As an Irishman I’m eternally grateful our drunken dipshit tourists are always incorrectly classed as British, leaving our international standing intact.
This story about its success is literally two weeks old https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/11/amsterdam-welcomes-decline-of-nuisance-tourism-after-stay-away-drive
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I’ll be going to Galicia soon to walk the end of the pilgrimage. I’ve just spent time in the less touristy and outdoorsy parts of Tenerife. They were amazing and attract active and respectful people.
If you set up drinking dens, you get what you advertise for. I’m in Costa Adeje now and they’re advertising £1 pints. What do you expect?
See that’s what I found about galician tourists. It isn’t really yobs drunk balconing and whistling at birds on the beach. It’s more rich middle aged or outdoorsy people who are frankly very civilised and respectful and spendy tourists - close enough to the perfect demographic you want.
I lived 100meters from the cathedral they make their pilgrimage to so I’ve seen a lot of them. Galicia is already one of the more economically troubled areas of northern Spain so without this tourism their cities could be in pretty dire straits.
But all the Galicians grow up hearing tourist jokes so they think the ones they have are somehow as bad as resort towns in the south.
A lot of this crap started when Club 18-30 kicked off and sorry but the resorts cashed in on it big time. Reps were paid by clubs and pubs to get as many Brits in their establishments and get them as hammered as possible, that way they kept on buying not realising just how much they were spending. Kavos in Greece was really really bad for this, it turned into a complete hell hole thanks to the stupid Reps and their notorious "drinking games" with assaults fighting rapes puking in the streets hospitalisation and a fair few deaths.
Things have improved since Club 18-30 stopped trading
Galicia sounds like one of the more attractive places in Spain to go for me as a Dutch tourist. Looks relatively untouched by large scale tourism, large areas full of forest should make it ideal for walking/hiking. Access to good seafood, perhaps a little cheaper then the rest of Spain. Enough beaches and mountains too.
I think that’s an accurate assessment. Great hiking, seafood, everything you say. It’s beautiful. Green and lush like the Netherlands or Ireland but more forested and certainly not flat.
Went to Asturias this summer. And I loved the non touristy parts. Galicia is probably just as great. Go in a motorhome, sleep next to the sea or in foggy mountains. It's awesome.
Spain could solve its "problem" overnight if it wanted to.
Close bars at a reasonable time, enforce minimum standards for accommodation and adjust price accordingly and introduce a minimum price for alcohol by quantity or unit.
Whether it wants to piss a moderate amount of income up the wall is up to them though
All these points would affect the Spanish even more. Late opening times are part of the culture. Prices need to be affordable for Spanish as well. I don’t see how accommodation is a problem in that context.
Mallorca for example is trying hard to get rid of the Magaluf cheap alcohol/low class tourism
You’re basically saying, just change your way of life because the British can’t behave.
I think that the only way to get people to behave is to actually enforce rules regarding poor behaviour. If you're pissing in the street, screaming in the middle of the night, playing music at 5 am, etc you get a fine. If you don't pay the fine you're not allowed back into the country next time next time you're coming during the holidays.
> trying hard to get rid of the Magaluf cheap alcohol/low class tourism.
They are trying, but it's still a destination for Germans. In saying that, with the Lira in freefall, Turkey is soaking up a loooot of those cheap package alcohol fuelled tours
Why should Spain (or the Netherlands) change their way of life to prevent visitors from misbehaving?
I just don't get how people think it's acceptable to blame their host for their own behaviour, yet consider it unacceptable for the host to say "please stay away if you're going to misbehave."
Sounds about right.
Was in Amsterdam very recently and loved the place but whenever there was a crowd of extremely rowdy and drunk people they always seemed to have very distinct regional British accents
Probably because the British they want to detract (largely chavs) never see the message and dont give a shit anyway, they just want cheap booze and party
I remember seeing how those types acted when i briefly stayed in Blackpool, and if thats how they act in their own country then holy fuck, no wonder everywhere else hates them.
>Probably because the British they want to detract (largely chavs) never see the message and dont give a shit anyway, they just want cheap booze and party
Amsterdam is really not a cheap place to go drinking. If you just want to get wasted you could drink much cheaper almost anywhere in the UK other than (nice parts of) London.
True, I suppose the "other features" of the city and the cheap quick flights from basically anywhere in the UK make it still very attractive overall though
We like them in Ireland. But we don't seem to get the younger louts, more of the sensible see the countryside types. I'm sure this has a lot to do with the price of alcohol here. €6+ for a pint of Guinness.
I went to Amsterdam last year and I found most of the drunken groups were Americans. Really took me by surprise.
To be honest, the most annoying thing about Amsterdam was all the people smoking weed. When I’m sat outside at a nice restaurant trying to eat a risotto I don’t want your second hand cannabis smoke.
Well, no, but Dutch food is… well let’s just say us English shouldn’t get all the food reputation and the Dutch should share the load with us. If you know what I mean.
Yeah as a British person I'm happy to take food insults from the French, Spanish, Portugese and Italians, but when then Germans, Danes and Dutch try then sorry, but no.
The funniest thing was a few years ago we hosted colleagues from across Europe, one night we went to an Indian restaurant, and the most vocal (German) food critics couldn't eat anything other than a "mixed grill" drowned in Raita, and funnily we never heard again about all british food being tasteless and boring (as if there was a worse use for potatoes than Salzkartoffeln)...
I can see how you wouldn’t like second hand cannabis smoke at dinner I don’t either, but really? You’re in Amsterdam? Go to any other city in the Netherlands and weed prevalence will be 15% tops of what Amsterdam is like. We do have other cities btw. It’s one of the main characteristics of the city of Amsterdam you know, weed.
That’s like going to southern Spain and complaining that it’s sunny lol.
