Amsterdam has a reputation as one of the most liberal cities in Europe, mainly due to looser laws around marijuana and brothels. In addition, the city is relatively close to Great Britain, and plane tickets are often available for under 100 euros. This means that the city is an extremely popular destination for young British lads looking for a short, fun trip or even a bachelor party. However, the locals are not the most enthusiastic about the shredders. On the contrary, they already have them over the top of their heads. In order to improve this problem, they started looking for various strategies and agreed to a digital campaign to discourage tourists. Amsterdam “Stay Away” campaign The idea for the campaign was born at the end of last year, and in the last few weeks it was finally realized. Locals have been complaining for years about drunken Brits (who are notorious for over-drinking) urinating and vomiting on the streets, stripping and breaking down. An additional component of the problem is the fact that the streets in Amsterdam are much narrower than, for example, in London or Paris, which means that they are also crowded most of the time. The aim is to warn tourists who come to Amsterdam solely in search of entertainment of the negative consequences of their actions, such as arrest, hospitalization, fines and health damage. With this, they want to discourage people from anti-social behavior and encourage a more responsible form of tourism. When (British) tourists enter phrases such as “inexpensive hotel Amsterdam”, “bar crawl Amsterdam” etc. into the search engine, they will be greeted by a short advertising video highlighting the negative consequences of drinking alcohol and using drugs in large quantities and disgusting behavior. A toast in the pub. Photo: Giuseppe Lombardo from iStock Not only that — the government has taken additional measures to ensure the integrity of the city. It is planned that the windows for prostitution will move from the center to the outskirts of the city, to erotic. In addition, they also want to reduce the number of Airbnbs available for rent, hotels and river cruises. It is already impossible to buy alcoholic beverages after 4:00 p.m. between Thursday and Sunday; during these hours, alcohol is also hidden from view or completely removed from store pours. How justified is the campaign? The campaign raised questions about the legitimacy of this type of targeting. On the one hand, critics have pointed out that it borders on discrimination based on unfair stereotypes. However– are stereotypes really unfounded? After all, research has confirmed that Britons drink more alcohol than anyone else in the world, as reported by the Independent. Not only do they drink often, they are also not known for moderation. If people are worried that such a campaign promotes a negative reputation of British tourists, it is necessary to ask whether such a reputation is not already firmly established in the collective consciousness. On the other hand, we must refrain from such generalizations, because this is precisely how prejudices are built and strengthened. Not all rabble tourists are British, and not all Brits are rabble tourists. If the goal of a more peaceful city, which the locals so desire, is really to be achieved, the matter needs to be tackled more holistically and include a wider population of (young) visitors to Amsterdam. source
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