Anyone in Amsterdam currently?

bo0li5eumx12kp

How is it over there just now?

I've read the city council has stopped advertising tourism due to over-tourism and overcrowding?

PoulMM

I've just come home from Amsterdam on the 29th Dec. I haven't heard of anything about stop for advertising, but there were plenty of tourists in the city centre - maybe due to Christmas.

We stayed at the Postillion in Overamstel with 8 stops on the metro to the city centre and the hotel seemed to be almost booked out.

grimm2005

I was there last month, early December and there were no indications of tourism slowing. I think they've been increasing city tax on hotels and such to try and combat overcrowding but the city is still very tourist friendly if you were worried about that.

El Tarangu

I imagine that they are just scaling-back their efforts to seek out people to visit the city; nothing will be different for the people actually visiting. Bruges did something similar - they stopped actively advertising for daytrippers as they felt that they were already to capacity with (more profitable) overnight visitors.

bo0li5eumx12kp

They seem to have gotten a much milder winter this year.

Less and less ice skating on the canals the last few years.

I always hated that harsh winter so, if you were visiting this year, I guess you got lucky.

B-D-P--

Its true, but it just means they are no longer advertising Amsterdam as a tourist spot.
Its still very "touristy"

They are suffering from overcrowding but that's why they dont feel the need to advertise is all

bo0li5eumx12kp

B-D-P-- wrote: »

Its true, but it just means they are no longer advertising Amsterdam as a tourist spot.
Its still very "touristy"

They are suffering from overcrowding but that's why they dont feel the need to advertise is all

Typically tourist activity is calm from about now until, say - late March?

AmIRite?

granturismo

Alaric Mushy Signpost wrote: »

...

AmIRite?

No

Del2005

Alaric Mushy Signpost wrote: »

How is it over there just now?

I've read the city council has stopped advertising tourism due to over-tourism and overcrowding?

They've stopped advertising Amsterdam as a tourism destination, they haven't stopped tourists visiting. But they are banning organised tours of the red light district and other overcrowded areas.

bo0li5eumx12kp

granturismo wrote: »

No

I wonder is it the milder weather now?

Before winters get down to -15, compared to the summer, the place is basically dead from Jan to late March.

granturismo

Alaric Mushy Signpost wrote: »

I wonder is it the milder weather now?

Before winters get down to -15, compared to the summer, the place is basically dead from Jan to late March.

How often were the canals frozen enough in the past 20 years to allow skating, three times?

Most tourists book flights and accommodation in advance so have no idea whether its going to be +5 or -5C when they arrive. Spring time is nowhere near as busy as summer but its still very popular, more so that 10 years ago. Its simply down to tourist numbers 12 months of the year.

michellie

Heading over next month, apparently February is supposed to be cold enough?

Tuesday_Girl

Amsterdam is popular all year round now, there's no off-season. The city has stopped actively promoting tourism as they don't want numbers to increase any further, the city is constantly busy now and pretty much overrun with tourists in summertime. They've put restrictions on Air BnB rentals and on the volumes of tourist shops in the city-centre selling tat, there are also some efforts to encourage tourists to visit other cities like Rotterdam, Haarlem, Leiden, The Hague to take some pressure off Amsterdam.

Tuesday_Girl

michellie wrote: »

Heading over next month, apparently February is supposed to be cold enough?

Temperatures are not too different from here in February, Amsterdam rarely gets those extremely cold winters which used to be common 10 or 15 years ago. These days it's much milder and can be pretty wet too.

bo0li5eumx12kp

Tuesday_Girl wrote: »

Temperatures are not too different from here in February, Amsterdam rarely gets those extremely cold winters which used to be common 10 or 15 years ago. These days it's much milder and can be pretty wet too.

7 years ago?

Pfff - I used to freeze my ass off in the morning.

I personally welcome global warming (from this side of the planet at least. Ozzy's probably not sharing that opinion).