And in this case, it was fewer rowdy British tourists heading for Amsterdam for stag and hen parties and a weekend of drinking, drugs or sex tourism.
And maybe quite a number of British visitors who had none of those pursuits in mind, as the total of British visitors to the Netherlands has dropped by nearly a quarter since the Dutch began running ads asking disruptive tourists to stay home. Officials say that there’s a 22% drop compared to 2019, the last Covid-free year.
Since March, Brits searching such terms as “stag party Amsterdam”, “pub crawl Amsterdam” and “cheap hotel Amsterdam” have seen warning videos pop up, featuring young men staggering in the street, being handcuffed and fingerprinted and having their mugshots taken, and describing the risks and consequences of excessive drug and alcohol consumption: fines, hospitalization, a criminal record and permanent health damage.
Still, despite the drop, Amsterdam is still a top European tourism destination with over 20 million visitors a year, somewhat over 10% of them from the UK
