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Since many modern cruise ships have the capacity to carry approximately 5,000 passengers, the impact of their arrival on cities that were never designed to accommodate that many visitors can be profound.
Over the past two years, cities like Barcelona in Spain and Dubrovnik in Croatia have gotten both Imposing restrictions on the number of visitors To combat overtourism while an effort has been made by the mayor of Nice to ban cruise ships carrying more than 900 passengers. Recently flipped By a French court. Meanwhile, large cruise ships have remained completely banned from the historic center of Venice since 2021.
Various measures to limit overall visitor numbers are also being explored by ports such as Bar Harbor in Maine and Cozumel in Mexico.
Amsterdam City Council says it is “exploring the option of ending cruises by 2035.”
The latest city to consider imposing major restrictions on large ships is the Dutch capital and popular tourist destination Amsterdam. With recent numbers showing that More than seven million international tourists Or roughly ten visitors for every resident who came to Amsterdam in 2025, the city is one of the most glaring examples of overtourism straining local infrastructure.
At the end of January, the Amsterdam city government announced that it would begin “exploring the option of ending cruises in Amsterdam by 2035 in the coming months.” This comes after the option of relocating the Port of Amsterdam to several proposed areas outside the city center was found to be economically unviable at a cost of more than €85 million.
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“The municipality will develop the exact consequences of ending cruises, including direct and indirect job losses, in the coming months,” the city’s press release said. “This will be done carefully and in cooperation with the national government and other relevant partners.”
This would leave Amsterdam without a port to accommodate large cruise ships crossing the ocean and thus shut them down completely; In the summer of 2025, the city also expressed its intention to do so Reducing the total number of river cruises Traffic through the city will increase by 10% by next year.
Image source&col; shutterstock
What happens if Amsterdam completely closes cruises?
These efforts come as Amsterdam prepares for municipal elections in March 2026, and candidates face competing political pressure from residents concerned about excess tourism and local businesses that… I don’t want to see a complete ending As a result, the cruise industry has grown in the city and in most of the Netherlands (the country is home to many small ports that are not widely used for tourism).
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A Virgin Voyages spokesperson described “any change that limits access […] Disappointing” while also saying it would “continue to stay close to the conversation as plans develop”.
Norwegian Cruise Line, which also operates cruise lines that stop in Amsterdam, also issued a statement saying: “See[s] “We look forward to continuing the constructive dialogue with port partners and the community as discussions about the future of tourism develop.”
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