Amsterdam Prohibits Cruise Ships to Reduce Tourism and Pollution

As the Dutch capital works to reduce the number of tourists and reduce pollution, the council of Amsterdam has prohibited cruise ships from the city’s center.

Politicians argued that the vessels did not support the city’s sustainability goals.

It indicates that the main cruise terminal on the River IJ, adjacent to the main train station in Amsterdam, may close.

It is the most recent effort to restrict citywide tourism.

As more than 100 cruise ships stop in the city each year, they have come to represent the issue.

Cannabis smoking is not permitted on the streets of the red-light area as part of the council’s efforts to clean up the city.

A city-sponsored internet campaign urging young British men who were considering having their bachelor parties in Amsterdam was launched in March.

With 20 million tourists each year, some of whom are attracted by the city’s reputation as a party destination, Amsterdam has fallen victim to its own success.

Ilana Rooderkerk of the liberal D66 party, which governs the city alongside the Labour party and environmentalists, said that cruise ships in the middle of the city don’t fit in with Amsterdam’s aim of reducing the number of tourists.

Ms. Rooderkerk reportedly compared cruise visitors to a “plague of locusts” that descended on the city all at once.

Other Amsterdam officials have recoiled from words like that. However, Mayor Femke Halsema complained last year that cruise visitors were allowed to run wild for a few hours, ate at restaurants run by multinational corporations, and had no opportunity to visit a museum, consuming the city but contributing little to it.

The reduction of air pollution in Amsterdam is the other major justification for eliminating cruise ships. One large cruise ship was discovered to have emitted the same amount of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in one day as 30,000 trucks, according to a 2021 study.

Other mooring locations outside of the city center have been considered for long time, but nothing has been decided.

Separately, Amsterdam has revealed intentions to improve the nightlife scene for young people.

The city has stated its intention to locate nightclubs in abandoned tunnels and garages in order to cultivate the skills of “creative young people who want to organize something at night.”