As you may have heard the city of Amsterdam wants to impose a new policy from March 19th on, banning tour buses from the city center.
This will affect all group tours in the city so our walking tours as well. I am fighting this action as I believe it will not lead to the desired result, namely a less busy center, but exactly the opposite, as without tour buses there will be more smaller vehicles clogging the streets, and even more crowds on the sidewalks…
Read our article on the PAROOL here.
So I started a petition
http://www.petitie24.nl/petitie/1558/tegen-nieuwe-touringcar-beleid-stad-amsterdam (ID van de petitie: 1558)
It is in Dutch, but here comes the translation:
The undersigned are against the New Tour bus Policy of the City of Amsterdam, which bans all tour buses from the city center, and which will be implemented in 3 phases starting March 19th. We oppose this for the following reasons: We believe that this policy will not achieve the goal of less crowding in the center, but instead a lot of damage will be done to tourism to Amsterdam. There will be many more smaller vehicles clogging the narrow streets, as well as even huger crowds on the sidewalks. And for many who have difficulty walking the city will become totally off limits, as they can no longer reach the city center, and the metro is not a solution for them. Not only will this lead to less income for tour operators, bus companies, hotels, restaurants and cafes in the center, shops and tour guides, but we believe the ultimate consequence will be less group tourism to Amsterdam, which will only be visited in combination with other final destinations, be included in
ever less travel catalogues, forever damaging it’s reputation as a very welcoming hospitable city, and last but not least tremendous job loss!
We therefore plead for cancellation/postponement of this decision, and instead a licensing/permit system to at least be allowed to continue a limited route through the city or at the very least come to a solution together with the city through constructive consultation!
Please sign the petition and help us fight this! Thank you!
http://www.petitie24.nl/petitie/1558/tegen-nieuwe-touringcar-beleid-stad-amsterdam
