Category: Uncategorized

Offering petition against new policy of no longer admitting tour buses into center Amsterdam, to Chairman Municipal Council Amsterdam on January 24th

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

No vehicles may enter Amstel Rokin-Damrak and Spuistraat starting April 13, 2017

Above decision was just made by the City of Amsterdam. It basically means that from April 13 on, tour buses will no longer be able to use the most important thoroughfare of Amsterdam, Amstel – Rokin – Damrak – Spui – Nieuwe Zijds Voorburgwal, except those authorized to reach a specific destination within that zone. This basically means that the city sightseeing tour can’t proceed as usual, of course a disaster with the tourist season about to start, brochures for this season already printed, and many groups already booked!

This comes on top of 2 other recently made decisions by the city, namely to restrict walking tours to groups of 20, with a maximum of 25, and plans to move the PTA to a harbor location out of the city center! The city feels, that there is dangerous overcrowding in the center because of a too high concentration of visitors.
It seems that the “iAmsterdam” campaign of the tourist office has become a victim of it’s own success, attracting many new tourists here; among them unfortunately also the tourist who spends very little, and basically is just here to smoke marihuana or hashish, and get drunk in the Red Light District, thereby causing much of this problem, although there are probably other contributors such as AIRBNB. But the net result is that the city is going after tourism as a whole, an industry which provides a living for thousands!

I suggest we fight this, first by taking advantage of the 6 weeks the city allows to file a complaint, and convince it not only that the tourism industry is flourishing here and has worked very hard to promote the Netherlands, Amsterdam & surroundings as a warm, welcoming destination, and the undue hardship it would cause to the thousands employed in this industry, if right at the beginning of the tourist season, the promises in brochures already printed, and commitments to groups already booked, could no longer be honored; and that we should work together to find different solutions, such as spreading tourism to other cities and across the region, although we are of course aware some of these efforts are already ongoing.

I hope many of you agree with me, and will support this initiative by signing the petition, once it has been written, along with -from those of you in the Amsterdam area- welcoming any suggestions/contacts for (free) meeting space next week, so we can compose this letter together!

Many thanks, and look forward to getting together with many of you soon – the time and date will be announced shortly!

Marion Baumgarten

A big thank you to all those who are helping make a success of Tours by Marion by reserving a tour with us! It would be even greater if you could leave a comment about how you enjoyed it, and we thank you in advance for that too!