Amsterdam Stops Issuance Of New Hotel Construction Permits To Restrict Tourists Based On Residents' Petitions

Illustration of Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Wikimedia Commons/pxhere photo)

JAKARTA - The Amsterdam City Government last week announced that the Dutch capital would no longer issue a new hotel construction permit, as part of efforts to deal with mass tourism.

"We want to make and keep this city habitable for residents and visitors. This means: no excessive tourism, no new hotels, and no more than 20 million tourists staying at hotels per year," the city government said in a statement.

Citing the NL Times, there are 20,665,000 tourists staying at hotels in 2023. This number does not include people staying at vacation homes, beds and breakfasts, or on cruise ships.

The 20-million limit for staying in a year comes from a petition signed by 30,000 Amsterdam residents calling for greater control over the tourism sector.

A new hotel in Amsterdam can only be built if other hotels close, if the number of beds does not increase and if the new hotel will be better, for example more sustainable.

Although there have been stricter policies over the past seven years regarding new hotels, there are currently about two dozen hotels in the planning stage. This is due to projects that have been allowed, as well as locations that are still hotel zoning. And, this will not be subject to the latest ban rules.

"The number of hotels that are still in the planning stage in this way has decreased in recent years. When the accommodation policy was set last night in 2017, the inventory calculated 58 ongoing initiatives, while currently there are still 26 hotels," said the city government.

Being one of the most visited tourist destinations in Europe, Amsterdam is actively trying to limit the number of tourists, reaching millions per year, especially by preventing sex-related tourism and drugs at the red light disaster.