Red Light District businesses vexed by Amsterdam plan to ban tourists from coffeeshops

A group of business owners in Amsterdam’s Red Light District has asked the city council to abandon plans to ban international tourists from coffeeshops. Parties in the city are pushing to implement the resident criterion (i-criterion), meaning that coffeeshops can only sell cannabis to people who live in the Netherlands. That is a bad idea, the business owners wrote in a letter to the city council and mayor, which AT5 and NH Nieuws have in their possession.

The businesses warn that the i-criterion would result in tourists turning to street dealers instead, causing more problems. “Regulated sales will then be replaced by unregulated trade, with direct consequences for safety, quality of life, and entrepreneurship,” they wrote. The coronavirus lockdowns, during which coffeeshops were closed, showed that street dealing can “explode” within a single day, they said.

“We urge you not to make a decision that will undermine the stability achieved and put renewed pressure on safety in the area,” reads the letter, written by Joachim Helms of the Green House coffeeshop and a director of the Association of Cannabis Retailers, and signed by participating businesses, the Red Light District Safety Consultation, and the Blaauwlkenblok Residents’ Association.

The i-criterion would also be bad for business. A recent study conducted by Ipsos I&O for the Association of Cannabis Retailers showed that a majority of hospitality and retail entrepreneurs are already impacted by the city’s tourist-detering measures. They’ve “experienced a decline in customers and turnover and are dissatisfied with the municipality’s policy regarding crowds in the city,” the researchers wrote.

60 percent of hospitality and retail businesses in the city center experienced a decline in the number of customers over the past two years. 34 percent reported a decrease in spending per customer. 66 percent reported a decline in revenue in the same period. 25 percent said their revenues fell by 5 to 20 percent, 23 percent reported a 20 to 40 percent decline.

“Various reasons are cited for the decline in revenue. A decrease in paying visitors is cited. Business owners also say they are affected by policy measures such as early closing time for hospitality businesses,” the researchers wrote. Rising costs are also an issue.

The i-criterion is expected to impact business owners similarly. A 2021 study by Ipsos I&O found that coffeeshops were the main source of tourists’ cannabis. In that same study, a quarter of tourists said they would turn to street dealers if they weren’t allowed to buy from coffeeshops.