Amsterdam’s Latest Effort to Fight Excessive Tourism: No New Hotels

 

Amsterdam’s Latest Effort to Fight Excessive Tourism: No New Hotels

 

The city wants no more than 20 million hotel stays annually. The measure is one of multiple efforts to control the flow of visitors.

 

By Claire Moses

April 18, 2024, 12:32 p.m. ET

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/18/world/europe/amsterdam-tourism-hotel-stop.html

 

Amsterdam has been searching for any way to rein in the number of tourists that visit the city every year.

 

In March of last year, the city launched an ad campaign specifically targeted at British men between 18 and 35, urging them to “stay away.”

 

In July, the Dutch capital announced it would bar cruise ships from docking in the city center.

 

The city has also long tried to control the crowds in its red-light district, where rowdy groups of tourists often cause disruptions to local residents. It has added stricter rules about smoking marijuana. It has banned new tourist shops. And still, the people keep coming.

 

Now, the city — which is as well known for its canals and 17th century art as for its legal sex industry and easy access to marijuana — has taken one more step to further restrict the explosive growth of tourists: It is banning hotels from being built.

 

“Amsterdam is saying ‘no’ to new hotels,” the City Council said in a statement. “We want to make and keep the city livable for residents and visitors,” it added.

 

Amsterdam, which added that it was seeking to keep hotel stays by tourists to under 20 million per year, saw its highest number of visitors before the pandemic in 2019, when there were 25.2 million hotel stays, according to the city’s data.

 

Last year, that number was exceeded by tourists staying over in Amsterdam, not including stays in short term rentals like Airbnbs and cruise ships. And the measure also does not take into account daily visitors who do not stay the night.

 

The ban on new hotels, while sending a clear message about the city’s aim to reduce the number of visitors, is also largely symbolic. The city’s policy on hotel construction was already strict, and there had been only three proposals since 2017 that met Amsterdam’s requirements, according to the city. New hotels that had been approved or were in development — 26 in total — would be allowed to proceed for now.

 

Under the new rules, a new hotel can only open if another one closes. It also isn’t allowed to add more rooms than were available, according to the city.

 

“The effect won’t be very big,” said Ko Koens, a professor of new urban tourism at Inholland University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He also said that in the long run, the capping of hotels could make them more expensive to stay at.

 

While this ban alone would not make a huge dent in the number of visitors to the city, Mr. Koens said, taken together with other initiatives it could make Amsterdam a less-appealing place to visit. But, he said, “For now, visitors don’t seem to mind.”

 

In total, Amsterdam has nearly 42,000 hotel rooms that can accommodate more than 92,000 people, according to Statistics Netherlands, a governmental institution that compiles data about the country. (In total, the Netherlands has more than 150,000 hotel rooms.)

 

Amsterdam’s initiatives to rein in tourism have been largely focused on its crowded city center. But as long as Amsterdam’s airport, Schiphol, continues to be a major European hub, it won’t be easy to keep visitors away from the city.

 

“There are no simple solutions,” Mr. Koens said. “It’s super complex.”

 

Amsterdam also announced this week it would start cutting the number of river cruises allowed to dock in its waters. In 2023, that number was 2,125. In 2028, the city wants it to be halved, with no more than 1,150. The city predicts that effort could reduce the number of visitors that come into town by 271,000. This proposal, the city said, is to improve the quality of life for residents and to reduce emissions and crowds.

 

“The balance in the city needs to improve,” Hester van Buren, a deputy mayor who focuses on the city’s port, said in a statement.

 

Amsterdam isn’t the only major European destination that has been struggling to get a grip on the growing number of tourists. Venice announced it would charge day-tripping visitors 5 euros ($5.33) to enter the iconic streets of its city center on weekends and some holidays from April 25 through mid-July, its busiest season.

 

Amsterdam, currently in a busy touristic time because of its famous blooming tulips, has not announced a similar measure, but it is likely there will be more efforts and experiments designed to limit visitors — like the hotel ban.

 

“Without such a stop, Amsterdam’s center would become one big hotel,” Mr. Koens said. “You don’t want that either.”

 

Claire Moses is a Times reporter in London, focused on coverage of breaking and trending news. More about Claire Moses