“stay away” in English, or “Don’t come” in French: the message deserves to be clear. This advertising campaign launched this week targets those who go back and forth to Amsterdam, the Netherlands not to enjoy its museums or its heritage, but for touring the beer bars, smoking to excess just about anything and everything, those who find it very funny to urinate in the canals or stagger shouting obscenities in the Red Light District of prostitutes… In short, those that local residents can no longer see in painting. And among these, there are mainly young British men, between 18 and 35. Moreover, the town hall does not Don’t hide it: this campaign is aimed at them.Other nationalities will be added during the year.
A deterrent effect
If you live in the UK and you type in a search engine “bachelor party in Amsterdam”“stripper” Or “best coffee shop”, a warning message is automatically displayed. You may also come across a video where a drunken young man gets handcuffed by the police. The caption says: “Coming to Amsterdam for a crazy night + getting crummy = 140 euros fine + criminal record = less future prospects“. Deterrent effect.
Watch Amsterdam’s dramatic new video urging tourists to ‘stay away’.
The famous European city has launched a new campaign discouraging British party tourism pic.twitter.com/DrahJKVDmO
— Euronews Travel (@euronewstravel) March 29, 2023
“Visitors will remain welcome, but not if they misbehave and cause a nuisance.”says Sofyan Mbarki, deputy mayor.
Move the Red Light District
Yet Amsterdam has long taken steps to limit tourism. But the city has not resolved its issues of transport saturation, rising property prices, noise, overcrowding. Moreover, this year, it expects more than 18 million visitors, the threshold from which the City Council is “obliged to act“, it is written in a 2020 order.
For years, like a sea serpent, there has been talk of moving the brothels of the Red Light District into a kind of large shopping center on the outskirts. In December, a whole bunch of measures were taken: ban on smoking cannabis in public, restrictions on the sale of alcohol… And this campaign of discouragement is one of them.
But it does not appeal to everyone. The director of the Conscious Hotels chain admits that he would have preferred a less stigmatizing message. “Not everyone who comes to party is a criminal” he said. Before pointing out: “Let’s see how we Dutch people behave on the Costa Brava in Spain!“Basically: we are in a bad position to give lessons.