Thursday, 28
November 2024 - 19:35
Amsterdam
to ban hotels from jamming in sleeping pods to reduce city center overtourism
Amsterdam
announced more measures the city plans to try to limit the number of people
able to spend the night in the capital. The city wants to make it harder for
hotels to cram more beds into existing rooms, such as adding sleeping pods or
more bunk beds, the city said in a statement on Thursday. Cafe terraces may
also be forced to close early, live sex shows in the Red Light District could
see operating hours reduced, and coffeeshops may be enticed to relocate from
the city center to other parts of Amsterdam.
The
coalition including the mayor and aldermen want to continue efforts undertaken
in recent years to cut down on “the nuisance of overtourism,” the city said.
This will include moving beyond the stop order which was already in place to
prevent new hotels from being built in many parts of the capital.
"There
are currently several hotels that are increasing their total sleeping places
during renovation, conversion, expansion or within existing rooms," the
city alleged. "The decision will immediately prohibit, for example, adding
rooms or sleeping places in hotels during a renovation, or adding more beds,
bunk beds, or 'sleeping pods' in existing rooms.”
The mayor
and aldermen did at least temporarily reverse a plan to further raise the
tourist tax. The rate will freeze at 12.5 percent, having increased 2.5 points
at the start of this year. The political leaders floated raising the tax to 15
percent in January, which would be more than double the rate charged in 2023.
The city now says it wants to study how such another increase could impact
spending at local businesses.
The city now
says that it will enforce earlier closing times on the sex shows that operate
in the Red Light District. Outdoor terraces will also be forced to take the
party inside at an earlier time, and the narrower window of opening hours will
also apply to bars, cafes and restaurants in more parts of De Wallen, including
Warmoesstraat. Further, those caught selling drugs on the street can face a
48-hour area ban, which is double the current initial punishment.
The city
also plans to push a plan to invest further in a real estate fund which it will
use to purchase properties that come on the market in the city center, and
which it can use to buy out hospitality businesses and tourism-related
operations in the area.
The
coalition claimed that these new measures will build on over 75 measures meant
to tackle “the negative effects of overtourism,” saying that the increased
regulations have collectively improved the “quality of life” for those living
in central areas. In reality, some have been successful while others have left
residents scratching their heads. The capital’s marketing campaign trying to
convince British people not to hold bachelor or bachelorette parties in
Amsterdam may have actually had the opposite effect, organizers told NL Times.
A ban on
smoking cannabis or hash on the streets of De Wallen, the portion of the city
center that includes the Red Light District, was introduced in April 2023. One
year later, city authorities had issued just seven fines and 104 warnings to
people for violating the rule.
Will
coffeeshops be encouraged or forced to move out of Amsterdam's city center?
On Thursday,
the city also said it does not necessarily want to close any of the 90
coffeeshops which sell cannabis or hash in Amsterdam. However, it does want to
cut down on a concentration of tourists in the city center by encouraging a
more even distribution across the city. The mayor and aldermen said they want
to make it easier for coffeeshops to relocate, however new rules about location
and moving will be developed next year.
“The Centrum
district has no fewer than 90 coffeeshops: more than the [number of]
coffeeshops in Utrecht, The Hague and Rotterdam combined. These coffeeshops
mainly serve foreign tourists, in contrast to the coffeeshops in other
districts with mainly local and regional visitors,” the city said on Thursday.
Aside from
the 90 coffeeshops in the center, there are another 75 in other districts. It
is not clear how residents of those districts, and the district councils
representing them, will respond to having more coffeeshops in their
neighborhoods.
Divisive
policies to cut De Wallen tourism
Another
relocation plan by Mayor Femke Halsema and the governing coalition to open a
high-rise Erotic Center as an alternative brothel to the Red Light District was
met with fierce resistance last year. The plan would lead to dozens of windows
being shut in the city center, and the new brothel could be placed near the RAI
convention center in Amsterdam-Zuid.
The area is
home to families, primary schools, secondary schools, vocational schools,
embassies, consulates, and the European Medicines Agency, with many saying
their concerns were not addressed by City Council. Large organized groups of
sex workers were also angered by the proposal, and said they would not want to
conduct business there.
The new
statement from the city also boasted about the positive effects of earlier
closing times enforced on hospitality businesses in De Wallen. However, the
city was forced to reverse the early closing times that sex workers had to
abide by when operating in the window brothels in the Red Light District. When
that measure was floated, sex workers themselves said they feared the reduction
in income would force them to operate illegally, and behind closed doors. Nine
months later, the mayor and aldermen took their concerns to heart.
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