New Amsterdam government determined to tame tourism with restrictions on Airbnb and 'beer bikes'

AMSTERDAM - Amsterdam unveiled plans on Wednesday to rein in tourism, reflecting the dissatisfaction of many residents who feel the city’s centuries-old center has been overrun.

The leading Green Left party and other parties negotiating a new municipal government after a local election in March vowed to return “Balance to the City,” in a document of that name seen by Reuters that amounts to part of a governing pact.

“The positive sides of tourism such as employment and city revenues are being more and more overshadowed by the negative consequences,” including trash and noise pollution, the document said.

Changes the document outlines include curtailing “amusement transportation” such as multiperson “beer bikes,” cracking down on alcohol use in boats on the canals, further restricting Airbnb and other home rentals, and a large tax hike.

The plans announced on Wednesday also include creating an inventory of all commercial beds in the city to try to cap various sectors such as those on cruise ships and in hotels.

With a population of around 800,000, the city expects 18 million tourists in 2018, an increase of 20 percent from 2016 levels, with many drawn by an edgy atmosphere generated by readily available soft drugs and the “red light” sex zone.

Anti-tourist and anti-expatriate sentiment have been steadily on the rise in Amsterdam, as both are blamed in part for helping to drive housing prices increasingly out of the reach of ordinary Dutch people.

The average apartment in Amsterdam cost €407,000 ($475,000) in 2017, an increase of about 12 percent from 2016 levels, according to the national real estate association NVM.

A change of emphasis has already been started by the national government over the past few years to try to dissuade visitors from the more earthy pastimes the city is famous for.

Advertising campaigns have focused on the city’s canals, the Anne Frank House and the museums packed with Van Gogh and Rembrandt’s greatest works.

Legislators have helped the re-branding by shutting a third of the city’s brothels in 2008 and starting a program to close marijuana cafes near schools in 2011.

“Amsterdam is a city to live and work in — it’s only a tourist destination in the second place,” the municipal document said.

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