Amsterdam’s latest tourist fees are getting pushback from cruise lines and budget hotels. An €8-per-day fee has been imposed on cruise passengers, along with a hotel room tax of 7% of the room rate.
Several cruise lines have cancelled Amsterdam port calls, either opting for Rotterdam, or for Ijmulden, where buses will take passengers to Amsterdam. P&O, Cunard and MSC are among the lines that have shifted plans.
On the hotel front, lobbyists for KHN, a hotel-owner association, say that the fees are making it harder for low-price hotels whose customers may go elsewhere, especially if the city adopts a plan proposed by one councilman to add a flat charge of €5 or €10 on top of that. They charge that the fees will turn the city into a resort only for the elite.
