Table Of Content
The main cruise terminal on the River IJ, which is adjacent to the city’s main train station, will close as a result of the ban. Besides the influx of tourists in the city, the environmental footprint of the large cruise ships docking in the town is a primary concern. In addition, Amsterdam has a reputation as one of Europe's most notorious cities, famed for its cannabis cafes and red light district, with around 22 million tourists flocking there every year. In recent years, city officials have sought to reinvent the image of the Dutch capital by reducing party tourism and upping their sustainability stakes.
Main navigation
Amsterdam wants to decrease the number of visitors—or, at the very least, attract those who won’t create headaches for residents. To that end, earlier this year, the city launched a “stay away” advertising campaign targeting poorly behaved tourists. The trade group said about 1 percent of Amsterdam’s visitors arrive by cruise ship every year and noted that cruise tourism contributes about 105 million euros to the city every year. Industry group CLIA has clarified that cruise ships are currently still being welcomed to the city, and upcoming cruises with scheduled stops in Amsterdam are still allowed to port there.
After cannabis, why Amsterdam is banning cruise ships
Cruise line members of CLIA have vowed to be carbon-footprint free by 2050, and several report they will do so sooner. 🛍️ Banning new tourist shops in the city’s central Singel area and on all main streets reaching out to the edge of its Canal Belt. Take a look at these striking photos and see for yourself why more cities are saying no to cruise ships. On October 2, the Port of Barcelona hosted a "farewell ceremony" to bid ado to the last cruise ship to dock at a major downtown terminal, marking the first phase of the city's multi-year plan to move cruise operations away from residential areas. Further bolstering its sustainability efforts, the Dutch government also plans a 12% reduction in air traffic to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) by 2024. The plan will see the airport's current annual cap of 500,000 flight movements cut to 440,000.
Timescale is Uncertain on When the Terminal Will Close
Mayor Femke Halsema, a former GroenLinks party leader, has been a strong proponent of reducing "party tourism" in the city. "We do not want to become Venice or Dubrovnik, where your historical center has become a closed theme park," Halsema told Bloomberg in 2022. The proposal to ban cruises had been put forward by the Democrats 66 party, which oversees the city alongside the social democratic PvdA and the GroenLinks environmentalists. Mayor Femke Halsema, from the GroenLinks party, complained about cruise ship passengers in an interview with Dutch media in November. Alternative sites from cruise ships have been considered, though no decision has yet been made on where it could be placed.
The decision is part of a larger effort to reduce visitors and climate change–inducing emissions.
Holland America Line’s ms Rotterdam is scheduled to make nine visits, making a total of 15 visits for Holland America Line. Norwegian Cruise Line also has 15 calls scheduled this year, six of these will be from the cruise line’s flagship, Norwegian Prima. Mayor Femke Halsema has been spearheading a campaign to discourage visitors from taking what she has called a “vacation from morals”. The decision comes amid a wider crackdown on the tourist influx and sense of disruption they bring to Amsterdam, a city famed for its red-light district and coffee shops that sell marijuana. More than 3.8 million passengers have gone through the Cruise Port Amsterdam since 2000, its website says, and more than 2,100 ships have docked in that port. In order to cultivate the skills of “creative young people who want to organise something at night,” it has stated its intention to locate nightclub settings such as abandoned tunnels and garages.
Amsterdam Votes to Ban Cruise Ships; Additional Steps Still Required
“As a result, sulfur emissions have fallen by 80 percent” in Venice, stated Rooderkerk. The cruise ship ban will result in the closure of the city's central terminal on the River IJ, near Amsterdam's main train station. Politicians in the Dutch capital said cruise ships were "incompatible" with their sustainability ambitions for the city, which, despite its relatively small size, is one of the most visited in Europe. Amsterdam’s leaders say cruise ships do not align with the city’s sustainability goals. A study of the Marella Discovery, a ship that docked in Amsterdam, estimated that the vessel produced the same amount of the pollutant nitrogen oxide as 30,000 trucks or 370,000 cars. When it comes to making its tourism industry more sustainable, Amsterdam has ambitious goals.
