Amsterdam groans, emits a “danger signal” and denounces obscenity due to freedom. D‘ this and the municipal authorities of the Dutch capital launched a campaign to scare off annoying tourists, which, as clarified by sources in the mayor’s office “K”“is part of a comprehensive package of measures.”

Reduced opening hours for stores of tourist interest, a ban on smoking marijuana in public places and restrictions on the sale of alcohol in some areas of the city center will be introduced as early as spring after discussion in the City Council. said “K” the representative of the vice-mayor Sofyan Barkawhich spearheads the new measures we unveiled last week.

“Amsterdam is already taking many measures against excessive tourism and inconvenience. We take more action than other major cities in Europe. But we need to do even more in the coming years. Amsterdam is a metropolis, and crowds of visitors and bustle are its integral characteristics, but, for our city to remain resilient, we now need to contain rather than irresponsibly grow“, – also notes the representative of the vice-mayor.

“An example of irresponsible development”

“Amsterdam is an example of irresponsible development,” he objects, referring to “K. Isabelle Mosk, specialist in tourism strategy, innovation and urban marketing. “The only solution to the problem of over-tourism is measures to attract tourists. Do not develop Schiphol airport further, do not make it a second cruise terminal in the port, do not make an airport in Lelystad. But the question is whether the municipality has the courage to intervene. Without taking measures for the influx of tourists, all measures will have an insufficient result. Will the municipality take advantage of its shareholder position at Schiphol Airport? Will he decide to phase out cruise tourism, the most polluting form of tourism? Will he do everything possible to prevent the opening of the second airport? she asks herself.

And here’s another … internal conflict over development. “The municipality, on the one hand, wants to relocate the already existing cruise terminal. On the other hand, to balance things out and also provide an alternative to the Schiphol expansion that governments want, he wants to expand the South Railway Station. Tim Wagemakers, journalist for the Dutch newspaper Het Parool, tells us.

“What is happening is not normal,” the journalist adds, and emphasizes that “there are days when in some parts of the city you have to go over people’s heads…“.

He notes that “the problem is not new. This has become a real problem for 7-8 years now, with cheap flights and online campaigns. If you Google “Amsterdam Party Weekend”, you will see thousands of results. So, over the years, it has been a source of concern.”

“Monoculture” of tourism

Concern, of course, is not only with the municipal authorities. And the residents themselves are worried about the “monoculturalism” of tourism, which has led to a reduction in shops serving the daily life of residents. On the contrary, the number of enterprises of tourist interest has increased. And tourism in the city, which reaches 20 million a year, creates all the problems that we see in hypertourist cities and islands around the planet.

However, citizens organized with the assistance of municipal authorities. In June 2021, at the initiative of the citizens “Amsterdam has a choice”, the city council approved the regulation “Amsterdam Tourism Balance”, which sets the maximum number of tourist nights and day visits in the city. The annual number of visitors must not exceed 20 million, and the city council must intervene when the “threshold” of 18 million is exceeded.

We are told that the ultimate goal of the city seems to be to change the profile of visitors. “The city wants to prevent tourists who really only come to party and have no economic impact on the city because they either stay in cheap hotels or even in their cars just to stay in Amsterdam for 1-2 nights. On the other hand, the expansion of the South Station signals a focus on convention tourism. All this, when combined with the planned measures, it becomes clear that the goal is to reduce tourism, but also increase its economic importance, as the city will attract high-income visitors,” said Tim Wagemakers.

Project 1012

This is what is stated as the main goal of Project 1012, named after the district’s postal code and aimed, as it was written, at “best tourist class”stop the red light district and the cat‘ extensions and neighborhoods, characterized by a mass of cheap souvenir shops, cafes and brothels, but also by the changing identity of the city, overwhelmed by angry stag parties.

However, according to the Dutch media, the company was generally considered a failure.as it fell short of two of his ambitions: to replace coffee houses and tourist shops with restaurants and galleries, and to fight the sex industry by closing brothels.

Now it seems that the municipality is pushing again.

