Amsterdam Considers Barring Tourists From Buying Weed at Iconic Coffee Shops

Article by Emma Spears, Growth Op

Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema is looking to clean up the city’s overcrowded red-light district by citing recent survey results that indicate many visiting Brits and tourists from other foreign countries would think twice about visiting if they could no longer purchase cannabis from its iconic coffee shops.

Halsema, who wants to reduce the number of retail locations that sell the drug, wrote a letter to councillors explaining her aim to investigate how reducing drug tourism could positively affect the city. Currently attracting more than 17 million travellers every year, Amsterdam is struggling to accommodate them.

The city is no longer promoting its many attractions, and representatives have expressed interest in dissuading visitors from flocking to take advantage of its tolerant cannabis policies.

The survey cited by the mayor, which was carried out by city’s research, information and statistics office, showed 34 percent of tourists who explore the Singel, one of the canals of Amsterdam and the neighbourhood housing the red-light district, would visit less frequently if they were no longer allowed to buy their pot from area coffee shops. About 11 percent indicated they would not visit the region again.

More than half of those visitors surveyed in the neighbourhood said the availability of cannabis at the coffee shops was a significant factor in their choice to visit Amsterdam.

About 42 percent of British tourists said they would visit the city less frequently if barred from buying bud, with 40 percent of tourists overall claiming they would cease consuming cannabis products in the ban were enacted.

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