Amsterdam has a simple message for young British men looking to visit the capital of the Netherlands: “Stay away.”
That’s being directed toward British men ages 18-35 by local leaders of the famous party city, according to BBC News.
When Brits search the terms “stag party Amsterdam,” “cheap hotel Amsterdam” and “pub crawl Amsterdam,” a video showing the consequences of a “messy night” pops up.
To all my British friends coming to Amsterdam, please find here the welcoming video from the Amsterdam City Marketing Department titled ‘Stay Away’ pic.twitter.com/T4AVYS0c7M a>
— John | Legalguy.eth (@John_ACW) March 29, 2023
The geo-targeted campaign video shows a man stumbling and ultimately being arrested. It warns that violators can be arrested and fined up to $150.
“Visitors are still welcome, but not if they misbehave and cause nuisance,” Sofyan Mbarki, Amsterdam’s deputy mayor for economic affairs and the inner city, said in a statement. “As a city, we are saying: We’d rather not have this, so stay away.”
Amsterdam is reimagining its reputation as being tolerant of marijuana smoking and prostitution.
The city’s “visitor economy vision” calls for earlier closings of bars and brothels beginning this weekend, banning marijuana smoking in public and moving part of the Red Light District to a centralized location, according to The Guardian.
The campaign is starting with British men, but will soon target young Dutch men as well.