Amsterdamaging tourism

Created on November 26, 2018

Story by

Katerina Zekopoulos

Translation by:

Domi

Article in en

n

It was the promise of a 20-euro round trip: spending the week-end in Amsterdam, enjoying the serenity of the canals, getting lost in the paved streets and forgetting Brussels, smelling tulips. But already out of my hostel, I quickly perceive that the Dutch quietness I was seeking was as far from the truth as an information in a forum full of fake news. My backpack has barely been dropped off that I am swept away by a tourists crowd worthy of that of a world cup victory. Selfies here, stories there, not a single street corner escapes the frenzy that has taken over the city.

The Amsterdam congestion

It must be said that the weather is still very summery. With a mix of joy and guilt, and sunglasses perked over one's nose, one catches oneself appreciating, against one's will, the effects of climate change. The terraces are full, the canals are overfilled with barges and other evocatively-named vessels: Sunshine, Dutchman, Friendship… all following and colliding with each other. Because on this sunny Saturday afternoon, there is traffic jam in the canal. The streets are no better by the way, a fact I am soon to see that when I make for Dam place, where the hippies were meeting in the 60's. Thanks Lonely Planet. Bikes, tramways, cars, eco rickshaws are mingled in a pretty chaos that a man in his fifties is trying to capture, sitted on a bench, camera in hand. An elegant woman, perched on heels bringing shame to my Gazelles, is getting out of a sportswear shop, obviously thrilled but exhausted. She hasn't even reached her awaiting gentleman outside, that her expression is frozen forever in a "Flash!".

Taken away by the tourist wave, I end up in a cosy café in front of a coffee shop a few meters away from Dam place. Completely dazed, I order a cappuccino that I almost turn into an Instragram story, and I reflect on what some would call "Disneylandization". Meaning: [the transformation, as a result of mass tourism] (https://cafebabel.com/fr/article/tourisme-durable-des-vacances-ecolos-sont-elles-possibles-5b852e67f723b31f3ba020f7/), of destinations like Venice, Barcelona, Lisbon, Santorini, Maya Bay (Thailand) etc. in giant theme parks. But what exactly are we talking about here?

See also : "Sustainable tourism: Are environmentally-friendly holidays a solution?" »

No-limit tourism?

If mass tourism is not new and refers to the democratization, beginning in mid-20th century, of a practice that was once only available to the richest social classes, its first symptoms in the Netherlands's capital appear in 2015. At that time, the city council goes for the limitation of barges ([turned into hotels]) (https://nltimes.nl/2015/06/03/amsterdam-limit-houseboat-tourist-rentals) rentals, while the locals demonstrate against the augmentation of touristic accommodations, [in the city centre amongst other places] (http://www.simplyamsterdam.nl/Anti-hotel_demonstration_in_Amsterdam_Centre.html).

In August 2017, there are more people staying in hotels and Airbnbs than people actually living in Amsterdam.

Indeed, the Amsterdam metropolitan area has experienced a sustained growth in tourism since the 2008-2009 economical crisis ([OIS (https://www.ois.amsterdam.nl/english/)), consistent with the global trend. In 2017, the number of domestic and international tourists reaches the record figure of 42 million, for a city counting less than 900 000 inhabitants (central office of statistics CBS). So much so that in August 2017, there are more people staying in hotels and Airbnbs than people actually living in Amsterdam. Mass tourism is therefore not only a matter of quantity but also, or rather especially, of capacity. Yet in 2016 already, the hosting capacity had almost reached its maximum, with a touristic housing occupancy rate of 82% (OIS).

This results in disturbances, pollution, the soaring of property prices… and exasperated locals. According to a survey from Amsterdam municipality, things like trash, traffic jam and noise are particularly frequent causes for complaints coming from the inhabitants, as well as the difficulty to park. Other nuisances are more limited: the feeling of clutter, the perception on the number of hotels and seasonal locations, affect the central districts for the most part.

A shopkeeper I have met during one of my touristic peregrinations confirms this assertion. Her store, located close from the famous Red Light District, catches the passerby thanks to its window full of various items, each as charming as the next. A vintage signpost at the entrance displays a "Home-made Dutch diner" label, as if to counterbalance the international restaurant offers from the other shops. "I am the one who cooks", she confirms with a smile, before confiding that she cannot open her shop after 8 pm due to the degradations some euphoric and even out of control tourists might cause after nightfall.

