Jewel of the Seas, Norwegian Journey, celebrity silhouette – the names sound more bombastic than the next, the ships named in this way are too. If you want to go on a cruise from Amsterdam, you only have to travel about a kilometer from the picturesque historic center of the city with its canals, narrow streets and sights. From Cruise Port Amsterdam you can sail to Barcelona, Rotterdam or the British Isles most days of the year. That should change soon. The city has now decided to close the central port to cruise ships.
It’s a drastic but logical decision. On the one hand, the contrast couldn’t be greater: thousands of locals with children, dogs, passenger seats or huge saddlebags cycle through a city that even has dedicated left-turn traffic lights for cyclists every day. 38 percent of all journeys in Amsterdam are made by bicycle, and the residents are proud of their sustainable form of transport. And then thousands of guests come with a means of transport that stands for unsustainable forms of transport as obviously as few: cruise ships. The form of travel does not fit the city’s sustainability agenda. The left-liberal Democrats 66 party, which had introduced the proposal, also justified its initiative with this.
Second, many of the guests only come for a few hours and are of little use to the city, as local politicians and business people repeatedly complain. For example, the mayor said in an interview that cruise guests had no time to visit the museum anyway. The city has been looking for answers to mass tourism for several years. Amsterdam experienced a peak in the boom in 2019, with 22 million overnight stays. In response to a citizens’ initiative, the administration finally limited the number of tourist overnight stays to 20 million. Since then, tourists have been dubbed “locusts” in the ugly debate, among other things, and the city has introduced the highest bed tax in all of Europe. She has also launched an online campaign targeting British drinking tourists, and cannabis, for which the city is famous, is no longer allowed to be smoked on the streets of the Red Light District.
There are already restrictions for cruise ships in Dubrovnik and Venice
The third reason for the current decision has to do with the growing local population. The administration is planning a new bridge from the north of the city to the south, which would be a hindrance to cruise traffic.
Amsterdam isn’t the first city to ban cruise ships. Venice decided something similar in 2021, not only should it help against so-called overtourism, but the ships simply endanger the structural substance of the city. And Dubrovnik had already reduced the number of cruise ships allowed four years ago. Whether the plans will actually be implemented in Amsterdam, however, is another question. In any case, the company operating the port seemed quite surprised by all the inquiries, they could not comment yet, they said on the phone, only this much: “It’s all really funny for us.”
The other question is whether a closure really helps against the crowds. Since the port opened in 2000, around 165,000 tourists have come to the city every year. Compared to the almost 25.5 million people who land at Schiphol Airport every year, that makes little difference. After all: As a further measure to improve the quality of life in the city, Amsterdam wants to ban night flights and private jets.