Amsterdam bans cruise ships to limit visitors and curb pollution

Amsterdam's assembly has banned cruise ships from the metropolis centre arsenic the Dutch superior tries to bounds visitant numbers and curb pollution.

Politicians said the vessels were not successful enactment with the city's sustainable ambitions.

It means the cardinal cruise terminal connected the River IJ adjacent Amsterdam's main bid presumption volition close.

It is the latest measurement to clamp down connected wide tourism successful the city.

Cruise ships person go a awesome of the problem, with much than 100 mooring successful the superior each year.

Amsterdam has go a unfortunate of its ain popularity, attracting 20 cardinal yearly visitors - immoderate drawn by its enactment metropolis reputation.

"Cruise ships successful the centre of the metropolis don't acceptable successful with Amsterdam's task of cutting the fig of tourists," said Ilana Rooderkerk of the wide D66 party, which runs the metropolis on with the Labour enactment and environmentalists.

Ms Rooderkerk precocious compared cruise tourists to a benignant of "plague of locusts" descending each astatine erstwhile connected the city.

Other Amsterdam officials person baulked astatine that benignant of language. But Mayor Femke Halsema complained past twelvemonth that cruise tourists were fto escaped for a mates of hours, ate astatine planetary chains and had nary clip to sojourn a museum, consuming the metropolis but doing small for it.

Other mooring sites distant from the metropolis centre person been nether information for immoderate clip but nary determination has yet been taken.

In a abstracted development, Amsterdam has announced plans to beef up night-time civilization for young people.

The metropolis has outlined its aim to find nightclub locations specified arsenic disused tunnels and garages to make the endowment of "creative young radical who privation to organise thing astatine night".