DC wrote:Yeah, places will go under that's for sure, but it's Amsterdam.... and while it's totally beyond me why it's one of the worlds top international cities, it still is. Tourism is a large part of the cities economy and should the weed tourist get cut, it'll have a tempory effect on that economy, but the tourist will still come. So when all those small and often crappy businesses go under they'll get replaced with more upmarket and professionally run establishments,
One needs to look at the measure of "Top International Cities."
Hollywood is a top destination and looking around the place I have no idea why. Sure-sure there is history played out through the silver screen, but visiting Hollywood lends nothing to the experience. Walk of Fame? Whoop-dee-doo, names in bronze within a star on the sidewalk! Stars Homes? Yeah, gated driveways, so cool to look at. Mann's Chinese Theater? Well, that's sort of neat to see foot and hand prints. Very cool movie theaters also. But that's about it. People still come in droves. But I've yet to hear anyone wanting to go there twice unless they had family living there.
Imagine how many more people would come if you could buy some herb at a coffeeshop?
As for Amsterdam, seems like there is a whole lot of other activities being sold here that not only continues to draw tourists at the beginning, but also, brings them back repeatedly, sort of like, but not the same as, (dare I say it?) - Las Vegas.
Hollywood tried to go upscale, with the Hollywood and Highland development, which started out as a high-end retail complex to replace the 'small and absolutely crappy' t-shirt shops. Didn't really work out that well.
It's pretty clear to me, a novice in Amsterdam, that the proposed change in the law, to curb the tourists will result in a loss for the economy that won't be replaced by more upscale tourists. Of course, that's just my opinion.
The upscale tourist is already there. To suggest that wealthy people are staying away, I think is inaccurate. Wealthy people travel to wherever they want. I stayed at the Amstel of a couple of nights, not really that spectacular of a property, but they were there.
So getting back to the measure of 'Top International Cities,' how are they measuring this? Number of passengers? Hotel Rooms? A survey? Surely the party that wants to restrict marijuana sales have estimates of the amount of business loss expected. Is it so minimal that it really isn't the problem that they make it out to be? Do they have a plan to replace the loss of revenue? Do they even care since they will be making
the money
instead of the "criminals?"
It will be interesting to watch it play out, either way. I suspect that it's about ringing the bell to drive up tourism this summer. A good study would be to survey the timing of these announcements.
