Amsterdam

What is still allowed for tours in Amsterdam?

Amsterdam’s Red Light District area – a.k.a. De Wallen – has many streets where there are no window brothels. For example the Warmoesstraat, the Zeedijk street, Nieuwmarkt, the Geldersekade, Beursplein, Stormsteeg, Kloveniersburgwal, Beursstraat, Oudezijds Kolk. This is where guided tours can still go after the 1st of April 2020. A map of Amsterdam Red Light District with approved and restricted streets is shown below.

Tours can still go here, on the Geldersekade, in the Red Light District.

When the “Amsterdam Red Light District tour ban” will be introduced on April 1st, 2020 it will still be possible to do tours on the streets mentioned above. One can still be educated by licensed guides about the Red Light District, Dutch culture, Amsterdam’s history and also about legal sex work. There are a lot of ambiguities about sex work. Many visitors want to learn more about this. An Amsterdam Red Light District tour with a licensed & knowledgeable guide provides a better insight into this old, mysterious profession and ‘De Wallen’ itself. Teachers and instructors are not part of the new “Amsterdam Red Light District tour ban” and can still provide guided tours throughout the area (including the streets with window brothels). In that case it concerns people who usually do not get paid for the tour.

Amsterdam Red Light District Tour Ban Map

The map below displays Amsterdam’s Red Light District with the streets where tours can and can not be hosted from 1 April 2020:

After 1 April 2020, it will still be possible to guide tours in Amsterdam’s Chinatown – also located in the Red Light District.

The temple above is situated on the Zeedijk. A street in the Red Light District of Amsterdam.

So, the new Amsterdam Red Light District Tour ban is not an actual/complete ban. The new policy made by the Municipality of Amsterdam just changed a few things in the exciting local laws that are stated in the exemption system (locally known as an ‘ontheffingsstelsel’)

Why Are These Laws Implemented in Amsterdam?

The City of Amsterdam will implement these laws because:

• It wants to reduce nuisance, such as noise, by reducing the crowds on the streets.
• It wants to create more space on the streets.
• It does not find it respectful and appropriate to host tours alongside the window brothels and to educate people about legal sex work.

The municipality can not ban groups of people in Amsterdam. However, they can ban or restrict groups of people which are part of a tour, hosted by a guide. That’s why they came up with these new local laws.

Red Light District Research

In 2018, the municipality of Amsterdam commissioned a study by the Strabo research agency. Through surveys, Strabo questioned 203 respondents (residents, entrepreneurs & sex workers) about the Red Light District and tours in the area. 14 of these respondents worked in the sex industry, of which only 10 sex workers. Amsterdam’s Red Light District area (De Burgwallen Oude-Zijde) counts currently 4.295 residents, 292 window brothels and an estimated 350 sex workers (who work in day and night shifts). In other words: 2.85% of all prostitutes participated in this study.

There is strong doubt about the reliability and correctness of Strabo’s research. During a study with surveys it is essential that the sample size is correct. When the total population size of sex workers is 350, and when the confidence level should be 95%, then the sample size must be at least 184 sex workers. But only 10 sex workers participated in Strabo’s research. Almost 18 times too little.

Nevertheless, despite its low respondents, this study was still decisive for the policy of the Red Light District. The Amsterdam Red Light District tour ban is based on this rapport with associated surveys of just 10 sex workers.

Owner Research Company Against Prostitution

In the same year of the study (2018) the co-owner of this research agency (Strabo) wrote publicly in Dutch newspaper Parool that he is against prostitution. He wrote: “Also prohibit prostitution in the Red Light District…Close the coffeeshops. Also reduce sex in the Red Light District.” (source)

