Travel sector says Hague ban on fossil fuel ads restricts their freedom of speech

The ANVR, the trade association for travel agencies, is taking The Hague to court over the city’s decision to ban fossil fuel advertisements in public spaces. According to the travel industry, the ban is a “serious restriction” of its freedom of expression, NOS reports.

Several Dutch cities, including Amsterdam, Utrecht, and Eindhoven, are considering banning advertisements that promote the use of fossil fuels, but The Hague is the first to actually do so. From January 1, there will be no ads for flight holidays, cruise ships, or hybrid- or combustion-engine cars on bus shelters and billboards in the city. According to responsible alderman Robert Barker (PvdD), The Hague is “even the first in the world to do this.”

The travel industry organization ANVR is vehemently against the ban and thinks it has a good chance of the court agreeing. “Companies and brands also have freedom of expression,” director Frank Radstake told NOS. He also thinks the ban will have so little impact on climate change that it will not hold up in court.

ANVR director Radstake acknowledges that there is a climate crisis and travel agencies pushing cheap flights is not helping. “As a sector, we have to get rid of those advertisements. We are already trying to do that, the sector is in transition. But then we have to be able to tell about that transition through advertisements.”

The Dutch Association of Advertisers also doesn’t think that one municipality’s ban on fossil fuel ads will have much of an impact on climate change. But the alderman sees it differently. “The national government does very little, so we look at local measures. We want to be a city by the sea, not in the sea.”

The municipality of The Hague looks forward to the court case with confidence. Alderman Barker referred to statements by UN Secretary-General António Guterres advocating for a fossil fuel ads ban in June. He also pointed out that affected businesses once fought to keep advertising smoking and gambling.