An announcement said the proposal is meant to address concerns around air pollution emitted by ships and the crush of tourists who pour into the city during port visits. While cruise ships were welcomed with open arms before, the current city government has even called cruise ship passengers ‘locusts’ and wishes to ban cruise ships entirely from the city limits. The policy aligns with other initiatives in Amsterdam to discourage tourists from visiting the Dutch capital. The cruise industry has been under intense scrutiny in recent years to clean up its act environmentally, at the same time it struggles to overcome debt from the Covid shutdown and faces staff shortages. Port cities in Florida, Maine, Alaska, and California are all fighting to further regulate the cruise industry, Business Insider reported, but there's little they can do because most piers are owned by the federal government. Environmental activists have called for an end to cruises altogether, slamming them for poor labor practices, insensitive cultural impacts, environmental damage and other concerns.
War On Cruise Ships? Amsterdam Latest Port To Limit Or Ban Cruise Liners - Forbes
War On Cruise Ships? Amsterdam Latest Port To Limit Or Ban Cruise Liners.
Posted: Fri, 21 Jul 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
About Sky News
The council claims cruise ship vessels are not conducive to the city's efforts to limit tourism and boost sustainability, according to a statement from the Democrats 66 party. Amsterdam’s latest measure against out-of-control tourism and worsening pollution is closing down a cruise ship terminal in the city center. The Dutch city’s municipal council voted on Thursday (July 21) to restrict large ships from docking in the center with aims to eventually close the terminal, the BBC reported. Amsterdam’s city council has voted to ban cruise ships in its latest attempt to curb mass tourism and pollution. In a move intended to curb pollution and manage tourism, the Amsterdam City Council has voted to prohibit cruise ships from docking in the city center.
In a separate development, Amsterdam has announced plans to beef up night-time culture for young people. Cruise ships have become a symbol of the problem, with more than 100 mooring in the capital every year. ✋ Targeting young British men with the “Stay Away” campaign, warning those searching for getaways to Amsterdam of the “consequences of antisocial behaviour and excessive drug and alcohol abuse,” including fines, arrest, criminal records, hospitalisation, and health issues. The Cruise Lines International Association, a trade group representing the cruise industry, did not respond to a request for comment. "It's not a form of tourism we welcome or don't welcome - it's a form of behaviour. What we do not welcome is people who come here on a vacation from morals.
For now, he said, “It is business as usual at the terminal.” Cruise Port Amsterdam also operates the river cruise terminals near the city center, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether those docks would need to move as well. “There is certainly no immediate ban on ships, let alone an immediate closure of the terminal,” Dick de Graaff, director of Cruise Port Amsterdam, said in a statement sent to AFAR. He added that the cruise port is expecting to welcome 125,000 cruise ship passengers this year, and 175,000 cruise ship passengers next year. French Polynesia—It's been 18 months since the government of French Polynesia banned cruise ships carrying more than 3,500 passengers at any of the country's ports, including at popular destination Bora Bora. Tahiti now only welcomes ships with fewer than 2,500 passengers and those with more than 1,200 can't dock at all in Bora Bora, according to Conde Nast Traveler.
Other measures include banning people from smoking weed in the narrow streets of its red light district and a proposal to move out of the city center many of the windows where scantily-clad prostitutes stand. The mayor of Marseille, France’s largest cruise port, has recently denounced cruise lines, saying their air pollution is “suffocating” the city. Amsterdam (Netherlands) is taking decisive action to alleviate the strain of over-tourism by significantly reducing the number of river boat cruises permitted to dock in the city. As part of a comprehensive plan comprising "a hundred" measures, the city aims to curtail the influx of cruise ships to its waterfront. “The city’s executive branch still needs to work out the details and it was unclear when the measure might be implemented.
Barcelona—Barcelona's regional government last year said it will limit cruise liners arriving at what was once Europe’s busiest cruise terminal. The city has struggled with over tourism since travel resumed post-Covid, Bloomberg reported, and short-term visitors from cruise ships aren’t seen as overly helpful to the local economy. Pollution was also a concern for the Spanish port—Barcelona was the European city most polluted by cruise ship emissions in 2019, per Bloomberg, and in 2017 there were 32.8 tons of sulfur oxides emitted at the port. "[Cruise pollution] does not match the sustainable ambitions of our city," D66 politician Ilana Rooderkerk said in a statement. "In addition, cruise ships in the city center do not fit into Amsterdam's task to reduce the number of tourists. In other words, Amsterdam sails better without cruises."
No comments:
Post a Comment