Online Amsterdam City Guide Proposes Tourist Tax for Red Light District

ThingstodoinAmsterdam, the online guide for the capital of the Netherlands, has proposed a mandatory donation for all tourists who come to the Red Light District just to look, rather than to use the services offered by sex workers.

Amsterdam, Netherlands - September 4, 2018 / / —

Amsterdam's famous Red Light District is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the capital city. Along with the relaxed laws on weed, it's one of the huge draws that brings many to the city. However, a rise in people taking tours of the district without spending money in any of the local establishments has led to online city guide ThingstodoinAmsterdam to propose a new tax on tourists.

Tourist taxes are nothing new. Many cities require accommodation or activity providers to charge a tax when serving their guests or customers. ThingstodoinAmsterdam proposes a similar tax for tours to the Red Light District, requiring anyone who is there just to take a tour to pay a mandatory donation, the proceeds of which would go towards sex workers and help to pay for expensive window rents.

This proposal has been prompted by research conducted by ThingstodoinAmsterdam, which showed that there has been an increase in the number of people carrying out online searches for tours of the Red Light District. Their research also revealed that there has been an increase in people searching for words such as "cost" or "price", totalling more than 12,000 online searches each month, which would indicate a rise in interest from people looking to buy the services of sex workers in the area.

However, despite these increased searches, says ThingstodoinAmsterdam, client numbers in the district are dropping. The Amsterdam interest group for sex workers, PROUD, says that large numbers of tourists mean that sex workers are driven away from the windows near the canals. Clients are no longer able to visit a sex worker anonymously, which can discourage them from doing so.

Online searches for Red Light District Tours have tripled since the beginning of 2018, resulting in a significant impact on the sex workers in the area. ThingstodoinAmsterdam suggests that a solution could be to require a donation from everyone who visits the area as a tourist only. They point out that ‘until now only a permit is needed for guides who assist on tours. Only this year 1,500 permits have been given out by the municipality’. A tax on tour group members and not just a regulation of the tour providers would help to support sex workers.

ThingstodoinAmsterdam stresses that they only provide tours that are offered by PROUD, a group that puts the best interests of sex workers first.

You can find more information http://thingstodoinamsterdam.com. The press contact for ThingstodoinAmsterdam is Dani van Rooij, who you can contact via email at [email protected] by phone on +31644171280 or by mail at Dani van Rooij, Zeeburgerdijk 11b, Amsterdam.

Contact Info:
Name: Dani van Rooij
Organization: ThingstodoinAmsterdam.com
Address: Zeeburgerdijk 11b, Amsterdam
Phone: +31644171280

For more information, please visit https://thingstodoinamsterdam.com/

Source:

Release ID: 402464