Mass tourism returned to Amsterdam: economic benefits vs. annoying visitors

After two years of pandemic travel restrictions,

: tourists en masse dragging suitcases down the bike lane, and fed-up locals seeking cozy neighborhoods on the outskirts of the Dutch capital.

They want to reduce a tourism that, in reality, settles the accounts to the coffers of the municipality.

Amsterdam received almost 200 million euros more than it spent last year due, in large part, to the

after the pandemic, according to the annual accounts presented this week by the Councilor for Finance, Hester van Buren.

The city expected a deficit of $37 million by 2022.

In addition to tourism, reports the local newspaper Het Parool, the municipality received 3.7 billion euros from the central government, 430 million more than expected.

This annual contribution varies in line with national spending, and as more money was spent on Defense for the war in Ukraine and on business support after the pandemic, the Amsterdam departure also increased.

Evening in the park in Amsterdam.

Photo Shutterstock.

But saving 200 million euros is also a reason for "concern" for the municipality: "The shortage of staff is putting pressure on the organization and, ultimately, also on the results," Van Buren pointed out.

The

prevents filling job vacancies necessary to invest that income in housing, transportation, energy transition, maintenance, care, and education projects.

annoying tourists

But

.

Mayor Femke Halsema has launched a campaign against what she calls

, targeting British men between the ages of 18 and 35 who come to the capital to "let loose", particularly in De Wallen, the old city center which includes the Red Light District.

The campaign is currently targeting people in the UK using internet terms such as "Amsterdam stag party", "Amsterdam cheap hotel" and "Amsterdam pub crawl", which will jump to ads on search engines urging them to avoid the city if their plans are to "misbehave and cause trouble."

One of the videos shows a young man passed out on a bench, while a paramedic puts an oxygen mask on him to take him to the hospital by ambulance.

"Arriving in Amsterdam to do drugs + lose control = a trip to the hospital + permanent health damage = worried family," the text reads.

," she adds.

The city is also trying to carry out a series of changes to make the old town more pleasant for residents and less attractive for tourists.

This includes shortening opening hours of bars, "coffeeshops", shops and prostitution windows, and is considering a ban on smoking cannabis and alcohol in certain neighborhoods.

There will be signs warning that "it is forbidden to urinate in public, be drunk and disruptive, cause noise pollution and buy drugs" to dealers on the streets, the municipality says.

In addition, Halsema is in the middle of a battle with the residents of the north and south of Amsterdam for choosing her area as a possible location for a

, a plan by which she wants to keep prostitution away from the heart of the capital, but that the neighbors fear that bring to their doors problems that the historic center of the city suffers today.

expatriates

In 2021, almost 74,000 people left the Amsterdam metropolitan region

, which today has a population of 921,000 people.

In particular, thirty-somethings are leaving the city to start families because they seek more space and social cohesion in their neighborhood.

Many residents decide to leave the city.

Photo Shutterstock

Tourism, above all, but also foreign residents are making the city somewhat

, denounced the locals themselves in a Rabobank report in mid-April.

Many residents blame their international neighbors for "raising rents" or buying high-priced housing, displacing locals, and making English dominate the streets in certain areas.

Halsema responded to that report with an interview on local radio station AT5 urging foreigners to "put down roots, take care of doing things for your neighborhood, and get involved in the community" instead of "living in a bubble."

Among the examples, he proposes learning Dutch and volunteering.

But, an investigation by the International Community Advisory Platform suggested that, in reality, most expatriates in Amsterdam actively try to learn Dutch and appreciate having good neighbors, although, they complain, they have suffered discrimination based on origin by least once, and service providers charged them more for being foreigners, which extends to rental prices.

Imane Rachidi / EFE

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