In an effort to reduce mass tourism, Amsterdam will ban the building of all new hotels going forward. However, the rules don’t apply to any new hotels that have already secured a permit, so the 26 hotels that have new build permits will proceed as planned.
For new hotels to open, another hotel must close. Should this be the case, the amount of places to sleep can’t increase. To clarify, hotels can still be built in the Netherlands, but they must be built outside of Amsterdam.
Over the last few years, the city has been trying to limit tourist numbers. Millions of travelers have been visiting the city. However, the reason for the effort is to discourage unwanted visitors to the red-light district.
In addition to the hotel ban, Amsterdam is also banning cruise ships to combat overtourism. This was voted into account by the Amsterdam City Council. They will also close its cruise terminal.
These measures are the latest additions to the steps that the Dutch capital has taken to help control overtourism. They were triggered by Amsterdam’s ‘Tourism in Balance’ policy, which was created in 2021 after more than 30,000 residents created a public initiative to call for more control of the tourism industry.
