Amsterdam bans cruise ships to limit visitors and curb pollution

Travel & Holidays Travel & Holidays: In The News
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It means the central cruise terminal on the River IJ near Amsterdam’s main train station will close.

Politicians said the vessels were not in line with the city’s sustainable ambitions. It is the latest measure to clamp down on mass tourism in the city. Amsterdam has become a victim of its own popularity, attracting 20 million annual visitors - some drawn by its party city reputation.

The council has been trying to scrub up, banning cannabis smoking on the streets of the red-light district. In March the council launched an online campaign urging young British men considering holding their bachelor parties in Amsterdam to stay away.

Cruise ships had become a symbol of the problem of over-tourism, and the motion to move them out of the centre passed by a large majority. “Polluting cruise ships are not in line with the sustainable ambitions of our city,” the centre-right party D66, which runs the city along with social democrats and environmentalists, said in a statement quoted by AFP news agency.

The passage of cruise ships, it said, was also not compatible with plans for new bridge between the city’s historic southern district and the Noord district, the focus of recent development projects.

Good news … :+1:

During the COVID pandemic, European cities struggling with over-tourism experienced what life could be like without cruises. For some, it triggered attempts to ban or limit the number of ships that call at these ports.

In 2021, Venice stopped large cruise ships from anchoring in its historic centre. Damage to the lagoon saw UNESCO threaten to put the city on its endangered list unless the ships were permanently banned.

They argue that the big ships cause pollution and erode the foundations of the city which already suffers from regular flooding. The ban means that large cruise and container vessels can no longer enter Venice’s Giudecca canal which leads to its famous St Mark’s Square.

Other cities could soon follow suit, including Barcelona, Marseille, Santorini and Dubrovnik.

In the USA, too:

Monterey Bay in California has had little to no ships since before COVID. It used to see around seven to 12 a year and this year several operators were scheduled to visit once again. But in February, the city sent a clear signal to cruise lines that it doesn’t want them to return.

Bar Harbor in the US state of Maine also decided to put tough limits on the number of tourists that could disembark from ships. From 2024, just 1,000 passengers and crew will be allowed to visit each day. The average number of people on a cruise is now around 3,000 guests meaning this is a tough blow for operators looking to dock in the town.

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I wonder how they will cope with the loss of revenue, It wont be long before they will be crying out for the income tourist bring in .

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Many locations feel able to stop cruise ship tourists even though their local economy depends on tourism. The reason is that tourists from these big boats do not spend much. They are on all inclusive cruises and on the few hours that they stop off somewhere they mostly limit their spending to a few souvenirs. Then they go back to their ship for drinks, food and accommodation. The tourists who come stay, eat out and live for a few days in these cities actually do add significantly to the local economy and continue to be welcome.

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Shipping in general is a huge atmosphere polluter and not just while in motion, but in port too as the engines are kept running🤬

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Just the sight of one of those floating hotels, and proper tourists run a mile.

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They certainly wouldn’t be able to talk me me into embarking on a floating coffin that size, even if they paid me.

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Indeed … :+1:

Do cruise ships bring in money where they dock?

One of the biggest arguments supporters make for keeping cruise ships is their contribution to the local economy. But do guests on these giant vessels actually spend money in the towns they dock at?

Several studies have shown that passengers disembarking from ships don’t contribute as much to the local economy as you might think. With all the food, drink and souvenirs they could ever want available on board, the money stays at sea.

It’s perhaps unsurprising when you learn that the world’s biggest cruise ship, the Wonder of the Seas, has a staggering 20 restaurants, a 1,400-seat theatre and shops selling everything from fine watches to high fashion. Depending on which package you pick, food and drink are often included and purchases are tax and duty-free.

A study from Bergen, Norway - a popular stop for fjord tours - found that up to 40 per cent of people never left the ship. For those who did go **ashore, their average spend was less than €23 (2013) **.

More research from the Norwegian city discovered that length of stay was probably one of the biggest factors in how much passengers spend.

The average port stay lasts around eight hours but this can vary massively depending on the itinerary of the ship. For some - like Barcelona - it can be as short as a four hour stop.

Cruise passengers were spending less in port in Norway last year than they did five years ago, according to a study recently published by Innovation Norway, a government agency supporting innovation and development of Norwegian companies.

Surveying more than 3,000 passengers, Innovation Norway said that cruise passengers on the average spent approximately $57 (1) in each port in 2019, compared to $97 in 2014.(1)

That’s about 5 pints of beer … :beer:

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I’m glad! We visited Amsterdam on a recent cruise and it was a sh$t hole. Piles of fag ends littered the streets, drugs are freely available, and half naked women sit in shop windows. I didn’t think they would let me back on the ship with so much weed on my person…I’ve booked again this year because it might have been a fluke…
:sunglasses:

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I can understand tourist holding back on spending in Norway
For a start, it’s extremely expensive.
Also the highlight of the Norwegian fiords cruise is the amazing scenery mostly viewed while sailing.
The ports on fiords are little more than a concrete strip with no retail therapy available.
Once you’ve done the Flam railways there little else to buy apart from cruise arranged coach trips.

Course there’s plenty of spending on a Scandinavian capital cruise.

I enjoy cruise holidays a balcony is a must especially if you like dolphin, bird ,penguins, whales & flying fish spotting…and I really do!

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Norway, too, is modifying its acceptance of cruise ships to halt pollution of the fjords:

Catching Cruise Off-Guard: Norway’S Zero-Emissions.

