and shops which,
says Udo, could encourage them to make more use of the city and reduce the
reliance of some companies and cultural institutions on tourists. The agency is
also supporting growing calls for a change to the city’s notorious red light
district to discourage tourists who only come to look at prostitutes and take
drugs. According to the Volkskrant, Udo estimates 20% to 25% of tourists have
no respect or real interest in the city. ‘Those we can do without,’ she told
the paper.
Red light
district
The city is
already working on plans to redevelop the red light district, and one option
under consideration is moving the window brothels to a purpose built location
elsewhere. In addition, holiday rentals in private homes should be banned as
soon as possible, the agency report says. Airbnb is already banned in some busy
parts of the city. The agency also suggests focusing more on congress and
museum visitors – a wide definition which would also include visits to the Heineken
experience centre, the Volkskrant said.
Read more
at DutchNews.nl:
City council wants to close part windows Of The Red Light
District, possible locations for new erotic centre known
November 6, 2020,
4:20 p.m. · Updated Nov 18, 2020, 12:10 PM
By Editors ·
Photo: AT5 / Luuk Koenen
If it is up to
the city council, a 'substantial' number of windows on the Red Light District
will be closed. The sex workers can then go to a new erotic centre, which gets
catering in addition to windows. A
number of options for a location are now known.
That's in a
letter sent to the city council today. Mayor Femke Halsema has been talking
about the Red Light District for a few years now. There should be less nuisance
and crime, and it must also be safer for the prostitutes.
Closing windows
has always been one of the possibilities, but it is now the only option that
the city government has in mind. It can be combined with moving the operators.
However, the city council must agree. "The college is happy to discuss
whether your council endorses these essential choices," the city council
writes. It has already emerged that a forced closure can cost the city a lot of
money.
'Visitors move
along the windows through a ramp'
CITY COUNCIL
Where as before
there was the choice between a 'prostitution hotel' and an 'erotic centre', the
city council now wants it to become an erotic centre. There is also room for
catering and entertainment, so that visitors who do not necessarily want to
spend money on sex workers would also like to go there. However, the number of
tourist-oriented functions must be 'limited' because the city government wants
less of this type of tourism.
Hellingbaan
A 'volume study'
has already been made for the erotic centre. 'Visitors move indoors along a
ramp along the windows, other workplaces and catering/entertainment. This gives
many more opportunities to keep a grip on visitors and to avoid nuisance and
unsafe situations', writes the city council. It is now expected to have about
100 rooms.
Part of the
center could look like this. The rooms are pink, the living room for sex
workers is red, office space is beige and the ramp is yellow:
The city council
has also selected possible locations for the erotic centre. At the end of the
day, one has to be picked. 'In this first phase, particular attention was paid
to the size of the location, accessibility, development opportunities and
'vulnerable' functions in the vicinity.'
It is a
'provisional shortlist', locations can still fall off or be added. 'The areas
now on this provisional shortlist offer opportunities, but there are also
bottlenecks that further research is being explored.' Existing real estate and
hotels are also being looked at.
Preliminary
shortlist locations erotic center:
Amstel III
(Southeast), Arenapoort (Southeast), Sloterdijk 2 Zuid (New-West), Sloterdijk
Noord (New-West), South / Rai (South), Hamerkwartier (North), Water location
(location still unknown), Unicorn area (East).
The municipality
has already called in an agency to see if there
are any entrepreneurs who want to start an erotic centre or prostitution
hotel, the plan that was previously considered. That agency concluded that 'the
task is complex and that market participants are cautious'.
Just like the
city government now, the market parties also have a 'clear preference' for the
erotic centre. 'Parties have come forward who want to develop the concept
further. In terms of financing, the possibilities seem to lie mainly with
private investors.'
However,
according to the agency, the interest is still insufficient to start with a
promising selection of market participants. The agency therefore advises the
municipality to invite parties and to form one or more combinations for a
business case.
The city council
expects that, after a final location has been selected, it will take between
3.5 and ten years for the building to be used. The corona crisis will also most
likely have an impact on the project.
'This uncertainty
applies to many ambitions but should not hinder us'
CITY COUNCIL
'This uncertainty
applies to many ambitions but should not prevent us from continuing to work for
the future', the city council writes. 'Together with you and the city, the
college wants to continue its commitment to creating new workplaces for sex
workers and to prevent nuisance from the hustle and bustle of the city centre.'
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