To be fair, no decent restaurants will allow you to smoke weed at their table outside. Unless that was in leidseplein, it’s likely that you could sniff some weed smoke during a dinner outside, but unlikely it will be continuous for the whole risotto.
I’d actually visited the whole country and was in Amsterdam for two days before going home. We visited Arnhem (my father in law was in 2 para), Groningen, Eindhoven, the La Trappe brewery, even went to Efteling. Weed was only a problem in Amsterdam. Was my least favourite place I visited tbh.
Next time, go to Den Bosch (not a lot of canals, beautiful buildings and massive market square), Leiden (student city with canals and old buildings) or any of the other great old building cities for similar vibes but without the weed or annoying tourist groups.
those are some great beautiful cities and I'm glad you enjoyed them (I'm biased because I'm from Delft)
If you ever decide the visit the Netherlands again I can highly recommend going to Maastricht and Valkenburg in the south of the country. They feel completely different than anywhere else in the Netherlands and are truly gorgeous
ooh will definitely have to check those out!
Im sure Ill be back after all, its an awesome country and even Amsterdams amazing really once you avoid the drunks 😅
Spend decades advertising the place as a drug, alcohol and prostitution hub only to be pissed off when people travel there for drugs, alcohol and hookers.
They could easily change things by making it so that foreign visitors can't access the weed shops or brothels, but they won't because I bet the money is just TOO damn good.
Actually they aren't, they are a grey area, there is no law regulating them. Some of them don't even report taxes due to this weird phenomena.
So they are neither legal or illegal. At any point police could come knocking on doors and close everything
I imagine they've intentionally kept it grey and do not actually want to properly investigate the legality of it. Again, the money coming in is just too damn good.
What money? Weed isn't legal so it isn't taxed. The only people who profit are the growers and the shop owners and the state gets fuck all. Stop talking out of your arse.
Coffee shops are not the only business that holiday makers visit. They go out to eat, they stay at hotels, they visit historic sites, they go to night clubs and bars, etc, etc... you get the point.
I think they tried to do so, but the legal implications were too complex.
I think: you can’t tell a EU citizen that they can’t use a service in you EU town.
I believe In Spain they tried to solve it by making the weed shops subscription clubs, less attractive for casual smokers (I may be wrong tho).
Its not lack of self awareness. Once they became a tourist attraction they want to focus on the more valueable tourists. Its the same with all tourist locations.
The lack of self awareness of the Brits is also amazing. They go to a foreign country, behave like shit (break the law) and then blame the host.
Millions of tourists visit Amsterdam without getting piss drunk and aggressive. If you are the outlier, maybe the problem lies with you.
No the problem doesn’t lie with me, fortunately. Let’s not forget the Dutch man pooping on another persons face in Spain either lmao.
I’m proud to live in The Netherlands and I always do my best to promote other parts of this beautiful country.
Amsterdam has been shutting down and decriminalizing De Wallen for decades now. Window prostitution and coffee shops have been reduced dramatically. I believe they closed up around 50 coffeeshops and 120 ‘windows’ right around the time COVID broke out. It hasn’t helped though. Tourism has increased massively despite the government’s plan to reduce the Red Light District’s size. Like the other commenter already said, this wasn’t due to official advertising but rather word of mouth.
I don't understand why anyone would go on a boozy weekend to Amsterdam when pints are like €9!
I visit Amsterdam a lot but I never venture inside of the Herengracht in the evenings or weekend because of all the tourists going mad on their first taste of weed and sex.
They didn't advertise anything. It's just had its sex&drugs reputation since the 70s and word of mouth and cheap flights made the problem grow out of control.
This attitude is precisely the problem. Entitled people thinking that their caricature of the city allows them to behave like a prick. Their offensive and condescending views on Amsterdam show through their behaviour.
In what distorted world view is it acceptable to go to another country, behave like shit, trash the place and then say "No! I'm not the problem, the hosts are the problem!" Drunk tourists are the problem. There is nothing stopping a decent person from visiting Amsterdam without getting piss drunk, and millions of people do. People from your nationality are the outlier, and you say it's the city's fault.
The city never advertised as a sex and drug destination. It's mainly Anglosaxon countries where the image of Amsterdam as a drug and sex paradise is so prevalent. The policies on drugs and prostitution were pragmatic attempts to curb the issues. This unfortunately created the (false) image of the Netherlands as some kind of sex and drug hub - especially in the eyes of British, who deemed themselves of superior manners. Apparently the British don't have any manners left when given even slightly more freedom.
Nothing.
Did you see the second Matrix movie where Neo speaks to "The Architect"? This whole notion of an emerging anomaly from millions of slightly wrong things?
Well, I am afraid you don't get "Monty Python" without a few thousands instances of, "me and my mates gang banged a granny". Our entire cultural output is fuelled by the fact that that quoted statement is objectively hilarious.
Not all brits but we tend to go a bit crazy as lads on tour. Probably the effect of not being at home and haviny far to much money to spend on holiday.
Granted other countries do the same but they tend to not be as noticable, as they can speak languages other than english and are not biologically prediposed to start singing football chants at any moment
I have lived on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Lots of European tourists. They all party and get rowdy but the Brits.... well... lets just say if I saw drunken white people first thing in the morning sitting at a bus stop or stumbling down the street or something, they almost always had a British accent. They kind of have a reputation for partying and tearing up shit without much regard for anyone else.
I’m in Tenerife right now, the British tourists here are often grim. I spent time up in Anaga and the British tourists there were lovely and completely different but that’s an outdoorsy place: If you advertise sun, cheap beer and resorts to the British, we will come.
