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"The climate will not wait. In other words, now is the time for action. Various sectors must contribute to this, including the cruise," she added. "The municipality of Amsterdam is going to investigate how this proposal can be implemented," a spokesperson for the Amsterdam Tourist Board told Cruise Critic. The city has long been trying to curb rowdy behaviour such as stag parties, especially near the red light area where sex workers operate.
Elsewhere on the BBC
Officials see banning cruise ships as an easy win for Amsterdam's ambitious sustainability target of becoming completely emission-free by 2030. One 2021 emissions study found a single big cruise ship produced the same pollution levels in a single day as 30,000 trucks. The city is a popular embarkation port or stop on transatlantic, British Isles and Northern and Western Europe itineraries. Many river cruise lines, such as Viking and AmaWaterways, also embark ships or dock in the city on Rhine River and "Tulip Time" cruises around Belgium and the Netherlands. The city has also placed on a ban on smoking cannabis in public and has reduced alcohol sales in some areas of the city center.
Port Closure Part of a Wider Drive to Limit Tourist Numbers
Cruise lines, meanwhile, are still trying to make sense of the vote, but so far seem largely undeterred. That may be because vessels do have another way to dock near Amsterdam, though not quite as near to the city center. The next closest option is 24 miles away in IJmuiden, and cruise ships could always dock there and bus their guests into Amsterdam, writes the Independent’s Simon Calder. The City Council passed a proposal on Thursday to close a terminal where more than a hundred cruise ships dock each year not far from the central train station. (11 a.m. EDT) – Amsterdam City Council has voted to shut down the cruise terminal in what it says is a bid to curb pollution and a drive to reduce tourist numbers. The party also said the passage of cruise ships was not compatible with plans for a new bridge between the city’s historic southern district and the Noord district, the focus of recent development projects.
Sky News Services
According to CLIA, of the more than 21 million visitors that Amsterdam receives each year, about 1 percent arrive by cruise ship, with cruise tourism contributing around 105 million euros to the city annually. While Barcelona has not outright banned cruise ships, it has made efforts to limit the number arriving in its docks. Venice—The Italian city banned cruise liners in 2021 to protect the environment and its heritage, Reuters first reported. Ships that weigh more than 25,000 tons are no longer allowed down the Giudecca Canal, which passes the Palazzo Giustinian Recanati, several famous churches and the Dogana da Mar art gallery. At the time, Venice was in danger of being classified as “world heritage in danger” by the United Nations, meaning overtourism was threatening the architecture and environment that put the historic center of Venice on the World Heritage List in 2001.
Amsterdam tourism, by the digits
Anouk Panman, a spokesperson for deputy mayor Hester van Buren, confirmed in an email Friday the city council had adopted the motion. “The municipality of Amsterdam is going to investigate how this proposal can be implemented,” she wrote. “The motivation of the proposal from the City Council was to reduce the number of tourists, but also for environmental reasons,” Amsterdam’s deputy mayor, Hester van Buren, said in a statement on Friday. The Cruise Lines International Association — the advocacy group for cruise lines — said in a statement that a ban is unlikely; instead, they are working with Amsterdam to move the port outside of the city center. Amsterdam, which added that it was seeking to keep hotel stays by tourists to under 20 million per year, saw its highest number of visitors before the pandemic in 2019, when there were 25.2 million hotel stays, according to the city’s data.
Rooderkerk claimed since Venice banned cruise ships two years ago air pollution from sulphur emissions has dropped by 80%. In 2021, ~2,300 cruise ships docked along the city's waterfront, prompting officials to implement measures aimed at reducing this number to 1,150 by 2028. This reduction would translate to a decrease in tourist numbers by 271,000 and could impact the region's economy by EUR 73.5 million annually. Of course, Amsterdam is not the only European city where cruise ships have drawn negative attention. Venice has already banned large cruise ships from entering, while Barcelona, Santorini, and Dubrovnik have or will limit cruise ship arrivals. Besides the ocean-going ships, Amsterdam is a primary homeport for river cruise ships sailing from the Netherlands to Germany, Switzerland, France, and Eastern Europe.
