In a letter to the council on January 8, Mayor Halsema proposed introducing the “resident criterion” which allows only locals to use coffee shops thus reducing the attraction of cannabis to tourists and making tourism in the city easier to manage.
In 2020, tourist taxes were raised and tougher sanctions were imposed on renting out Airbnbs to combat overtourism in Amsterdam.
The new cannabis measures are expected to come into effect next year. All
non-essential shops, including coffee shops, are currently closed in the Netherlands under
COVID-19 restrictions. While it is legal for coffee shops to sell cannabis, the
production of the drug is illegal in the Netherlands.
With a population of approximately 850,000 people, Amsterdam has struggled in recent times with the throngs of tourists that make their way there every year. In 2018 alone, 19 million people visited the city. And it appears that the lure of the coffee shops is a major factor in their decision to come.