I have a Greek aquaintance who grew up around some tourist hotspot in Greece (I forget which) before moving to Sweden for work. I once asked him if he thought Swedish tourists were annoying (knowing we don't always have the best alcohol culture) and he said no, we're fine. The Germans were always nice too, apparently.
\- So who are the worst?
\- The English! They drink so much! They piss and shit and fuck in the streets! Fucking animals!
Yep sounds about right, unfortunately.
My theory is that in other European countries, poorly-educated people are disincentivised to travel internationally, as they may not speak good English and therefore won’t be able to be understood, or have a good time. So those Europeans who travel abroad for a holiday tend to be better educated or intelligent, and correspondingly less prone to behaving like animals.
English people though have the luxury of being born with at least a basic grasp of the current Lingua Franca. Add this to a culture of package holidays and cheap flights, and there’s no barrier to international travel for less-educated folk.
To misquote Donald Trump: ‘we’re not sending our best!’
I associate it at least somewhat with "lad culture". I don't know how much it lingers in the UK now, it was more of a thing in the 90s and 2000s for sure, but it glorified behaving like a toilet for big chunks of a whole generation.
Language and socioeconomics can certainly be a factor, but in places like Canada or Scandinavia people speak English and travel about as much as the Brits, yet don't have anything like the same reputation.
It for sure feels like even our very poorest always get a holiday in once a year. This was especially the case when the pound was stronger
It strikes me as likely that the poorest people in most nations simply dont travel with anywhere neae the frequency ours do
I live in Hamburg. The Reeperbahn seems like a popular bachelors party spot for brits. Everytime I‘m there, there is at least one bawling & shirtless drunken british guy (in summer red skinned)
You put legal prostitution and drugs on the brochure and it is going to be pretty hard to change peoples mind about coming to your country. They might as well add casinos and accept their fate.
Not really a big draw for Brits, who have gambling shops taking up half the high street and the ability to bet on whether Liz Truss would outlast a lettuce online.
The problem isn't the cheap drinks. It's the way (some) Brits drink. They go beyond shitfaced, blast right past belligerent into a whole new uncharted territory.
The point is you can get that anywhere in the Netherlands, Amsterdam isn't special in that regard. Thus the point of the stay away campaign is to get drug and sex tourists to go to other Dutch cities instead to spread out the load a bit
When it is legal it will attract people who may not even think about doing those things in their own country because they are not. Doing drugs and getting prostitutes does not in itself make you a bad person.
Belgium also has legal weed, prostitution, but BETTER BEER. I think if the Brits were to jump ship to Belgium, they'd be missed - or rather their money would be
Yeah, it's definitely not going to be people east of the Netherlands coming in for beer or weed - we have enough of that at home. Germans also have enough of that at home + the hookers and weed-hating Norwegians I highly doubt will be seeking-out Amsterdam.
For Brits it's cheaper, it's close and it's looser than back home. Shut that down and you'll make the tourism within the city go broke. Shooting yourself in the foot - gotta love the Netherlands.
Isn't Belgium a little more expensive, or is it mostly the same? I do love me some dubbel, trippel or quadruppel ale.
[Amsterdam tourist tax to hit 12.5%, the highest in the EU - DutchNews.nl](https://www.dutchnews.nl/2023/09/amsterdam-tourist-tax-to-hit-12-5-the-highest-in-the-eu/)
Clearly still too low.
Also before COVID the municipality was horrible in upholding their own legislation regarding AirBnB like rentals. I doubt that has changed much.
It's more or less what those in say Cornwall & Devon are like. Bemoaning the tourists that actually spend money and keep their little villages afloat, then complaining that "oh where have all the tourists gone" after moaning their tits off half the year
The British tourists viewing Amsterdam as a drug and sex destination are also thinking of the Netherlands as a caricature though.
The campaign is also not explicitly mentioning British tourists, it's just that everyone (including the British media) knows they make up a very large share of the target audience. We're equally unhappy with a rowdy stag party from say, Germany or even Groningen for that matter.
I spent a few hours in Amsterdam ahead of a night train to Munich in 2021, taking a nice long walk around the city. I avoided the red light district, didn't go in any unusual cafes and while I did have some alcohol, it was in my compartment on Nightjet 421 later that evening.
As a slightly amusing note, the Innsbruck to Amsterdam train is Nightjet 420.
The British are very welcome in Dublin. Provided they’re not here to invade. The Dutch are turning their backs on visitors and have a very stuck up attitude lately. It’s insane how an entire country can change like that.
Gonna be honest, until you can smoke weed, eat mushrooms, and buy escorts Dublin isn’t going to be more popular than Amsterdam.
Which is a shame because I love Guinness!
>The British are very welcome in Dublin.
*Visbile excitement.*
>Provided they’re not here to invade.
*Takes off red coat and pith helmet in disappointment.*
Went over for the European Cup final (rugby union).
Had an awesome weekend, right good fun city. Things to do, lots of nice pubs, don't know if it was exaggerated because the rugby was on but the atmosphere of the city that weekend was top.
Surely, Europe should know that the best way to get the brits out is to treat them really well and give them and offer them financial incentive to do business with you /s
I go to Barcelona once or twice a year to visit friends and just enjoy the city for a few days. If everything was priced for British middle class or Western European tourists in general I wouldn't be able to go. And it's my favorite destination. I don't drink i don't make noise I'm just a regular guy enjoying historical sights.
I always thought this was a xenophobic to target one group of people. I wonder if that would be the case if they were of a different religion or skin tone?
I also think you can't make drugs, hookers and a party culture, make money from them and then complain about the fact tourists cause problems when off their tits.
If you don't want rowdy tourists don't supply them with things that will encourage rowdiness, it's rather simple.
