Amsterdam introduces new strict ban on UK tourists and says 'this means no'

A popular European city has joined Tenerife in launching a war on UK tourists and holidaymakers. A European Union city, Amsterdam, is cracking down on the 20 million tourists who visit every year, including Brits, after Covid.

Dutch officials are bringing in a ban on the construction of new hotels to be implemented immediately. Planning permission for any hotel in the future will be contingent on the closure of others. A new hotel therefore can only be built if an old one closes.

The Dutch city is also limiting the number of overnight stays by tourists. "We want to make and keep the city liveable for residents and visitors,” the local government said in a statement. “This means: no over-tourism, no new hotels, and no more than 20 million hotel overnight stays by tourists per year."

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Authorities also announced a limit on river cruises as part of the bid to reduce visitor numbers. Cruises are particularly disruptive during the spring and summer seasons when some 1,000 of them anchor in Amsterdam, city finance chief Hester van Buren told Dutch News.

“I am not saying this is going to solve the problem of too many tourists,” Van Buren said during a presentation of the plan this week. But we are not going to divide tourists up into good and bad. This is one of a string of measures to reduce the number of tourists in total.

"It is about the overcrowding and the coaches parked all over the pavements.” “Overtourism is a worldwide problem, and tourists don’t like it when places are so full either,” said Van Buren. “But we can’t simply put a fence around Amsterdam.”

Defending the policy, a Brit said: "Amsterdam and Tenerife are poles apart. Amsterdam was there as a city long before tourists existed. Unless you count the Romans or similar."