Amsterdam ramps up campaign to turn away rowdy tourists

Amsterdam has announced plans to ramp up its campaign to shoo away hard-partying tourists, with a first effort launched earlier this year meeting with limited success.

The Dutch capital said it will launch a new campaign next year, asking annual visitors to look at the city with "new eyes" and introducing other cultural activities, rather than the usual boozy pub crawls and visits to cannabis cafes.

"In recent years, Amsterdam has acquired the image of a city where 'anything goes' for many people at home and abroad," the city said in a statement.

Many bawdy visitors sought only "sensation and vulgar entertainment" and felt they could behave in a way that broke the rules, the city said earlier this week.

"They do not pay attention to the beauty and conviviality, the art and culture on offer, the special shops, exciting events, and the many nice neighborhoods." 

The new online campaign aims to show a different side of the city, Amsterdam's municipal council said.

Called "Renew your view," it will tell stories of "real Amsterdammers" and will run until the end of 2025.

Amsterdam has long been trying to curb loutish behavior such as stag parties, especially near the famed red light area where sex workers operate in window booths.

In March, it launched a campaign dubbed Stay Away, especially targeting young British men between the ages of 18 to 35 years.

The campaign involved people searching online for some getaways in Amsterdam receiving special warnings.

However, the Stay Away campaign met with limited success.

"The Amsterdam municipality gave a clear message in the first phase of the campaign to dissuade visitors about the type of tourism we do not want," Amsterdam's mayor Femke Halsema said in a letter.

Although it "partly changed the city's image, it did not yet lead to a direct decrease in its attractiveness to the party tourist from the United Kingdom," she said.

Amsterdam in May banned smoking cannabis in the red light district, coupled with further restrictions on alcohol consumption and earlier closures for cafes, bars, and sex clubs.

Authorities are also looking at moving sex workers to a large "erotic center" on the outskirts of the city.

But the plan has met with resistance including from sex workers themselves, calling instead for better control in the red light district and better police surveillance, especially at night. (AFP)