Counter Arguments On New Laws in Amsterdam Red Light District

• The rules for tours that were implemented in April 2019 stated that from then on, tours with more than four persons were not allowed in the Red Light District after 7 pm. Before April 2019, tours had to be ended by 11 pm. That strict rule already decreased nuisance in the district. Now the City of Amsterdam goes one step further by banning certain streets for tours. Unnecessary.
• Tour guides explain the etiquette of Amsterdam’s Red Light District. They educate people on the do’s and don’ts. Good guides are ambassadors of the area.
• In general, the people in the tours are not the ones who cause nuisance in the Red Light District. They join the tours because they are interested in learning more about legal sex work, Dutch culture, Amsterdam’s history and ‘De Wallen’. They do not scream, they are not stoned or drunk, they just follow the guide peacefully from A to B.
• The experienced nuisance in the area is caused by individual visitors and disorganised groups, who see the Red Light District as an amusement park. The customers of informative tours generally behave calmly and respectfully.
• Guided tours in Amsterdam’s Red Light District can actually contribute to a more positive image for sex workers and show the tolerance of Amsterdam.
• The vast majority of sex workers have indicated that they do not experience negative experiences from guided tours.
• In the Strabo research only 10 sex workers were asked about their opinion. The new policy of the City of Amsterdam is based on this rapport.
• Without good reasons, a distinction is made between unaccompanied groups, individual visitors and guided groups. Stag-parties (bachelor-groups) can still visit the area in big groups without a guide.
• There is no evidence that a group of 15 people causes less nuisance than 20 people and it is unclear how this number came about. Moreover there is no affiliation with the original group size of max. 25 people, introduced during the convenant-agreement in 2017. The new policy in Amsterdam will lead to more smaller groups or an increase in groups without a guide.
• By introducing this Amsterdam Red Light District tour ban, people will miss important cultural and historical places of Amsterdam.
• With a mandatory whisper system or audio tour the Amsterdam Red Light District tour ban would not be necessary. A guide group could then still be larger than 15 people. In that case, the guide does not have to stand still and can talk while walking, so there is no congestion.
• The Oude Kerk (Old Church) is now in the prohibition zone of the Amsterdam Red Light District tour ban, while that is an icon for Amsterdam.
• The new forbidden area for tours is too large and unnecessarily relates to places in the city where it is not crowded at all.
• It is unfair that all other companies and organisations can freely practice their profession in the Red Light District and that guides are excluded from this.

Amsterdam Red Light District New Laws

Over the years the municipality of Amsterdam introduced new local laws. It all started with Project 1012 – named after the zipcode of the Red Light District.

2007: Project 1012 Wallen

In 2007, the City of Amsterdam decided to decrease Amsterdam’s Red Light District (Wallen) by closing window brothels and coffeeshops. A gentrification-plan (called Project 1012) led by former alderman Lodewijk Asscher, ensured that 112 window brothels were bought with tax money from brothel operators, and eventually closed down.

Former alderman Lodewijk Asscher – responsible for Project 1012 – in the Red Light District.

The municipality ensured that the Red Light District became much smaller, by decreasing the windows brothels in the area from 404 to a total number of 292 windows. The spread of people also deteriorated. The largest Dutch daily morning newspaper De Telegraaf claimed that Project 1012 costed 108 million euros (source). One window brothel owner (Charles Geerts) received 25 million euro tax money for selling his 18 properties with 70 window brothels to the City of Amsterdam (source). In other words: 357.142,86 euro per window brothel.

After that, most of these windows were changed into art-galleries, fashion shops, waffle-stores, pop-up-shops and whatnot. The local government wanted more variety.

An example of gentrification in the area: An Upcycle Store with recycles products.

However, most visitors in Amsterdam Red Light District are not interested in the products of these new shops, so it seemed. These relatively unpopular companies can continue to exist despite the fact that they make little profit because they have low rental costs. Cooperatives, which are partly funded by the (local) government, ensure these low rental costs.

There used to be several window brothels in the building where The Upcycle Store (shown in the picture above) is located at the moment.

Amsterdam Tourism Statistics

When Project 1012 was launched, the number of visitors in Amsterdam already increasing. In 2006 Amsterdam had 11 million visitors. In 2013, the company IAmsterdam was founded. This is the marketing company of the city. Since 2013 the city started to promote itself considerably through this organization. The city wanted to get more tourists. This organization also placed the letters Iamsterdam on the Museum Square, in front of the Rijksmuseum.

In 2018 Amsterdam had 18 million visitors. Partly due to the activities of the marketing company of Amsterdam. In other words: Within 11 years tourism in Amsterdam increased by 64%. Project 1012 ensured that the number of coffee shops and window brothels in the Red Light District decreased considerably during that period.

Conclusion: more visitors came to a smaller area. This was one of the main reasons why nuisance in the area was more noticeable.

Rekenkamer Project 1012

The official Amsterdam Audit Office (Dutch: Amsterdamse Rekenkamer) analysed the gentrification-plan Project 1012 and concluded that the project failed (source).

