I never understood why it is exactly that The Netherlands were kind of against the drug tourism. I mean, I'm sure your average pot head tourist is not that much trouble and leaves quite a bit of money, no?
I studied in The Netherlands and always thought I'd be proud as a country to be that "progressive" in a sense -- especially once it became clear that other countries were following.
aha, they literally only come for weed and prostitutes, let's say it doesn't attract the most well behaved people in the world. Imagine the typical German or English 20 something years old tourist in Mallorca but instead of being drunk they're stoned.
Low travel cost + mass tourism + young adults + drugs = problems. You can travel there for 70 euros back and forth from any major city in Europe
It's limited to very specific streets but these streets are hell on earth, I don't even know why people go there anymore: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/world/europe/amsterdam-to...
So they're sitting in cafes eating fried food? What exactly do you think stoned people do lol
I'm not Dutch and I really enjoy going to Amsterdam, have friends living there, etc. From what I gather those are the main complaints, just annoyances and not really major problems.
Financing criminals when these same tourists go searching for other drugs, that's a real issue.
Disclaimer: I don't believe that weed is a gateway drug and I'm very pro decriminalisation of drugs and legalisation of recreational cannabis.
Sounds like you're describing the behavior of people who've had too much to drink. Alcohol is already legal.
> What exactly do you think stoned people do lol
There are many subsets of stoners, just like a guy drinking half a bottle of red wine at every dinner isn't the same type of alcoholic as the guy emptying a vodka bottle everyday by noon.
I used many drugs, with many people, some people are just trash, sober or drugged, drugs don't transform them into well behaved and civilised people
> What exactly do you think stoned people do lol
What kind of people travel hundreds of kilometers for a joint sand some titties behind a window ? ...
Instead Amsterdam wants to court tourists who fly in, spend a week or two, go to many tourist destinations, spend a bit more money at many locations. It spreads it around the city/country, does less wear and tear to a few places, and makes the locals lives much nicer.
I guess there was enough trouble that some people thought it was worth trying to cut back on. Money isn’t everything
In Canada the crossing signs with a countdown display how much time you have left to cross not how long the wait will be.
It's a subset of the problem of overtourism in general.
I mean, I'm sure your average pot head tourist is not that much trouble and leaves quite a bit of money, no?
Actually they don't, and that's precisely the problem. They come over on EasyJet, check into a shitty hostel, score some weed, buy a shawarma (and maybe some fries), oggle the working professionals in the red light district for a bit, and then leave a few days later.
This is a stereotype of course and not 100 percent true -- but it also probably intersects about 60 percent with the spending profile of the average weed tourist. On average not usually the type to visit anything other than the most obvious tourist destinations, or patronize any of the better restaurants, or avail themselves to any of the amazingly cool stuff that city has to offer.
A lot of the drug tourism isn't the stuff like that, that you're probably thinking about. A lot of it happens in border towns and is essentially trafficking by criminals. They come to the Netherlands, buy quite a bit of weed and go back to their home countries to sell it. In those countries it's illegal, hence the criminal part. These are not the types of people we like to have visiting our country.