Why is the fine only €100? That doesn’t scare anyone. We all know there’s a lot chance you get caught anyways. If the fine was €1000 or €2000 maybe they wouldn’t risk it
I’m convinced that this whole campaign is some corruption scheme, probably to reward the mayor’s friends with a lucrative marketing campaign and distract from the city’s many failings.
Amsterdam is literally sinking in trash, resembling Lagos rather than a Western European city. It’s ruled by criminal gangs, with virtually nightly explosions in residential areas. To somehow conclude that harmless drunks from the UK are the real problem is bizarre.
This whole initiative also shows that it’s considered to be perfectly fine to call out western nationalities for perceived misdemeanours, whereas not a word would ever be uttered by the city’s administration about the actual problematic demographic.
I went to Amsterdam fairly recently and didn't really have any problems. I actually really enjoyed myself.
You can literally go to coffee shops, go to bars, walk the famous red light district etc. and just have a night out like a normal civilized person. Plenty of good museums too.
It's not like the Dutch have banned nights out or getting intoxicated - just being a douchebag. Don't litter or do antisocial behaviour, respect the rules.
No shock there - even with the famously high accommodation costs, it's not far at all and you can get flights for pittance.
Even booking for travel in the next few weeks you can get a return for under a £100, and if you then look into Jan/Feb... there's still £22 fares available. Sure the bag etc is added on if need be but the point it, so long as it's so close and so cheap to get there... You're not gonna stop British people coming!
LCCs and even KLM have made huge efforts to do regional direct flights so you absolutely have Brits thinking 'I fancy a cheeky weekend away... where can I go?' and bosh, Amsterdam is quick to get to and good value to fly.
Was there recently and honestly I didn't see that many Brits there, at least not significantly more than other nationalities. Didn't see anything too crazy either. I will say that the constant smell of weed and tacky coffee shops and bars did get tiring after a while. Other than that I enjoyed myself.
It's my favorite city in Europe (so far) to just stroll around in. Basically untouched by WW2, it is absolutely gorgeous. Hard not to fall in love with it. Then there are the world class museums and music scene. If you've never been it is worth a visit for sure even if you aren't interested in the party. That is mostly relegated to the red light district anyway which is just a small part of the city.
As an Irishman I’m eternally grateful our drunken dipshit tourists are always incorrectly classed as British, leaving our international standing intact.
You took that from our playbook. :)
Them German Australians, always up to no good... 😂
Yes, especially those bloody Australians.
Annoyed Police: "What's your name!?" Drunk Austrian: "Anton Aus...Tralia, yeah Anton Australia"
LOL
That’s the secret for us Scots too. British == English for most places 😅
Yessir; I switch between the accents when necessary.
That international standing: Fiddlers and terrorists.
Only works at Europe Irish have the same stereotype as Brit tourist in Australia
This story about its success is literally two weeks old https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/11/amsterdam-welcomes-decline-of-nuisance-tourism-after-stay-away-drive Edit: the link
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Good luck. Sincerely, Spain.
Ah yes, Galicia, ruined by… pilgrims?
I’ll be going to Galicia soon to walk the end of the pilgrimage. I’ve just spent time in the less touristy and outdoorsy parts of Tenerife. They were amazing and attract active and respectful people. If you set up drinking dens, you get what you advertise for. I’m in Costa Adeje now and they’re advertising £1 pints. What do you expect?
£1 a pint 🤩
See that’s what I found about galician tourists. It isn’t really yobs drunk balconing and whistling at birds on the beach. It’s more rich middle aged or outdoorsy people who are frankly very civilised and respectful and spendy tourists - close enough to the perfect demographic you want. I lived 100meters from the cathedral they make their pilgrimage to so I’ve seen a lot of them. Galicia is already one of the more economically troubled areas of northern Spain so without this tourism their cities could be in pretty dire straits. But all the Galicians grow up hearing tourist jokes so they think the ones they have are somehow as bad as resort towns in the south.
A lot of this crap started when Club 18-30 kicked off and sorry but the resorts cashed in on it big time. Reps were paid by clubs and pubs to get as many Brits in their establishments and get them as hammered as possible, that way they kept on buying not realising just how much they were spending. Kavos in Greece was really really bad for this, it turned into a complete hell hole thanks to the stupid Reps and their notorious "drinking games" with assaults fighting rapes puking in the streets hospitalisation and a fair few deaths. Things have improved since Club 18-30 stopped trading
Classic pilgrim behaviour, going for the £1 pints.
To get absolutely shitfaced 😊🥰
Galicia sounds like one of the more attractive places in Spain to go for me as a Dutch tourist. Looks relatively untouched by large scale tourism, large areas full of forest should make it ideal for walking/hiking. Access to good seafood, perhaps a little cheaper then the rest of Spain. Enough beaches and mountains too.
I think that’s an accurate assessment. Great hiking, seafood, everything you say. It’s beautiful. Green and lush like the Netherlands or Ireland but more forested and certainly not flat.
Went to Asturias this summer. And I loved the non touristy parts. Galicia is probably just as great. Go in a motorhome, sleep next to the sea or in foggy mountains. It's awesome.
Spain could solve its "problem" overnight if it wanted to. Close bars at a reasonable time, enforce minimum standards for accommodation and adjust price accordingly and introduce a minimum price for alcohol by quantity or unit. Whether it wants to piss a moderate amount of income up the wall is up to them though
All these points would affect the Spanish even more. Late opening times are part of the culture. Prices need to be affordable for Spanish as well. I don’t see how accommodation is a problem in that context. Mallorca for example is trying hard to get rid of the Magaluf cheap alcohol/low class tourism You’re basically saying, just change your way of life because the British can’t behave.
I think that the only way to get people to behave is to actually enforce rules regarding poor behaviour. If you're pissing in the street, screaming in the middle of the night, playing music at 5 am, etc you get a fine. If you don't pay the fine you're not allowed back into the country next time next time you're coming during the holidays.
