Amsterdam Is Increasing Tourist Taxes for Land and Cruise Guests in 2024

Amsterdam is boosting its tourist tax.

Starting next year, tourists in Amsterdam will pay 12.5% more, making the city the most expensive when it comes to tourist taxes in Europe. That’s according to the city’s finance chief, Hester van Buren, who spoke to the local news outlet Dutch News last week.

The final fee depends on the cost of the room, but, according to Van Buren, tourists will pay an average of 22 euros per night in taxes rather than the 15 euros it had previously cost on an average of 175 euros per night per room. That would make it the highest in Europe and the fourth-highest tourist tax in the world.

The city is also boosting the fee for cruise ship guests, which includes both river cruise guests and ocean cruise guests, going from 8 euros per person to 11 euros. That tax is paid online using a tool called CruiseDock. The city had earlier this year voted to ban large cruise ships from its city center, though the timeline for implementation remains unclear.

At the same time, Amsterdam is considering a separate entrance fee for day-trippers. Though nothing has been announced yet, Van Buren said that the city is looking at launching something similar to what Venice did last month.

While Amsterdam has long dealt with an overtourism problem, and the introduction of the tax was thought to help battle that issue, Van Buren told Dutch News that the service is not designed to discourage people from visiting the city but rather to help pay for local services.

Amsterdam’s tourism policies have constantly changed since the pandemic. The city had previously tried to limit visitors via a cap on flights at Amsterdam Schiphol, which failed. It also moved to ban the use of marijuana on the streets of the city’s Red Light District and also banned tours of that section of the city.