Amsterdam | Plans to Ban Cruise Ships from the City Centre for Overtourism
Francesco Mari
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Amsterdam, beautiful capital of The Netherlands, well known for its immense artistic heritage, its elaborate canal system and its superb neo-Renaissance style architecture,a legacy of the golden age of the 17th century is taking new measures to combat overtourism by launching serious plans to relocate its cruise terminal outside the city center.
If these plans are given the green light, cruise ships will be banned from entering the center of Amsterdam completely from 2035 and no boats will be able to dock in the historic port that for years has been the terminal of large tourist flows of the iconic, dutch capital.
This announcement comes amid plans to halve the number of cruise ships allowed to dock at the PTA, Amsterdam's passenger terminal, which currently has a permitted amount of 190 ships but is expected to drop to a maximum of 100 by 2026.
There have already been agreements with the city of Rotterdam that will welcome more than 40 ships not unwelcome in Amsterdam starting from 2026 and by 2027 all boats in the terminal of the Dutch capital will have to use shore energy only to reduce their environmental impact.
A spokesman of the City Council stated that Amsterdam with these measures is implementing the strong desire to end the cruise terminal and that prohibiting access to cruise ships. A plan that is part of a broad package of measures to limit the growth of tourism by automatically combating nuisance.
The City Deputy Mayor commented that sea cruises are a form of polluting tourism and contribute to crowds and emissions in the city. By limiting sea cruises requiring shore power and aiming to move the cruise terminal from its current location in 2035 and the council is responsibly implementing to stop sea cruises.
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While the plans will undoubtedly help to improve environmental conditions in Amsterdam, it is feared that the very substantial income generated by tourism will obviously have a sharp decline as the number of cruise passengers and shipping companies with access to dock in the city port decreases and museums, shops, restaurants, companies and tourist attractions could lose out considerably.
Of course, the Amsterdam City Council has recognised this potential problem and a spokesperson has stated that this action certainly means less revenue for less tourist tax is levied and because of a lower dividend payment as a shareholder of the Port Authority.
The financial consequences of the decision will be included in the next budget memorandum, although no consequences of this decision are yet expected in the 2025 budget.
Statistical data reveal that cruise market currently bring Amsterdam around € 105 million in annual economic benefits and despite the planned relocation, experts say that there are unlikely to be any major changes given that although Amsterdam is a very receptive city with 21 million visitors each year, only 1% of this flow arrives by cruise ship.
As additional note was mentioned that the passengers are not dropped off directly in the city centre and will still be able to visit the heart of Amsterdam thanks to the very efficient, public transport system existing in Amsterdam and in the Netherlands.