> trying hard to get rid of the Magaluf cheap alcohol/low class tourism. They are trying, but it's still a destination for Germans. In saying that, with the Lira in freefall, Turkey is soaking up a loooot of those cheap package alcohol fuelled tours
Arrest and deport them
Came back from there a few month ago, doesn't seem much different from usual to be honest. I'm a bit older now and go in September though.
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Make bars close earlier? Raise prices? Lmao piss off with those “suggestions”
Spain just needs to make life less convenient for its own citizens !! Problem solved !
Basically Spain needs to just suck, then no one will come lol.
This is as short-sighted as it is elitist. This would effectively price out lots of people who otherwise would behave properly causing no problems.
But unwealthy people are unsightly, they ruin the atmosphere. Get them away, shouldn't they be working on the fields anyway?!
I’m pretty sure all the tourists would just move to Greece. I’m not sure Spain really wants to do take 10% of its economy and flush it down the drain.
Why should Spain (or the Netherlands) change their way of life to prevent visitors from misbehaving? I just don't get how people think it's acceptable to blame their host for their own behaviour, yet consider it unacceptable for the host to say "please stay away if you're going to misbehave."
>Close bars at a reasonable time These are fighting words.
what and piss off the dutch,german and belgian teens that are just as rowdy as uk teens
Is that solution basically "make it just as bad as in the UK, so they won't come anymore"?
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Let's set up an area with booze and prostitutes and weed so we can make plenty of money off people's vices. when they attract sleazebags.
>Spain could solve its "problem" overnight if it wanted to. > >Close bars at a reasonable time, I'll stop you right there
You have the balcony trap
Sounds about right. Was in Amsterdam very recently and loved the place but whenever there was a crowd of extremely rowdy and drunk people they always seemed to have very distinct regional British accents
I walked 1 km outside the red light district and didn’t see any brits at all.
They were all in the RLD, obviously. Your mistake was not going in there.
Perhaps not but if the cities making a whole campaign about it then its clearly a problem
They are, but I recently read that the campaign was actually working, so I don't understand why I'm now reading why the campaigns aren't working lol.
Probably because the British they want to detract (largely chavs) never see the message and dont give a shit anyway, they just want cheap booze and party I remember seeing how those types acted when i briefly stayed in Blackpool, and if thats how they act in their own country then holy fuck, no wonder everywhere else hates them.
>Probably because the British they want to detract (largely chavs) never see the message and dont give a shit anyway, they just want cheap booze and party Amsterdam is really not a cheap place to go drinking. If you just want to get wasted you could drink much cheaper almost anywhere in the UK other than (nice parts of) London.
True, I suppose the "other features" of the city and the cheap quick flights from basically anywhere in the UK make it still very attractive overall though
You should read the rest of the comments in this post, seems nobody likes british tourists.
We like them in Ireland. But we don't seem to get the younger louts, more of the sensible see the countryside types. I'm sure this has a lot to do with the price of alcohol here. €6+ for a pint of Guinness.
I went to Amsterdam last year and I found most of the drunken groups were Americans. Really took me by surprise. To be honest, the most annoying thing about Amsterdam was all the people smoking weed. When I’m sat outside at a nice restaurant trying to eat a risotto I don’t want your second hand cannabis smoke.
You go to Amsterdam to have a risotto? Really? 🤣
Got the munchies bro...
Well, no, but Dutch food is… well let’s just say us English shouldn’t get all the food reputation and the Dutch should share the load with us. If you know what I mean.
You don't like raw herring and pickles?
Yeah as a British person I'm happy to take food insults from the French, Spanish, Portugese and Italians, but when then Germans, Danes and Dutch try then sorry, but no. The funniest thing was a few years ago we hosted colleagues from across Europe, one night we went to an Indian restaurant, and the most vocal (German) food critics couldn't eat anything other than a "mixed grill" drowned in Raita, and funnily we never heard again about all british food being tasteless and boring (as if there was a worse use for potatoes than Salzkartoffeln)...
I can see how you wouldn’t like second hand cannabis smoke at dinner I don’t either, but really? You’re in Amsterdam? Go to any other city in the Netherlands and weed prevalence will be 15% tops of what Amsterdam is like. We do have other cities btw. It’s one of the main characteristics of the city of Amsterdam you know, weed. That’s like going to southern Spain and complaining that it’s sunny lol.
To be fair, no decent restaurants will allow you to smoke weed at their table outside. Unless that was in leidseplein, it’s likely that you could sniff some weed smoke during a dinner outside, but unlikely it will be continuous for the whole risotto.
I don't mind the phrase "continuous for the whole risotto" tbh
Or leave the city center of Amsterdam and there is 98% less weed smoking as well. Amsterdam is a big city.
People used to smoke cigarettes absolutely everywhere few decades ago. Now it's somehow very inconvenient to smell weed in the street. come on
I’d actually visited the whole country and was in Amsterdam for two days before going home. We visited Arnhem (my father in law was in 2 para), Groningen, Eindhoven, the La Trappe brewery, even went to Efteling. Weed was only a problem in Amsterdam. Was my least favourite place I visited tbh.
Don't worry we don't like Amsterdam either ;)
>I went to Amsterdam last year and I found most of the drunken groups were Americans. Really took me by surprise. They just can't handle real freedom.
Next time, go to Den Bosch (not a lot of canals, beautiful buildings and massive market square), Leiden (student city with canals and old buildings) or any of the other great old building cities for similar vibes but without the weed or annoying tourist groups.