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Amsterdam’s city council has decided to close a cruise ship terminal in its centre, in the latest attempt to limit mass tourism in the Dutch capital. By banning cruise ships in the city center, Amsterdam is following in the footsteps of Venice. The Italian government in 2021 banned large cruise ships weighing over 25,000 tonnes in Venice’s historic lagoon to protect the site.
The Cruise Terminal Relocation Initiative
And in March, Amsterdam launched a “Stay Away” campaign to discourage tourists planning drug and alcohol-fuelled parties. Amsterdam has been searching for any way to rein in the number of tourists that visit the city every year. The move is partly because attempts are being made to reduce the number of visitors to the Dutch capital. Amsterdam has become a victim of its own popularity, attracting 20 million annual visitors - some drawn by its party city reputation. The growing northern district is one of the few areas within the city’s limits with room to add housing stock, and the city wants to build the bridge to a height of just 30 feet for both cost and accessibility reasons.
The Straits Times
This decision represents a significant shift in the city’s approach toward cruise tourism. Amsterdam city council has voted yes on policies that aim to ban or severely limit cruise ships from docking in the city center. The Amsterdam Cruise Terminal is located next to the Amsterdam Central Station and within walking distance of the historic old city. The current cruise terminal was built in 2000 and cost around 40 million euros to build, according to Cruise Port Amsterdam. A few weeks before the city council’s decision, the city had approved the installation of shore power connections for ocean and river cruise ships that are expected to be operational by 2025. Political party D66 Amsterdam said Thursday its proposal to relocate the terminal, effectively blocking cruise ships from the city, had been adopted by a large majority of the city council.
The cruise ship measure was the latest attempt by Amsterdam to cap the number of visitors and crack down on bad behavior as the tourism industry has rebounded, addressing residents’ longstanding grievances linked to overcrowding and rowdy tourists. Last year, the city drew about 20 million visitors and in 2021, close to nine million tourists came either for a day trip or overnight, according to city data. Other recent measures to restore quiet to the city’s historic centre have included a ban on smoking cannabis on the streets of the red light district. “Polluting cruise ships are not in line with the sustainable ambitions of our city,” said a statement from the centre-right party D66, which runs the city with the social democrats PvdA and GroenLinks environmentalists.
Amsterdam Took a Major Step Toward Banning Cruises—What It Means for Upcoming Voyages - Condé Nast Traveler
Amsterdam Took a Major Step Toward Banning Cruises—What It Means for Upcoming Voyages.
Posted: Thu, 27 Jul 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
The proposal, which was adopted by a large majority in the city council on Thursday, aims to close down the ocean cruise terminal near Amsterdam’s central rail station and move it further from the city to an undetermined location. No clear timeline has been set, however, and Cruise Port Amsterdam, which operates the terminal, said it is waiting for more information regarding next steps. "As the port has publicly stated, cruise ships have not been banned from Amsterdam," the statement read.
The Spanish city, which ranked as the worst cruise port for air pollution in Europe in research conducted by Transport and Environment last year, is also concerned about pollution. Furthermore, research examining the impact of ocean-going cruises is underway, with findings expected to be published before summer. These findings will inform potential measures to reduce the impact of such cruises on Amsterdam's tourism landscape. In addition to curbing river boat cruises, Amsterdam has initiated the second phase of its "stay away" campaign, aimed at discouraging budget tourists who visit the city primarily for recreational drug use. Similar scenes have played out around the world in recent years, as major European cities and US ports place limits on cruise ships to combat overcrowding and pollution. Amsterdam “is already taking lots of measures against excessive tourism and nuisance .
The vote is the latest step in the Dutch capital’s long-running campaign to reduce the impact of tourism. Cruise Hive was established back in 2008 and among the earliest blogs in the industry. Since the start, it's been our aim to provide the latest cruise news covering all the major cruise lines. We make sure cruisers are fully prepared for their cruise vacation with tips on ships and ports.Millions of travelers rely on Cruise Hive in the United States, Europe, Australia, and around the world.