At the hostel, it is the turn of a group of friends in their twenties to regret the effects of mass tourism: coming from Germany for the week-end, they quickly gave up on their hope to visit Anne Frank's house and the Van Gogh museum, deterred by the 2- to 3-hour queue awaiting them. For this time in any case. "Next time, we'll book our tickets in advance!", Erik reassures himself, for whom it was a first time in Amsterdam. Angela, his fellow traveler, seems more skeptical. Her backpack solidly secured around her shoulders, she gives him a sardonic look before announcing to her friends that it is time to set for Amsterdam-Central, the city's main train station, to Berlin.

Tourism: from mass to godsend

This is the entire paradox of mass tourism, exasperating locals… but also tourists themselves. To the point of making us all schizophrenic. Through the large window of the café I've taken shelter in, I look at the crowds of people hurrying and bustling in the streets. Tourists among tourists, I refuse this label. Me, just another tourist? Are you serious? This common hatred of "the tourist" leads me to exchange a few words with one of the delightfully hipster-looking waiters - check shirt, neat beard, ornamental glasses. After the usual freakishly touristy small talk, Noah drops: "How many eggs would you say I've thrown?". I don't understand right away and ask him to repeat, thinking that he wants to share an awesome vegan omelette recipe (?!) or promote one of the courses in the menu. "Do you know how many eggs I've thrown at tourists?", he rephrases more distinctively, before his duty calls him at another table. Seeing my perplexity, he comes back and explains to me that tourists making noise repeatedly prevent his children from sleeping. Hence the egg-throwing, a practice altogether usual to express one's being fed up.

« Do you know how many eggs I’ve thrown at tourists ? »

Noah, waiter from Amsterdam.

This is precisely the problem: if tourists prevent Noah's children from having a good night's sleep, they also are his bread and butter, his favorable clients. Thus in 2017, the tourism industry has generated 75 million euros nationally and has provided employment to 641 000 people, the equivalent of 3 quarters of the Amsterdam population. Therefore, how to take advantage from this windfall without having to endure the drawbacks of mass tourism?

Read also: "[Meet My Hood: Amsterdam-Noord]"(https://cafebabel.com/en/article/meet-my-hood-amsterdam-noord-5ae00bf8f723b35a145e81da/)

"Spread tourism", scatter to control better?

That is the difficult equation the Dutch government is trying to solve, thanks to a tourists dispersion strategy in time and space. The official name of this strategy implemented by NBTC Holland? "HollandCity". Roughly speaking, it is a question of receiving as many or more tourists, but of spreading them better in time and on the territory. The promise? Unblocking the most saturated areas without losing the benefits associated to tourism and its takeoff, supported by an increasing demand originating from countries like the United States, China and Russia (CBS).

But rather than confine tourism, doesn't this strategy risk to push back its boundaries by expanding it to new territories, without resolving the problem of hyper-sollicitation of internationally-prized destinations like Amsterdam? Architect and consultant, author of an essay on the city's touristic future, Stephen Hodes* warns in an article published in Dutch News that "foreign tourists want to visit Amsterdam and the efforts aiming at encouraging visitors to go to other regions have little chance of succeeding".

Unless Anne Frank's house, the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum are moved away, the canal belt removed from UNESCO World Heritage's list and/or the Red Light District prostitutes replaced by Barbie dolls, there is indeed little likelihood that tourists would turn away from Amsterdam. Even if they let themselves be seduced by Rotterdam or Maastricht, go shopping in Groningen, or take the ferry to the Wadden Islands in the Friezeland province, as NBTC Holland suggests, it is hard to imagine that Amsterdam will not always be included in the package.

Just as I finally get out of my refuge, around 4pm, I prepare myself to take a picture of bordering houses with orange tones reflected in the canal, but I come around, aware of my contribution to this global phenomenon we call mass tourism. What if, unlike the latter or an equally damaging superficially "ethical" tourism, a responsible tourism began by one's awareness of one's own impact? One's own reflection?

Cover picture : (cc)misgn/pixabay

Translated from Tourisme : dans les torts d'Amsterdam by Domi.