Another popular port mulls cruise ship ban
With many modern cruise ships having the capacity to carry nearly 5,000 passengers, the impact that their arrival has on cities that were never designed to accommodate that many visitors can be profound. Over the last two years, cities like Barcelona in Spain and Dubrovnik in Croatia have both ...
With many modern cruise ships having the capacity to carry nearly 5,000 passengers, the impact that their arrival has on cities that were never designed to accommodate that many visitors can be profound.
Over the last two years, cities like Barcelona in Spain and Dubrovnik in Croatia have both implemented restrictions on visitor numbers to combat overtourism while an effort by the mayor of Nice to outright ban cruise ships with more than 900 passengers was recently overturned by a French court. Large cruise ships have meanwhile remained banned entirely from the historic center of Venice since 2021.
Various measures to limit total visitor numbers are now also being explored by ports such as Bar Harbor in Maine and Cozumel in Mexico.
Amsterdam "exploring the option of ending sea cruises by 2035," city council says
The latest city to mull major restrictions on large ships is the Dutch capital and popular tourist destination of Amsterdam. With recent numbers showing that over seven million international tourists or roughly ten visitors for every resident came to Amsterdam in 2025, the city is one of the most stark examples of excessive tourism that strains local infrastructure.
At the end of January, the city government of Amsterdam announced that it will begin "exploring the option of ending sea cruises in Amsterdam by 2035 in the coming months." This comes after it found the option of relocating the Port of Amsterdam to several suggested areas outside of the city center not feasible economically at a cost of over 85 million euros.
Related: A popular European city is introducing the highest 'tourist tax' yet
"The municipality will further develop the precise consequences of ending sea cruises, including the loss of direct and indirect jobs, in the coming months," the press release from the city reads. "This will be done carefully and in collaboration with the national government and other involved partners."
This would leave Amsterdam without a port that accommodates large cruise ships traversing by ocean and thereby shut them out entirely; in the summer of 2025, the city also expressed intention to cut the total number of river cruises going through the city by 10% by next year. Image source: Shutterstock
What happens if Amsterdam shuts down to sea cruises entirely?
These efforts come as Amsterdam prepares for municipal council elections in March 2026 and candidates face competing political pressures from both residents concerned with overtourism and local businesses who do not want to see a complete end to the sea cruise industry in the city and much of The Netherlands as a result (the country is home to several smaller ports that are not widely used for tourism).
Travel news:
- Airline to launch unusual new flight to Cayman Islands from the U.S.
- United Airlines CEO gives stark warning on Olympic Games
- Unexpected country is most luxurious travel destination for 2026
- US government issues sudden warning on Switzerland travel
A Virgin Voyages spokesperson called "any change that limits access [...] disappointing" while also saying that it will "continue to stay close to the conversation as plans evolve."
Norwegian Cruise Line, which also runs itineraries that stop in Amsterdam, also put out a statement saying that it "look[s] forward to continuing constructive dialogue with port and community partners as discussions around the future of tourism evolve."
Related: Unexpected country is most luxurious travel destination for 2026
What's Your Reaction?
