One million tourists are expected to visit the Netherlands during the Easter weekend, 150 thousand more than last year, according to the Netherlands board of tourism and convention NBTC. Mainly tourists from the Netherlands' neighboring countries will visit this weekend, NOS reports.
Around two thirds of the Easter visitors come from Germany and a quarter from Belgium, the NBTC estimates. In addition, some 350 thousand Dutch people will also go on holiday in the Netherlands this weekend.
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."
Amsterdam will ban guided group tours along the window brothels in the Red Light District, the city announced in a press statement. The municipality is currently working out how to legally implement the ban.
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.
NS turning its attention to tackling chaos at train ticket machines at Schiphol airport, caused by foreign tourists with no public transit cards who want to buy tickets to travel to Amsterdam. The Dutch rail company is approaching international travel providers to convince them to sell online train tickets to and from Schiphol to tourists in advance, the Telegraaf reports.
Amsterdam is one of the world's top 25 most visited cities in the world, according to Euromonitor International's annual Top 100 City Destinations 2018. Like last year, the Dutch capital is 23rd in the ranking, NU.nl reports.
In 2018 Amsterdam welcomed 8.5 million visitors, an 8 percent increase compared to 2017. Since 2012, Amsterdam climbed four spots on the ranking.
Euromonitor International considers a visitor to be someone who spends more than one day but less than 12 months in a city. Day visitors are therefore not included in the figures.
The red and white 'I Amsterdam' letters were removed from the Museumplein on Monday morning. The removal started at 8:30 a.m. and the letters were taken away on a truck 30 minutes later, Het Parool reports.
Cruise ship company MSC Cruises will no longer stop in Amsterdam from next year, due to the new tourist tax of 8 euros per day for passengers for whom the Dutch capital is a stopover. The company does not want to recover these costs from its customers, NH Nieuws reports.
Amsterdam wants to limit the number of Bed & Breakfasts in the city. The municipality is therefore making it compulsory for anyone who wants to open a B&B to get a permit. The permit will also state how many rooms may be rented out as holiday accommodation, the city said in a statement.
Most Dutch voters are against the plan to remove the I Amsterdam letters from the Dutch capital, according to a survey by Maurice de Hond. 69 percent of all Dutch voters and 66 percent of Amsterdam voters find getting rid of the letters, located on Museumplein and at Schiphol among others, a bad idea.
The famous I Amsterdam letters on the Museumplein have to go, according to a motion filed by the GroenLinks faction in Amsterdam. The slogan has become a symbol for mass tourism, the party finds. The motion seems to have support from the D66, PvdA and SP - a majority in the city council, Het Parool reports.
With the motion, GroenLinks asked the office of mayor and aldermen to remove the I Amsterdam letters from the whole city and to stop all city marketing activities under the slogan of I Amsterdam.
Authorities in the picturesque village of Giethoorn are trying to track down reports of fake police officers luring and robbing Chinese tourists. Police say they are looking to speak with any victims and witnesses of similar robberies.
Police say they are trying to track down two or three light complected young men with dark hair. The suspects have used a dark colored four-door sedan, not a hatchback, in the robberies. Each robbery took place in the afternoon, but police did not specify the dates of the crimes.
Most of the Eindhoven residents who rent out their homes through Airbnb do not pay tourist tax, according to ANG, a specialized company hired to inspect Airbnb accommodation in the Noord-Brabant city. This means that the city treasury is missing out on a large sum of income, NOS reports.
Over the past month ANG contacted more than a hundred Airbnb landlords and inspected 38 Airbnb locations. "Only 30 to 40 addresses paid the sum of 3.50 euros per person per night", the company said.
The municipality of Amsterdam is preparing experiments with three boat-related measures to see if they can reduce inconvenience for residents and business owners in the crowded city center. The first is a pleasure boat ban on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal in the afternoon and evening, AT5 reports.
An increasing number of prostitutes working in Amsterdam's Red Light District are struggling with debts, that can range from 10 thousand euros to 30 thousand euros, newspaper Trouw reports based on its own research.
No total overview is available, but the debt problem is large, three Christian organizations that support prostitutes in the Red Light District - the Salvation Army, Scharlaken Koord and Bright Fame - confirmed to the newspaper.
An illegal hotel was closed down for three months in Amsterdam's West-Indischebuurt earlier this week. The hotel was discovered during extra checks the city is doing this week and next, Het Parool reports.
The illegal hotel was closed due to fire hazards, according to the newspaper. The apartment offered six rooms to rent under names like the Harry Potter Room and the Van Gogh room. Eleven people were staying in the apartment. The illegal hotel was boarded up and the owner and tenant of the apartment were each fined 20,500 euros.
Amsterdam is implementing cleaning breaks in the Red Light District during busy nights. Parts of the street will be temporarily be closed to the public, so that the mess left by visitors can be cleaned up. This is one of the measures new mayor Femke Halsema is taking to quickly solve problems in the overcrowded Amsterdam city center, following damning reports by the city's ombudsman, Het Parool reports.
A virtual reality installation at Amsterdam Central Station is intended to lure tourists to attractions outside the Dutch capital and thereby spread tourism throughout the country. The Netherlands is more than just Amsterdam, is the message, Het Parool reports.
Amsterdam residents are more concerned about the housing shortage in the city than the crowds of tourists or crime, according to a bi-annual survey the municipality did among 2,378 residents, Het Parool reports.
57 percent of respondents called the housing shortage their main concern. This is especially a worry for young people between 16 and 29 years old. 38 percent are worried about tourism, and 31 percent about crime.
About half of the residents think that Amsterdam is heading in the right direction. 39 percent disagree.
The new Zaanstad city council wants to take advantage of Amsterdam's popularity among tourists and the measures the Dutch capital is taking to spread out the crowds of visitors, according to the Zaandstad coalition agreement presented on Sunday, AT5 reports.
Amsterdam launched a campaign to address misbehaving tourists on their behavior. The campaign Enjoy & Respect is specifically aimed at male visitors between the ages at 18 and 34. It makes clear that behavior like public urination is not only unacceptable, but will also cost you money, Het Parool reports.
The new Amsterdam college of mayor and aldermen will also be tough on tourism. The coalition negotiations between GroenLinks, D66, PvdA and SP are still ongoing, but the parties reached an agreement on their tourism plans, they announced on Wednesday morning, Het Parool reports.
Amsterdam's ban on new tourist stores and beer bikes in Amsterdam city center, is resulting in more and more tourists flocking to Amsterdam West. The district therefore plans to implement similar measures, to keep the area livable for its residents, Het Parool reports.
Amsterdam West wants to ban new bars and cafes, new tourist shops and beer bikes.
The number of tourists that stayed in accommodation in the Netherlands last year increased by nearly 9 percent to 42 million. That is the strongest growth since 2006, according to figures Statistics Netherlands released on Wednesday.
Statistics Netherlands' figures do not include overnight stays in accommodations with fewer than five rooms, which means that most tourists booking accommodation through online platforms like Airbnb are not included in these figures.
