tourism

Hotels in Amsterdam had a strong start this year. In the first four months of 2019 there were 12.5 percent more overnight hotel stays in the Dutch capital than in the same period last year, De Telegraaf reports based on figures from ABN Amro's economic bureau.

After nine years in operation, the Amsterdam Underground tour - started by the De Regenboog Groep, an NGO that works with homeless people - will now be in the hands of the formerly homeless guides who have lived the experiences the tour aims to illuminate to tourists. De Regenboog made the decision to form a cooperative for the four current volunteers to own the business and have full control of their narratives.

Amsterdam and nine other European tourist cities want more support from the European Union in their fight against tourist rental through online platforms like Airbnb. They issued a joint statement in response to a ruling by the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice stating that Airbnb is an informal service provider and therefore needs to take little to no responsibility for complying with holiday rental rules, NOS reports.

The Hague is working on luring smaller, luxury cruise ships with wealthy tourists to the city. With special tours, the city wants to get tourists excited about coming to visit. According to Economy alderman Richard de Mos, tourism is an important pillar of the city's economy and one in ten residents earns money from it, NOS reports.

The public transit strike left train stations throughout the Netherlands largely deserted on Tuesday morning. People gathered in the stations were largely tourists who did not know about the strike.

Tourists Rachel, Angie, and Acqua were caught by surprise when they arrived at Amsterdam Central Station. They have a hotel booked in Rotterdam. A volunteer from Red Cross explained the strike to them.

Flower park Keukenhof in Lisse closed its doors for the year this weekend. In the 60 days it was open this year, the Netherlands' biggest flower park attracted a record number of 1.5 million visitors, almost double the 800 thousand tickets the park sold in 2013, the Telegraaf reports.

The municipality of Amsterdam is investigating whether a partial alcohol ban is possible on the water in the city. That would mean that it will no longer be allowed to drink alcohol on boats in certain parts of the city, RTL Nieuws reports.

After years of growth, the use of Airbnb in Amsterdam fell for the first time last year, according to real estate adviser Colliers based on figures from research agency AirDNA. Airbnb itself has not yet released figures for 2018, NOS reports.

The number of Airbnb overnight stays in Amsterdam fell by 5 percent to 1.98 million last year, according to Colliers. The number of accommodations decreased by 8.3 percent t 25,380. Airbnb's market share compared to hotels and other accommodation providers decreased from 11.6 percent in 2017 to 10.4 percent in 2018. 

De Keukenhof received so many visitors on Saturday and Sunday that the flower park in Lisse was inaccessible by car on both days. On Sunday morning, people even stopped on the emergency lane on the A44 to take photos of the flower fields, NOS reports.

The park's parking lots were overflowing with cars. And cars stopping on the A44 caused quite a traffic jam near Kaag. Public works department Rijkswaterstaat had to call on road users to not stop on the highway. The shuttle bus to Keukenhof was temporarily halted on Saturday, Arriva said.

A campaign is being launched to keep tourists out of the flower fields in the Bollenstreek. Banners, signs, barriers and volunteers must all ensure that tourists don't crush the flowers while trying to take a nice photograph. "Everyone is welcome, but we want it to remain fun for everyone", flower bulb gower and initiator Simon Pennings said to Omroep West.

"I've been growing bulbs for 40 years, but it's actually getting worse", Pennings said to the broadcaster. "They walk across the fields and jump from path to path. That causes damage, they trample the tulips."

The municipality of Amsterdam plans to put an end to the rapidly increasing number of ATMs belonging to American company Euronet. These ATMs are mainly aimed at foreign tourists, and are more expensive to use than Dutch banks' ATMs as Euronet charges a hefty fee per cash withdrawal and uses unfavorable exchange rates, NOS reports.

In the space of a few years, dozens of these Euronet ATMs have popped up in shops in the Amsterdam city center. It must be noted that people with a Dutch bank card can use Euronet machines for free, according to the broadcaster.