Amsterdam's red light district relocates
No trip to Amsterdam is complete without a tour of the red light district. Soon, however, the capital of the Netherlands [...]
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There is no trip to Amsterdam Without a tour of the red light district.
Soon, however, the capital of the Netherlands may change its face. At least as far as the fascinating, provocative and chaotic Red Light Zone is concerned.
The red light district Will it disappear, then? Not quite. It will be dismantled (should the proposal pass), resulting in the relocation of prostitutes to different parts of the city. The reason? The authorities wish to encourage a different kind of tourism, less attracted to the hotter side of the Dutch capital and focused more on art and culture.
Photo from Pixabay
How Amsterdam's red light district will change
Many of the brothels and "storefronts" now placed in the narrow alleys will close and the prostitutes employed in the red-light district will be relocated elsewhere. This is what city authorities are planning to do.
De Wallen, the medieval center of Amsterdam, may say goodbye to its neon signs forever. Say goodbye to the "window girls," those alleys of perdition where boys and men from all over the world have been flocking for decades. The sex shops will move and so will the sex museum and the cannabis museum. The storefronts will close their doors, not only to (re)shine the city: there have been too many recent incidents of verbal violence against prostitutes.
Photo from Pixabay
"We need to return Amsterdam to the appearance of a tourist place. Tourists are welcome, to enjoy the beauty and freedom of the city. But they certainly cannot do it at any cost," said Dennis Boutkan, a member of the Dutch Labor Party. Instead, Mayor Femke Halsema explained that, this decision will serve to stop the rise of illegal prostitution by providing prostitutes by choice with a safe environment in which to carry out their activities.
However, there are those who have turned their noses up at a relocation of the red-light district. Indeed, businesses would suffer huge losses if tourists did not have a single place to go to see (and experience) the "sex and cannabis" side of Amsterdam.
The news, moreover, comes after the proposed Ban tourists from red light district tours and from entering coffee shops. Halsema, in fact, has been proposing for some time now that access to Amsterdam's 166 cafes selling marijuana be restricted to Dutch citizens only in order to curb "drug tourism." According to his idea, the city should remain "open, hospitable and tolerant." But with stricter rules so as to discourage criminals and curb low-budget mass tourism.
Who will win? Only in the coming months will the answer be known.
Going to Amsterdam today
Traveling around Europe, to date, is not easy. The pandemic has virtually nullified the possibility of overseas travel, but even moving a few countries involves quite a few difficulties.
If you dream of going to Amsterdam in the coming months, before the red-light district disappears forever (because, let's face it, if the proposal passes it will never be the same again), be aware that restrictions are currently in place. Arriving from Italy, you must present a Negative PCR test performed in the previous 72 hours and a negative rapid test carried out immediately before departure. Upon arrival in the Netherlands, a quarantine of 10 days, which can be reduced if one undergoes swabbing after the fifth day.
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