Christ are we doing this again? Tourist ban??

[la2019]

2020 just keeps staying on-brand:
https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2020/09/r ... amsterdam/

I read some rumblings about this a couple months ago, never heard about it again and figured there was nothing to it. But this article makes it seem like a real possibility. Anybody know more?

[RoMoney]

Wiet pass was never implemented in Amsterdam because Mayor at the time knew street dealing would flourish, cant see it happening to be honest, and since 2012 a lot has changed, weed is way more accepted and available in several other countries.

[la2019]

I guess the thing that makes me nervous is that this time the mayor seems open to the idea. I can't imagine it either so I hope this ends up as nothing, but articles like this just send shivers up my spine. At least the mayor saying that there didn't seem to be enough votes a couple week backs is a bit encouraging if I'm interpreting the comment correctly.

[Chuck5]

Halsema hates the coffeeshops and weed tourists, that's for sure. Michael Veling from the Bond van Cannabis just sold one of his shops - what does that say about his optimism for the future? You have to wonder.

[Nuggz]

Fuck Femke

[RoMoney]

Haarlem needs to break out The Hemp City of Haarlem.banner if it goes ahead could cash in, would the ACD annual 420 relocate to Haarlem?

[Marok21]

2020 just keeps staying on-brand:
https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2020/09/r ... amsterdam/

I read some rumblings about this a couple months ago, never heard about it again and figured there was nothing to it. But this article makes it seem like a real possibility. Anybody know more?

Yeah I also talked to an employee of a coffeeshop chain a few months ago and she said that they really have to fight behind the scenes atm against that plan to introduce the i-criteria for coffeeshops in Amsterdam...

On the one hand, i can hardly imagine that this will happen to Amsterdam but if I think some years back many people thought the same about Maastricht and they did it and made it only for residents well Amsterdam is much bigger and world famous for its coffeeshops... year for year more and more tourist come to visit Amsterdam especially for coffeeshops and bring a lot of money into the city... in Maastricht the coffeeshops had generate a lot of money from the tourists, too but they closed them anyway even if many people said that would be a big loss for the economy in Maastricht...

Many Amsterdam locals are pretty pissed of the masses of tourists, which I can understand pretty well... well since corona there were not so much tourists anymore but now come more and more again and so they have a new argument for introducing the i-criterium... I really hope they won't do that.

Wiet pass was never implemented in Amsterdam because Mayor at the time knew street dealing would flourish, cant see it happening to be honest, and since 2012 a lot has changed, weed is way more accepted and available in several other countries.

Yeah I think that the street dealing would flourish extremely, too and it´s very hard to impossible for the police to enforce that in a city like Amsterdam. They implemented the coffeeshops to have a better control and a strict separation from hard drugs and so they would make the same mistake again...

[free_phil_spector]

I've just read that petition and the tone seems decidedly nasty. It starts all kid gloves about making Amsterdam a nicer place and then takes a turn into wanting the knock-on effects to be fewer 'low quality' food outlets and fewer (who guessed it? ) coffeeshops. So basically they want businesses they don't approve of to go bust.

It also seeks to blame the antisocial behaviour in de Wallen on 'drug tourists' when it's usually the fault of beer monster Brits getting drunk and stoned and ruining it for everyone else. Yet the person who started the petition seems to be a bar owner in the city

[RoMoney]

Maybe it will call for some shameless promotion of Barcelona if it goes ahead cheaper weed, more sun and you wont be yelled at by cyclists!

[Willjay]

There’s a lot more opportunity for Cannabis tourism in the world now than ever, if Amsterdam closed its coffeeshop doors there are doors opening in the states, all of Canada and parts of Spain, it’s been decades since I’ve been there but I think Jamaica is still cool.

I can understand why the discussion is happening, but ultimately it will hurt tourism to the city, Amsterdam will become a one - two night stop on the European tour as opposed to longer stays. Many people will just not even go. It will also not be a return to city like London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Munich and many more.

Amsterdam carful what you wish for

[DjShaggy]

What percentage of tourists coming into the city do you think actually have coffeeshops as their primary intent?

Looking around me on most flights I would say it's as low as maybe 10%

I'm sure the city would cope.

[Nuggz]

As much as I hate this potential decision, looming over this already ominous year, cannot completely agree with you WillJay.

Amsterdam has far more power of attraction than its coffeeshops. It's a quaint, internatioanal and cosmopolitan city - with excellent quality of life, cycling infrastructure, world-class museums, dining and entertainment, home to several European/EU institutions and multinational corporations and tech companies, as Shaggy suggested it will do just fine.

And I'll give you the notion Paris and London as having more "revisit" appeal than AMS, but Munich and Florence? Puh-leez, and I say that as someone who just get back from a vacation in which Florence (for the third time) was one of the stops - and also lived about an hour south of Munich for over a year.

Still, I hope this doesn't pan out. It would be a nice turd cherry on top of 2020 ugh!

[Willjay]

I’ll admit I was talking more from my heart than from my head , so let me rephrase it this way, this old hippie won’t be going out of my way to go to Amsterdam if the Coffeeshops close , but I’m not done with European travel,we have yet to chase windmills across Spain . Also Canada has some great blues festivals and we can drive there . Oh and there’s the legal states here

The Amsterdam Coffeeshop experience is something I’ll treasure, the T&T, the friendship, being part of an experiment that I believe paved the way for the growth of legal weed worldwide, I do hope they don’t do it, more importantly I hope this forum doesn’t go away because of it

[Skull_Kid1888]

"Then it would no longer be the city of easy drugs but a city that attracts different crowds."

"Robert Overmeer, owner of the Brug 34 bar and chairman of the BIZ Utrechtsestraat local traders’ group, set up the Stop Het Drugstoerisme campaign and petition."

Kind of ironic considering the "easiest" drug that Amsterdam has to offer contributes massively towards disturbances and poor behaviour by tourists. I wonder, don't wonder, if Mr Overmeer would be so keen on an alcohol ban or licensing restrictions designed to improve the calibre of visitor Amsterdam seeks to attract?

[petty]

The Mayor`s background is Labour Party and Green Party but in democracy she has to facilitate political discussion. She does say a ban is unlikely so as they say in Scots, dinae fash yersel unnecessarily. The present economic climate suggests that such a change causing unemployment in the Coffeeshop business and the general loss to the economy is unlikely to happen.