Amsterdam
residents stage protests against ‘unliveable’ conditions due to overtourism as
new hotels pop up
The
demonstration symbolically took place outside a controversial new build, the
Diamond hotel
Natalie
Wilson
Monday 23
December 2024 14:45 GMT
Tourist
numbers to the canal city’s tulip gardens and famed Red Light District have
shown no signs of slowing down
Amsterdam is
the latest European city to stage protests against overtourism following a
campaign against its “unliveable” conditions on Saturday (21 December).
The
demonstration by locals on the Leidseplein symbolically took place outside the
controversial new build, the Diamond hotel.
Once the
home of “Heineken Hoek”, an iconic corner landmark, the Diamond’s contemporary
facade has not been a hit with many residents.
Dingeman
Coumou, the organiser of the “Het is Genoeg”, or “that’s enough”, campaign
called the Diamond “another one of those horrible hotels, which attract even
more tourists and look awful,” reported The Times.
This year
Amsterdam proposed restrictions to the way tourists enter and stay in the city
with the aim to limit overnight stays to just 20 million tourists annually.
Yet tourist
numbers to the canal city’s tulip gardens and famed Red Light District have
shown no signs of reducing. Amsterdam received around 22 million overnight
stays in 2023 – two million over the proposed limit.
Mr Coumou
said that the tourism “flooding our city” has now become disruptive to the
lives of locals in Amsterdam.
He added:
“It ensures that our children can no longer live in the city because of the
high real estate prices, it creates a monoculture but, above all, the centre of
Amsterdam is becoming unliveable because of the crowds.”
Frits
Huffnagel, a former councillor for economic affairs, introduced the phrase “I
Amsterdam” with the slogan spelt in large letters outside the Rijksmuseum until
2018, before being moved around the city.
“You
shouldn’t say: let everyone come and piss and puke in my city. You have to take
action against those people,” said Mr Huffnagel.
The Dutch
capital had already introduced measures to thin out crowds in 2023 with an
increased tourist tax, a “Stay Away” campaign and an “Amsterdam Rules” quiz to
deter rowdy British visitors.
This April,
Amsterdam also announced a limit on the number of river cruises that can enter
its waterways and plans to reduce overnight visitors by banning the
construction of new hotels.
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