2016: Debate About Tours in Amsterdam Red Light District

Since 2016, the municipality of Amsterdam has been talking with guides, tour organisations, a few sex workers and residents about tours. In 2016, the municipality of Amsterdam started discussions with stakeholders about guided tours in the Red Light District. In 2017, this resulted in making agreements in the form of a Red Light District Covenant Covenant.

2017: Covenant Tours in Amsterdam Red Light District

In 2017, the Red Light District Tours Covenant with accompanying guidelines was drawn up in consultation with tour operators, the local police, representatives of sex workers, other stakeholders and residents. More than 50 parties signed the covenant. We liked this Dutch approach and we were one of the first to sign the convenant to improve things in the Red Light District together with others.

2018: Regulation Policy of Guided Tours in Amsterdam Red Light District

The local parties agreed in the covenant an evaluation would be carried out six months after signing. This showed that the vast majority of the covenant partners and parties who had heard of the covenant adhered to the agreements. However, some of the 4.295 local residents still experienced some inconvenience from groups in this neighbourhood that receive more than 3.1 million visitors annually. Therefore a reason to adopt stricter policies. This was partly because some large parties did not participate in the covenant.

Since April 1, 2018, there has been an exemption policy in the Red Light District and is for guides not allowed to give a tour in the Red Light District without exemption1. Various conditions are attached to the exemption, such as a maximum group size of twenty people. The conditions are largely the same as the agreements made in the covenant and written on the back of the exemptions – which the guides must carry.

2019: Amsterdam Red Light District Tour Ban after 7 pm

At the beginning of 2019, due to the large crowds in the Red Light District, it became suddenly forbidden to give guided tours in the exemption area (2018) after 7 pm after 1 April 2019 after 7 pm. This applied only for tour groups with 5 attendees or more. Red Light District tours with a maximum of 4 attendees may still go through the area after 7 pm because these small groups are not part of the exemption system.

2020: Amsterdam Red Light District Tour Ban On Certain Streets

On Thursday, February 13, 2020, the municipality of Amsterdam sent an email to all touroperators and guides (in their database) containing the final decision and the associated details regarding the so-called new Amsterdam Red Light District Tour ban. In this email (with attachments) it stated that the maximum allowed number of participants in guided tours in the city centre will be decreased from 15. And it showed that guided tours within and around the Red Light District area are still allowed on certain streets.

Which streets are still allowed to host guided tours in Amsterdam Red Light District?

The city of Amsterdam also indicated that tours in the Red Light District are still permitted on certain streets in the area, such as Warmoesstraat, Zeedijk, Nieuwmarkt, Oudezijds Kolk, Beursplein, Geldersekade, Papenburgsteeg, Oudebrugsteeg & Nieuwebrugsteeg. All these streets are located in the Red Light District.

What do others say about the new local laws in Amsterdam?

PROUD – interest group for sex workers: “We are against the prohibition of group tours in the Red Light District. We name three arguments:

1. Proud was not consulted by the municipality or Strabo and had to find out via the media. 
2. Regulated tours can contribute to the quality of life in the city center. Guides always inform the participants how to behave. 
3. Tourists are an important source of income for sex workers. The municipality’s letter of 12 March 2019 states that they want to introduce a ban, without the municipality asking the sex workers for their opinion. This is a measure against the interests of sex workers” (Source)

Prostitution Information Center asked the city council to reconsider the new local law, to allow tours by professional organisations, to change the local legislation to be able to enforce certain behaviour and consult the stakeholders in the area by conducting proper & thorough research. (Source)

The chairman of Business Association Amsterdam Red Light District.

Business Association Amsterdam’s Red Light District: “The nuisance in the Red Light District is not caused by organised informative tours, but by unaccompanied groups. Drunk bachelor parties for example. It is very disappointing that the municipality of Amsterdam is not using a policy to improve the Red Light District. They could actually use good guides to inform people about the etiquette in the Red Light District.”

Tim – guide: It’s a loss for Amsterdam the lessons of freedom that can be taught in the unique, old part of town.

Henri Struylaart – member of the Dutch Guide Organization: Local guides are ambassadors for Amsterdam. Not being able to show guests around in Amsterdam’s unique area and to tell about local habits, is a big loss for the city.

Conclusion New Amsterdam Red Light District Tour Ban

Yes, From April 1st, 2020 it will still be possible to get a Red Light District tour with a maximum of 15 persons via certain streets. Also, when a host is able to show a reservation for a group for an attraction (or a hotel) in the area, then he/she can still escort the group to the destination within Amsterdam’s Red Light District.