Amsterdam is taking a stand against guided tours of the city’s Red Light District, announcing the popular tourist activity will be banned from January 1 2020.
It’s all part of measures to improve the working conditions for prostitutes and to tackle overcrowding in the area.
Amsterdam’s deputy mayor Udo Kock said in this day and age “it is outdated to treat sex workers as a tourist attraction.”
Image: Unsplash
“We are banning tours that take visitors along sex workers’ windows, not only because we want to prevent overcrowding in the red-light district, but also because it is not respectful to sex workers.”
Amsterdam’s Deputy Mayor Udo Kock
At present over 1000 organised groups visit the hub of the red light district, every week.
The Amsterdam City Council said after consulting sex workers in the city they discovered that 80% of them agreed gawking tourists were bad for business.
Image: Liam Gant – Pexels
In another move to reduce over tourism in the Netherland’s Capital the maximum size of guided tour groups that visit other parts of the city will be reduced from 20 people to 15.
Guides will need an official permit and will be vetted on the quality of the content they plan to share.
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