Amsterdam Tourist Tax

Two cruise lines have decided to withdraw Amsterdam from their schedules due to the recent tourism tax of$9 per person as they don’t want to pass the charge on to their customers.  Both MSC has changed the port of call to Rotterdam to avoid this and are offering excursions to Amsterdam. Cruise 7 Maritime say that the late introduction of these taxes have not been budgeted for so cannot be absorbed.

The Cruise Line international association (CLIA) oppose the measure and last month detailed their concerns in an open letter:

“Cruise passengers visiting Amsterdam, who already pay a significant amount in port fees and other tariffs, will have to pay whilst other day tourists, who arrive in Amsterdam by train, bus or car, would not have to pay a day tourist tax and do not also pay port or other fees,”

They predicted some cruise lines would stop calling at Amsterdam in response.

In the future would you be happy to pay the tax if cruise lines included it in the cost?

I think given the option most would be happy to have it included so they could still visit this beautiful city. I hope this isn’t going to be permanent and when they are planning their itineraries they will start going back.