Amsterdam has had a love-hate relationship with tourists for years. Like any tourist mecca, they love the money that tourists bring to their city. But Amsterdam is also a city well known for its access to pot and legal prostitution in its red-light district. So they have a problem with tourists who are not as respectful as city leaders would like. After all, Amsterdam is also a city of almost a million residents and the partying some “guests” do is not a good environment for everyday living (i.e. vomiting on the sidewalks, urination in people’s gardens, etc.)
When the city was planning to reopen in the wake of the pandemic in 2021, city leaders had some plans to decrease partying. The move wasn’t approved and was brought up again in 2022. That time around, it sort of worked; the BBC reported in February that effective this mid-May, it will be illegal to smoke cannabis on the street in Amsterdam’s red light district. Along with that, sex workers will also have to close their venues at 3am.
However, that’s not all. The city is trying to get a better handle on alcohol consumption in Amsterdam. From the BBC:
The city council also announced…that restaurants and bars would have to close by 2am on Fridays and Saturdays and no new visitors would be allowed into the old city district after 1am.
Currently, the sale of alcohol from shops, liquor stores and cafes in the red light district is illegal from Thursday to Sunday after 4pm. Now, the council will ask vendors to completely remove alcohol from their shopfronts during that time, or hide them from view.
It is illegal to consume alcohol in most public spaces in Amsterdam.
While making plans to make all these changes, city planners noticed a trend of not only what tourists were doing, but who was doing the most of it (and getting in trouble for same): British men age 18 to 35. So besides the above, a campaign from Amsterdam has started that’s specifically aimed at these “nuisance tourists” who typically have plans to “go nut” during weekend trips to the city.
So, if a British man between the age of 18 and 35 starts looking for a cheap trip to Amsterdam for him and his mates (friends), he may be targeted for ads that essentially say, “Stay away” or “Don’t come here.”
One of the ads shows close-ups of a man being handcuffed and fingerprinted by the police. Another one shows a young man slumped over a bench before medical personnel take him into an ambulance. Text in the ad suggests that people “coming to Amsterdam for a messy night” could incur fines, hospital stays, permanent damage, or arrest.
The ads are prompted by search terms such as “pub crawl Amsterdam,” and “stag party Amsterdam.” In other words, situations where the obvious intent is to drink, most likely to excess.
Many tourist destinations believe that British tourists tend to drink too much alcohol, especially when they’re on vacation. The British government appears to be just as aware of the phenomenon, to the point that about a decade ago they did a study about it. Their research showed that more than 50% of young people were likely to drink more on vacation than at home. “Some young Brits on holiday are putting themselves at risk of serious harm such as hospitalization, arrest or detention,” the British government said at the time.
Amsterdam’s city leaders say they may expand the “Stay away/Don’t come” campaign to tourists from other places later this year (people from the Netherlands and other European Union countries, you were specifically mentioned; be forewarned).
“The advertisements show the risks and consequences of nuisance and excessive use of alcohol and drugs: fines, getting arrested, a permanent record, hospital admittance and health damage,” the announcement states.
“Visitors will still be welcome, but not if they misbehave and cause a nuisance,” Sofyan Mbarki, Amsterdam’s deputy mayor, said in a statement. “Amsterdam is a metropolis and that includes bustle and liveliness, but to keep our city livable, we’re now choosing limitation instead of irresponsible growth.”
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2 comments
While keeping British drunks away (I’d suggest trying to redirect them to Prague) is the latest type of tourist the Dutch don’t want, it’s hardly the only one. In the fairly recent past they’ve targeted red light tourists, stoner hippies, red light gawkers, and now heavy drinkers. It’s always a pain to try to get the exact number and demographic of tourist that you’d like but I think maybe some positive redirection (“See AMAZING Rotterdam!!” posters and ads all over) might be a bit more practical.
Agreed 100%. They want to have their cake and eat it too. Have pot, prostitutes, etc., but not the type of “nasty” tourists who might want to partake in such things. Young British males are just their latest scapegoat.