The number of day trippers who come to the city annually has grown rapidly in recent years. Last year, 15.1 million visitors came to the city without staying overnight. The number of tourists spending the night in Amsterdam is slightly lower than it was five years ago, but those tourists are now staying in the city longer.
According to the Organization for Research and Statistics (O&S), nearly 60 percent of the day's visitors came from the Netherlands. A large number of day trippers from abroad spend the night just outside the city.
Despite the announced measures, it seems that the number of overnight stays in the city will increase in the coming years.
More sleepovers
While the number of tourists in 2023 (9.4 million) was lower than in 2019 (10.2 million), the number of overnight stays was greater. In 2023, that number will reach 23.1 million: 300,000 more than five years ago. This means that the tourists who are here stay a little longer.
According to the council member, this is a positive development, because tourists who have more time also go to less crowded places. The council member expects the number of overnight stays to grow faster than the number of tourists, which means visitors will stay in the city longer.
“Visitor numbers will increase”
But as more and more people around the world take vacation, it seems inevitable that Amsterdam will become more crowded in the coming years. According to Mbarki, “all international trends” indicate that pre-2020 visitor numbers will return in the coming years: “This is exactly why the measures we are implementing to limit tourism and its consequences remain necessary.”
With these measures, Mbarki refers to the inner city approach, a package of plans that should ensure that the city center becomes more livable in the future. These measures include announced hotel closures, smoking bans, discouragement campaigns, bans on tourist shops and early closure of catering establishments in the red light district.
Slow down visitor growth
The Chancellor hopes that this approach can slow growth somewhat. Perhaps there is no more, because more and more people around the world can book a holiday. According to the researchers, growth could at most slow due to weak economic forecasts (such as high inflation and low purchasing power), European measures and growth restrictions from Schiphol Airport.
The measures that the municipality is trying to take against this matter are mainly aimed at the long term, according to Mubaraki. “The goal is to work towards a sustainable visitor economy by 2035.”
