The dissuasive campaign has worked, with far fewer Britons going to Amsterdam

Why Amsterdam? The Netherlands is famous for its benevolent approach to marijuana, and the capital has a red light district with prostitutes. Both attracted a certain type of tourist for a long time, but the authorities did not like it. They therefore launched an online campaign to discourage visitors hungry for hedonistic experiences, reports the Independent.

The online campaign will jump out at British citizens if they type phrases such as “bachelorette party in Amsterdam”, “cheap hotels in Amsterdam” or “pub crawls in Amsterdam” into a search engine. But the campaign goes even further and shows images of young men in handcuffs as a result of wild drinking or drug use.

“The Dutch government has taken a unique stance on tourist crowds, which can be counter-intuitive at a time when many cities are fighting for overseas visitors,” commented Beverley Boden from Teesside University’s Department of Aviation, Tourism, Finance and Marketing.

She added that, of course, Amsterdam remains open to everyone, but the city is managing to change the demographics of tourists. In essence, this means that more disciplined visitors will be heading to the Dutch metropolis.

However, new data shows that arrivals to the Netherlands have generally fallen, and not just from UK citizens. The setting of the flight limit at Schiphol Airport, one of the busiest in Europe, is also to blame for this.

But for Amsterdam, a smaller number of tourists certainly does not mean a significant loss. The Dutch capital is one of the most affected in terms of so-called overtourism, i.e. mass tourism. Residents have been complaining about ill-mannered visitors for a long time. For their greater peace of mind, the authorities are coming up with many measures aimed at tourists. One of them is the aforementioned campaign.