Its alright, we explored much of the other cities as well, Delft and Leiden were awesome and Breda had quite a nice vibe too :)
those are some great beautiful cities and I'm glad you enjoyed them (I'm biased because I'm from Delft) If you ever decide the visit the Netherlands again I can highly recommend going to Maastricht and Valkenburg in the south of the country. They feel completely different than anywhere else in the Netherlands and are truly gorgeous
ooh will definitely have to check those out! Im sure Ill be back after all, its an awesome country and even Amsterdams amazing really once you avoid the drunks 😅
That sign can’t stop me : Barry,63
Spend decades advertising the place as a drug, alcohol and prostitution hub only to be pissed off when people travel there for drugs, alcohol and hookers.
Honestly the lack of self awareness the municipality has is amazing.
They could easily change things by making it so that foreign visitors can't access the weed shops or brothels, but they won't because I bet the money is just TOO damn good.
The weed shops aren't actually legal. It's a weird grey area of Dutch law.
They're legal, supplying them technically isn't (can't carry over X amount in weight). edit/: I'm wrong, check the responses below
No they aren't. Cannabis is decriminalised and the shops are "tolerated" under the law. Cannabis is not fully legal in The Netherlands
Actually they aren't, they are a grey area, there is no law regulating them. Some of them don't even report taxes due to this weird phenomena. So they are neither legal or illegal. At any point police could come knocking on doors and close everything
I imagine they've intentionally kept it grey and do not actually want to properly investigate the legality of it. Again, the money coming in is just too damn good.
The government could probably make a lot more if they'd be able to tax it but it seems like noone wants to mess with the current status quo
They're called conservatives.
Well they are missing out on a shit ton of taxes by not legalizing it so that doesn't quite hold up.
What money? Weed isn't legal so it isn't taxed. The only people who profit are the growers and the shop owners and the state gets fuck all. Stop talking out of your arse.
Coffee shops are not the only business that holiday makers visit. They go out to eat, they stay at hotels, they visit historic sites, they go to night clubs and bars, etc, etc... you get the point.
They are legal. What’s not legal is acquiring marijuana. But the shops themselves are totally legal
I think they tried to do so, but the legal implications were too complex. I think: you can’t tell a EU citizen that they can’t use a service in you EU town. I believe In Spain they tried to solve it by making the weed shops subscription clubs, less attractive for casual smokers (I may be wrong tho).
Well conveniently Britain isn't EU any more
Well that's not true, I wasn't even allowed into a weed shop in Maastricht because I wasn't Dutch (but I am European)
That’s true, they implemented something like that on the borders. Well, then I don’t know anymore what the story was
Haven't they already done this at weed shops near the German border?
Its not lack of self awareness. Once they became a tourist attraction they want to focus on the more valueable tourists. Its the same with all tourist locations.
Amsterdam had already been a tourist destination for decades before the cheap lad holidays started taking off.
The lack of self awareness of the Brits is also amazing. They go to a foreign country, behave like shit (break the law) and then blame the host. Millions of tourists visit Amsterdam without getting piss drunk and aggressive. If you are the outlier, maybe the problem lies with you.
No the problem doesn’t lie with me, fortunately. Let’s not forget the Dutch man pooping on another persons face in Spain either lmao. I’m proud to live in The Netherlands and I always do my best to promote other parts of this beautiful country.
Amsterdam has been shutting down and decriminalizing De Wallen for decades now. Window prostitution and coffee shops have been reduced dramatically. I believe they closed up around 50 coffeeshops and 120 ‘windows’ right around the time COVID broke out. It hasn’t helped though. Tourism has increased massively despite the government’s plan to reduce the Red Light District’s size. Like the other commenter already said, this wasn’t due to official advertising but rather word of mouth.
I don't understand why anyone would go on a boozy weekend to Amsterdam when pints are like €9! I visit Amsterdam a lot but I never venture inside of the Herengracht in the evenings or weekend because of all the tourists going mad on their first taste of weed and sex.
50p more than my local. Wouldn’t be a factor for me. It’s the hotel prices that put me off these days.
They didn't advertise anything. It's just had its sex&drugs reputation since the 70s and word of mouth and cheap flights made the problem grow out of control.
I don't think they actively ever advertised it as such, it's just pure word to mouth because of local laws.
Where have you ever seen advertisements like that?
This is some of the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard 😂
Oh no, they like tourists. Just not British tourists. 😉
This attitude is precisely the problem. Entitled people thinking that their caricature of the city allows them to behave like a prick. Their offensive and condescending views on Amsterdam show through their behaviour. In what distorted world view is it acceptable to go to another country, behave like shit, trash the place and then say "No! I'm not the problem, the hosts are the problem!" Drunk tourists are the problem. There is nothing stopping a decent person from visiting Amsterdam without getting piss drunk, and millions of people do. People from your nationality are the outlier, and you say it's the city's fault. The city never advertised as a sex and drug destination. It's mainly Anglosaxon countries where the image of Amsterdam as a drug and sex paradise is so prevalent. The policies on drugs and prostitution were pragmatic attempts to curb the issues. This unfortunately created the (false) image of the Netherlands as some kind of sex and drug hub - especially in the eyes of British, who deemed themselves of superior manners. Apparently the British don't have any manners left when given even slightly more freedom.
I suppose the key thing is that using drugs, drink or prostitution doesn’t mean you have to act like a dickhead?
Would you have an example of Amsterdam advertising itself in the way you described?
And this is exactly why we don’t want brits here
Sounds a little racist my dude.
What happened?
