AMSTERDAM SEEKS TO TAME FLOOD OF TOURISTS

Some 17 million visitors flock to Amsterdam, the Dutch city known as Venice of the North, every year. However, the tide of tourists is now threatening to swamp the historic city famous the world over for its picturesque canals.

30m the number of visitors set to reach by 2030. It’s a flood that threatens to overwhelm Amsterdam.

830K city’s permanent residents. The escalating tourist numbers are becoming a major annoyance for them.

Amsterdam has decided to “make some savings” in its marketing budget, according to the city’s Socialist Party leader Daniel Peters

Officials have appealed directly to visitors to seek accommodation in other often overlooked cities such as Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. Other lesser- known spots are beautiful tulip fields at Keukenhof, the beaches at Zandvoortas and the windmills at Zaanse Schans.

$ 11bn the amount visitors spend a year in the Dutch city

100K number of jobs the tourist industry supports in Amsterdam

$ 14m the amount invested in improving its cultural offerings

If tour buses, bikes, and bicycle taxis all try to get through, the streets of Amsterdam are too small for that

Amsterdam grew from a small fishing village into a major trading hub in the 16th and 17th centuries. Every year the flow of sightseers flocking to the city of 165 canals grows by some five per cent as the result of an impressive marketing campaign

CREATIVE SOLUTIONS

Barring large tour buses from the city centre Tracking more closely private apartments let to vacationers via such sites as Airbnb Cutting the number of days private flats can be sub- let a year to 30 from 60 Putting in place tougher conditions for the 170 annual festivals which attract more than 2,000 participants each, such as limiting how many can be held in each park every year