Norway on Jan. 1, 2026, will begin a ban on cruise ships powering through the Unesco-listed heritage fjords on anything but zero-emissions propulsion. For now, that means battery power, but few of the 190 cruise ship calls to these fjords are made with that kind of electro-chemical fuel on board. From now until 2026, you can still cruise the fjords on a closed-loop, or in-line, scrubber system, but few cruise ships have these installed. The new rules mean cruising elsewhere, finding suppliers of energy storage systems or accepting novel zero-emissions solutions.

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Yep, there’s nothing like cruising. It’s like a travelling five star hotel with different scenery everyday. I could sit on the balcony for hours looking out to sea. There is something quite special about sailing. I had the same experience as you in the Fjords Ripple. Nothing much to leave the ship for except the Flam railway, but I wouldn’t have missed the cruise up the fjords for the world. Truly spectacular.

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We loved Stavanger…And the ride on the Vernicular railway…
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Is dressing for dinner still obligatory?

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What? I’m not sure whether to be more surprised that you smuggled weed back or more surprised that you actually booked again after your horrible first trip. Do you really like this type of travelling?
( maybe you were joking about the weed )

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No dressing up for dinner isnt compulsory … anyway, formal dinners only happen when you have days at sea even then you dont have to go formal
No swimwear in restaurants

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A lot of cities that are popular with tourists are becoming terrible. Or rather, you need to spend time exploring the city to find the nice parts. Amsterdam has shoddy areas - near the station and round the red light district are bad. But I like the city - especially round the Rijksmuseum and the small streets slightly away from the centre. I understand, however, that places like San Francisco are becoming no go towns everywhere.

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The world is over-populated and mass tourism is destroying the very places that attract visitors - some of those places, including Amsterdam, are now deterring tourists:

Lanzarote

President Dolores Corujo has been vocal about wanting to attract a ‘higher quality’ of visitors who will spend more and, presumably, drink less. The island declared itself a tourist-saturated area early in 2023.

Bali

The natural beauty of the so-called Land of the Gods has long attracted tourists, but this nirvana of volcanoes and forests has also gained a reputation for debauchery and excess. At the time of writing, the Indonesian government is debating introducing a tourist tax as it looks to move from quantity to quality on the visitor front.

Venice

Undoubtedly one of the most incredibly beautiful cities on the planet, Venice is also overrun with visitors throughout the year. The narrow streets and fragile waterways aren’t built for such traffic, and a tourist tax here has long been inevitable. Initially slated for 2023, the charge has been pushed back until an unspecified date in 2024.

Barcelona

In 2022, the city took steps to limit the number of visitors, cracking down on the size of tour groups and introducing noise restrictions, among other measures. The city’s mayor has stated that tourism is a great challenge in Barcelona, and will be looking to further limit numbers to ensure a better quality of life for locals can continue in the densely-populated Catalan capital.

Bhutan

One surefire way to keep tourist numbers low is to enforce a daily tourist visa of $200 (£161, €182). This is what the mountain kingdom of Bhutan did when it reopened following the pandemic, introducing what it referred to as a ‘sustainable development fee’.

Santorini

The island started to impose restrictions in 2019, when cruise passengers were capped at 8,000 (per day, mind you) and tourists weighing over 100kg were banned from riding donkeys. It’s a start.

Machu Picchu

Visitors to Machu Picchu can only enter during one of two designated time slots, and time spent at the citadel is capped at four hours (six if hiking up), although it isn’t unusual for many to overstay. Visitor numbers increased by 700 percent between 1980 and today, with untold environmental and cultural damage done by footfall alone.

Thailand

Thailand’s move away from mass tourism began in 2017 when a new marketing strategy focused on the value of experiences over value for money. Since then, boats have been banned from Maya Bay, a popular beauty spot on the Phi Phi islands, in an effort to restore nature.

Cornwall

‘At one level, you have friends, then you have guests, then you have tourists, then you have bloody tourists, then you have f***ing emmets. You can quote me on that.’ Not words overheard in the late hours outside a pub, but an actual direct quote from Malcolm Bell, the (outgoing) head of Visit Cornwall. Heatwaves and increasing popularity have brought an unsustainable amount of visitors to the beaches and small towns of Cornwall, and residents have complained of a housing crisis caused by a proliferation of short-let holiday homes.

Great quote from Malcom but no action taken in Cornwall (yet).

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The next step is surely virtual tourism. I’m aware of at least one start up trying to break into this with pre-recorded virtual reality tours of famous locations plus live bookable guided tours - all via the internet and VR headsets.
I’ve largely given up on visiting places with too many tourists - queuing for over an hour to visit a cathedral or tower or view or ruins … is it worth it? Certainly not peak season.

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Exploring the World of Virtual Tourism: Advantages, Disadvantages, and Frequently Asked Questions - Moxee Marketing.

It’s becoming big business … but it’s not what morons and their mates want nor is it what Lady Muck and her provider can boast about. If they’re banned from one world destination they’ll just go and desecrate another … or worse (as COVID proved), stay at home and wreak havoc in their own countryside … :man_shrugging:

I wish there was an answer … :thinking:

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In a nutshell!

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Certainly the stag / hen weekend groups have made so many city centres unpleasant places at the weekend - Dublin, Amsterdam, Prague. But as long there are places in those cities that are catering for people intent on getting very drunk this form of tourism will continue.
Are there cruise ship set up for stag / hen parties? I know in Stockholm there is a ferry that simply goes out overnight to beyond the Swedish waters. The locals enjoy the bar and disco, and buy tons of duty free alcohol. Crash late, late in the evening / morning and take what’s left of the cheap drink home. The perfect stag night? The accessible form of cruising?

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