Residents’ interest group to sue Amsterdam over failure to curb mass tourism

The residents' interest group Amsterdam Has a Choice is taking legal action against the municipality of Amsterdam, claiming the city is not doing enough to address the growth of mass tourism. The group had given Amsterdam until Tuesday to comply with its own ordinance from 2021.

In the ordinance, it is stated that the maximum number of tourist overnight stays in the city will be 20 million a year. This number has been exceeded significantly over the last two years. This year, it is forecasted that there will be between 23 and 26 million overnight stays in the city. The maximum set in 2021 came as a result of a petition that was signed over 30,000 times.

The 2021 ordinance not only sets a cap of 20 million overnight stays per year but also states that the city must take corrective action if the threshold of 18 million overnight stays is breached, such as limiting hotel permits or reducing tourism marketing.

Amsterdam Has a Choice is calling for stricter controls on hotel development, stronger enforcement of short-term rental regulations, and a moratorium on international tourism campaigns.

Amsterdam responded to the formal notice from the residents' interest group, but according to a spokesperson for the group, the response was not satisfactory enough to prevent legal action. The spokesperson added that it will likely be several more weeks before the case appears on the court’s docket.

The responsible alderman, Sofyan Mbarki (Economic Affairs), regrets that the matter is going to court. The city recognizes that the number of tourists in Amsterdam is too high, but feels that there are measures to combat this and that more measures will be needed to bring the number back to 20 million a year.

"I understand that residents want to use their right to demand attention to measures that we could take via a lawsuit," Mbarki added in an earlier response to the formal notice from the residents' interest group. “Together with residents and business owners, we are working on the task set out in the ordinance and have already taken a large number of significant measures.”

The municipality has raised tourist taxes, banned the construction of new hotels in certain areas, and limited Airbnb and holiday rentals as part of their measures to curb mass tourism.

Mbarki promised to develop more measures to combat the high number of tourism in the city before the end of the year.