A lot fewer British tourists came to Amsterdam this year than in previous years. The British news site reports this The Independent. Earlier this year, the municipality started an online campaign to keep party tourists out of the city, and according to the news site, it is having an effect. The number of British people dropped by 22 percent compared to 2019.
Since March this year, the city has started the so-called Stay Away campaign. Britons who search online for terms such as ‘cheap hotel Amsterdam’ or ‘pub crawl Amsterdam’ are shown a warning video in which a man is arrested by the police and someone is taken to hospital. The campaign is part of a package of measures adopted by the municipal council to keep out nuisance tourists.
According to The Independent, the approach shows that the measures work: “The Dutch government has chosen a unique approach to controlling large groups. The approach shows that it is possible to keep tourists out and can serve as a blueprint for other countries that want to do the same,” Beverley Boden, head of tourism at Teesside University International Business School, told the news site.
Other tourists
According to Boden, the campaign can ensure that ‘quieter’ tourists visit the city instead of partying young people: “People are of course still free to fly to Amsterdam, but the approach shows that it is possible to change the demography of who is in the country. comes in, which could ultimately be better for other types of tourists,” Boden said.
The decline would not be solely due to the Stay Away campaign. The news site writes that the number of tourists visiting the Netherlands is also due to the planned shrinkage of Schiphol.