Sex workers react

As of April 1, the Red Light District is already running reduced opening hours. The sex worker’s work will be completed at 3 am instead of 6 am, with the plan also to move the entire area to another part of the Dutch capital, which will be called the “love center”.

However, Green first female mayor of Amsterdam Femke Hasselma, he travels to neighborhoods in the city and meets with civil society to get public agreement to move the red lights to give the center a breather.

However, before speaking sex workers have already begun to react violently. In fact, some of them told CNN that the reforms aimed at them are adding to the stigma, noting that they are being unfairly discriminated against and used as a scapegoat for the city’s mass tourism problems.

In the same time, they also highlight two other issues. First, because the windows open at midnight, sex workers will only have three hours to earn money. Secondly, if they have to go to school at 3 in the morning, it will be much more dangerous for them to drive through the city on their way home than at six in the morning. They also say the new opening hours are hitting the transgender community even harder, as many clients who show up between 3 and 6 a.m. are looking for transgender colleagues.

At the same time, they believe that the creation of a “sex center” will reduce the safety of sex workers, since where they are now, they are part of the whole community of the city, and if they move, they will be additionally stigmatized. People who take refuge there will not be controlled, and sex workers will lose the support of the residents who take their side when perversions occur.

“Against” public and private

However, regulations on nuisance tourism have sparked a “battle” between the public and private sectors.

On the one hand we have tourist entrepreneurs running big campaigns to attract tourists, and on the other hand the municipality preventing them, which, as already said, does not fit the city’s identity as tolerant and free.

However, as we are told by Dutch sources following the topic of “conflict” between the municipality and private individuals, “the mayor of Amsterdam often gets angry at private individuals who promote an image of the city that is not in line with what the municipal government is advocating for a more sustainable city.”

Of course, the municipality cannot ban cheap hotels and pubs. However, he tries to discuss the moral aspect with them, focusing on the “sinking” city and the exhausted inhabitants.

“The concept of “freedom” is distorted”

And this is possible, as the representative of the profile vice-mayor of the Dutch capital points out to “K”, “Amsterdam
known as a free and open city that wants to share its cultural wealth, including its museums and other top attractions, its canals, as well as its nightlife, however, the concept of “freedom” was distorted in recent years and has been commercialized.

“Some companies abuse Amsterdam’s image advertise it as a city of “limitless possibilities”. As a result, it is considered by some groups of visitors to be a city where anything is possible. This type of tourism, as well as proposals specifically addressed to these groups, is not considered desirable by the municipal authorities,” he adds.

“This is a challenge for the city because, as a destination, you cannot “control” the offer of packages to these target groups. Again the question arises: is this the city’s problem? Or are there too many visitors in some places and a good balance between visitors and residents in these areas has slipped away? Because this, again, is a problem, an influx of tourists, ”Isabelle Mosk comments in K.

Something similar, however, follows from the conversation that we again had with the permanent residents of the Dutch capital. Translator Andri Boon, who lives on the outskirts of the city center, confirms that the problem is purely local, that is, it concerns very specific parts of Amsterdam, while Haris Zois, who lives in the suburbs but works in the center, considers that they are like two different cities.

But as long as flights to the Dutch capital remain cheap, annoying over-tourism will not be reduced so easily. The same goes for what the city offers anyway, which is the core of the identity it has been building for decades.

“The fact remains that there are a lot of cheap flights to Amsterdam. At the same time, the impressions that visitors can get here do not change. They will still have fun, smoke weed, etc. We need to make more radical decisions, but it’s difficult. If visitors are banned from smoking cannabis, this will cause new problems,” says Isabelle Mosk.

New city image campaign

However, as the municipality of Amsterdam itself tells us, “before summer, will launch a city image campaignso that its true face can be seen, bringing together visitors who show respect for the rich cultural and historical heritage of both the capital of the Netherlands and the entire region.”

What, of course, our interlocutors hope is that all these measures and planned actions will be combined with the tolerant profile of the city. “He is unique, and in order for him to remain so, cardinal decisions are needed”they say almost in unison.