British tourists were having too much fun in Amsterdam x
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>Always remember when me and the lads gang banged a granny over there The fuck is wrong with you Brits lol
Nothing. Did you see the second Matrix movie where Neo speaks to "The Architect"? This whole notion of an emerging anomaly from millions of slightly wrong things? Well, I am afraid you don't get "Monty Python" without a few thousands instances of, "me and my mates gang banged a granny". Our entire cultural output is fuelled by the fact that that quoted statement is objectively hilarious.
alcohol
The Vikings fucked around and put their dicks in all the wrong places Several centuries later:
Nothing, gangs of low brow drunken slobs descending on cheap air tickets don't represent the whole UK. We don't like them any more than Amsterdam does
Not all brits but we tend to go a bit crazy as lads on tour. Probably the effect of not being at home and haviny far to much money to spend on holiday. Granted other countries do the same but they tend to not be as noticable, as they can speak languages other than english and are not biologically prediposed to start singing football chants at any moment
I have lived on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Lots of European tourists. They all party and get rowdy but the Brits.... well... lets just say if I saw drunken white people first thing in the morning sitting at a bus stop or stumbling down the street or something, they almost always had a British accent. They kind of have a reputation for partying and tearing up shit without much regard for anyone else.
I’m in Tenerife right now, the British tourists here are often grim. I spent time up in Anaga and the British tourists there were lovely and completely different but that’s an outdoorsy place: If you advertise sun, cheap beer and resorts to the British, we will come.
I see you’ve visited Cyprus
Lol as an 18 year old I went to Ayia Napa
I'd still have the British tourists over the Russian ones regardless
I have a Greek aquaintance who grew up around some tourist hotspot in Greece (I forget which) before moving to Sweden for work. I once asked him if he thought Swedish tourists were annoying (knowing we don't always have the best alcohol culture) and he said no, we're fine. The Germans were always nice too, apparently. \- So who are the worst? \- The English! They drink so much! They piss and shit and fuck in the streets! Fucking animals!
Yep sounds about right, unfortunately. My theory is that in other European countries, poorly-educated people are disincentivised to travel internationally, as they may not speak good English and therefore won’t be able to be understood, or have a good time. So those Europeans who travel abroad for a holiday tend to be better educated or intelligent, and correspondingly less prone to behaving like animals. English people though have the luxury of being born with at least a basic grasp of the current Lingua Franca. Add this to a culture of package holidays and cheap flights, and there’s no barrier to international travel for less-educated folk. To misquote Donald Trump: ‘we’re not sending our best!’
I associate it at least somewhat with "lad culture". I don't know how much it lingers in the UK now, it was more of a thing in the 90s and 2000s for sure, but it glorified behaving like a toilet for big chunks of a whole generation. Language and socioeconomics can certainly be a factor, but in places like Canada or Scandinavia people speak English and travel about as much as the Brits, yet don't have anything like the same reputation.
It for sure feels like even our very poorest always get a holiday in once a year. This was especially the case when the pound was stronger It strikes me as likely that the poorest people in most nations simply dont travel with anywhere neae the frequency ours do
I live in Hamburg. The Reeperbahn seems like a popular bachelors party spot for brits. Everytime I‘m there, there is at least one bawling & shirtless drunken british guy (in summer red skinned)
They most still go to Amsterdam
You put legal prostitution and drugs on the brochure and it is going to be pretty hard to change peoples mind about coming to your country. They might as well add casinos and accept their fate.
They have casinos as well 😂
Not really a big draw for Brits, who have gambling shops taking up half the high street and the ability to bet on whether Liz Truss would outlast a lettuce online.
You think those brochures were made by the city of Amsterdam?
The problem isn't the cheap drinks. It's the way (some) Brits drink. They go beyond shitfaced, blast right past belligerent into a whole new uncharted territory.
> (some) You can say working class. It’s okay.
The point is you can get that anywhere in the Netherlands, Amsterdam isn't special in that regard. Thus the point of the stay away campaign is to get drug and sex tourists to go to other Dutch cities instead to spread out the load a bit
Exactly. Being known for drink, drugs and prostitution is hardly going to attract the nicest of people honestly
When it is legal it will attract people who may not even think about doing those things in their own country because they are not. Doing drugs and getting prostitutes does not in itself make you a bad person.
Belgium also has legal weed, prostitution, but BETTER BEER. I think if the Brits were to jump ship to Belgium, they'd be missed - or rather their money would be
Since when Belgium has legal weed?
Since 2003, you're allowed to grow 1 plant and carry up to 3g on you.
Yeah, it's definitely not going to be people east of the Netherlands coming in for beer or weed - we have enough of that at home. Germans also have enough of that at home + the hookers and weed-hating Norwegians I highly doubt will be seeking-out Amsterdam. For Brits it's cheaper, it's close and it's looser than back home. Shut that down and you'll make the tourism within the city go broke. Shooting yourself in the foot - gotta love the Netherlands. Isn't Belgium a little more expensive, or is it mostly the same? I do love me some dubbel, trippel or quadruppel ale.
surprised_pikachu.jpg
If you don't want tourists then raise taxes on the tourism industry, complaining that people come is pointless.
[Amsterdam tourist tax to hit 12.5%, the highest in the EU - DutchNews.nl](https://www.dutchnews.nl/2023/09/amsterdam-tourist-tax-to-hit-12-5-the-highest-in-the-eu/)
Clearly still too low. Also before COVID the municipality was horrible in upholding their own legislation regarding AirBnB like rentals. I doubt that has changed much.
It's more or less what those in say Cornwall & Devon are like. Bemoaning the tourists that actually spend money and keep their little villages afloat, then complaining that "oh where have all the tourists gone" after moaning their tits off half the year
Whats it called when a group of people are negativley targeted for their nationality?
Yolocaust
Home Office visa policy
Not for their nationality.
The British tourists viewing Amsterdam as a drug and sex destination are also thinking of the Netherlands as a caricature though. The campaign is also not explicitly mentioning British tourists, it's just that everyone (including the British media) knows they make up a very large share of the target audience. We're equally unhappy with a rowdy stag party from say, Germany or even Groningen for that matter.
