Amsterdam is to ban guided tours of its Red Light District as the city gets to grips with overtourism and cracks down on what the Deputy Mayor has called, “tourists gawping at the city’s sex workers”.
It is estimated that more than 1,000 groups pass through the Oudekerksplein square in the Red Light district every week, and anyone who offer tours illegally will, from 1 January 2020, liable for a fine of €190, with fines rising as high as €2,500 for companies who repeatedly break the rules.
Tourist numbers in Amsterdam – a city of 850,000 residents – rose to 19m in 2018 and are predicted to rise further.
The City will also ban free tours and soliciting visitors to take part in tours. In addition, in the future participants of guided tours will need to pay an additional fee/tourist-tax, the so-called VMR fee.
Deputy Mayor Udo Kock (Economic Affairs) said: “We are banning tours that take visitors along sex workers’ windows, not only because we want to prevent overcrowding in the Red Light District, but also because it is not respectful to sex workers. It is outdated to treat sex workers as a tourist attraction.”
The maximum number of participants on guided tours will be decreased from 20 to 15. In addition, the City will, in consultation with the industry, introduce an official accreditation for tour guides that can only be gained if the guides fulfil certain requirements. Details regarding the introduction of the VMR fee for tour-participants, which is currently set at 66 eurocents, and which is already charged to passengers of canal cruises and sightseeing bus tours, will be further defined this spring.
Since the introduction of the current licensing system on 1 April 2018, 1,600 licences have been granted to tour guides in the Red Light District.
Evaluation of the current licence system showed that while it had reduced the level of disruption caused by groups, it has not eradicated it.
From 1 April 2019 tours in the Red Light District may already not take place after 19:00. They are currently permitted until 23:00.