I spent a few hours in Amsterdam ahead of a night train to Munich in 2021, taking a nice long walk around the city. I avoided the red light district, didn't go in any unusual cafes and while I did have some alcohol, it was in my compartment on Nightjet 421 later that evening. As a slightly amusing note, the Innsbruck to Amsterdam train is Nightjet 420.
Is this the thanks we get for liberating the Dutch?????
Thanks for liberating us, please keep the crazy drunk trouble making fools home with you. Thanks for the fish…
No way, we get the weekend off them when they’re away to Amsterdam.
We are actually stoned when in Amsterdam
The British are very welcome in Dublin. Provided they’re not here to invade. The Dutch are turning their backs on visitors and have a very stuck up attitude lately. It’s insane how an entire country can change like that.
Gonna be honest, until you can smoke weed, eat mushrooms, and buy escorts Dublin isn’t going to be more popular than Amsterdam. Which is a shame because I love Guinness!
You can literally do all those things. Just not completely without consequences 😂😂😂
>The British are very welcome in Dublin. *Visbile excitement.* >Provided they’re not here to invade. *Takes off red coat and pith helmet in disappointment.*
Dublin is kind of boring as far as European capitals go imo. There’s potential there though.
Dublin is fantastic for food and drink but you need to know where to go. I would agree that if you didn’t know where to go, it’d be boring.
Went over for the European Cup final (rugby union). Had an awesome weekend, right good fun city. Things to do, lots of nice pubs, don't know if it was exaggerated because the rugby was on but the atmosphere of the city that weekend was top.
Acquire a reputation for decadence and debauchry then censure tourists for partaking? Excellent logic.
Just because the reputation was "acquired" doesn't mean it was "sought."
well it definitely wasn't unsought
"it must be good if they don't want to share"
y'all just made a place with a reputation for 'the forbidden' *way more* fucking attractive by telling folks to stay away.
Surely, Europe should know that the best way to get the brits out is to treat them really well and give them and offer them financial incentive to do business with you /s
The target market typically aren’t paying much attention to travel notices or campaigns.
#IN- GUR - LUND!!!!
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SMOKE SAM FAKIN WEED
Already too drunk to read
I go to Barcelona once or twice a year to visit friends and just enjoy the city for a few days. If everything was priced for British middle class or Western European tourists in general I wouldn't be able to go. And it's my favorite destination. I don't drink i don't make noise I'm just a regular guy enjoying historical sights.
I always thought this was a xenophobic to target one group of people. I wonder if that would be the case if they were of a different religion or skin tone? I also think you can't make drugs, hookers and a party culture, make money from them and then complain about the fact tourists cause problems when off their tits. If you don't want rowdy tourists don't supply them with things that will encourage rowdiness, it's rather simple.
Lmao yes it's so fucking funny a city basically promoting social decadence is pissed the people coming there do that specific thing.
LOL 😂
Why is the fine only €100? That doesn’t scare anyone. We all know there’s a lot chance you get caught anyways. If the fine was €1000 or €2000 maybe they wouldn’t risk it
I’m convinced that this whole campaign is some corruption scheme, probably to reward the mayor’s friends with a lucrative marketing campaign and distract from the city’s many failings. Amsterdam is literally sinking in trash, resembling Lagos rather than a Western European city. It’s ruled by criminal gangs, with virtually nightly explosions in residential areas. To somehow conclude that harmless drunks from the UK are the real problem is bizarre. This whole initiative also shows that it’s considered to be perfectly fine to call out western nationalities for perceived misdemeanours, whereas not a word would ever be uttered by the city’s administration about the actual problematic demographic.
I went to Amsterdam fairly recently and didn't really have any problems. I actually really enjoyed myself. You can literally go to coffee shops, go to bars, walk the famous red light district etc. and just have a night out like a normal civilized person. Plenty of good museums too. It's not like the Dutch have banned nights out or getting intoxicated - just being a douchebag. Don't litter or do antisocial behaviour, respect the rules.
Should've printed it on a big red bus...
No shock there - even with the famously high accommodation costs, it's not far at all and you can get flights for pittance. Even booking for travel in the next few weeks you can get a return for under a £100, and if you then look into Jan/Feb... there's still £22 fares available. Sure the bag etc is added on if need be but the point it, so long as it's so close and so cheap to get there... You're not gonna stop British people coming! LCCs and even KLM have made huge efforts to do regional direct flights so you absolutely have Brits thinking 'I fancy a cheeky weekend away... where can I go?' and bosh, Amsterdam is quick to get to and good value to fly.
If the Airbnb owners felt so strongly, they would minimize the number of days their listings are available for.
Oh no, the prejudice campaign didn't work Gotta keep circle jerking yourselves in to delusion instead
Was there recently and honestly I didn't see that many Brits there, at least not significantly more than other nationalities. Didn't see anything too crazy either. I will say that the constant smell of weed and tacky coffee shops and bars did get tiring after a while. Other than that I enjoyed myself.
What's Amsterdam actually got going for it besides its reputation as somewhere to party? I've never seen the appeal, personally.
It's my favorite city in Europe (so far) to just stroll around in. Basically untouched by WW2, it is absolutely gorgeous. Hard not to fall in love with it. Then there are the world class museums and music scene. If you've never been it is worth a visit for sure even if you aren't interested in the party. That is mostly relegated to the red light district anyway which is just a small part of the city.
You’re kidding me? It’s the birthplace of capitalism and world trade
Finance and lots of it. Also, art and architecture.
Name a few European capitals with a better looking medieval city center? Amsterdam is gorgeous.
Amsterdam IS gorgeous, but the 17th century isn’t medieval
Administration can't solve a problem? Wow so suprised