Beautiful Dutch Village That is Magnet for Photographers to Start Charging Tourist Fee
The picturesque Dutch neighborhood of Zaanse Schans near Amsterdam will start charging tourists after a record 2.6 million people visited the small area last year.
Zaanse Schans is famous for its windmills but has a tiny resident population of just 100 people. It is a huge draw for international tourists and locals have become fed up with constant intrusion.
The BBC reports that starting next spring, every outside visitor will be charged $20 (€17,50) to try and stem the flow of tourists.
“In 2017 we had 1.7 million visitors… this year we’re heading for 2.8 million,” says Marieke Verweij, director of the Zaanse Schans museum. “But this is a small place! We just don’t have room for all these people!”
Verweij says that some tourists are unaware that people actually live in the village and will “walk into their gardens, walk into their houses, pee in their gardens, knock on doors, and take pictures.” She says there is no privacy for residents where tourists will “use selfie sticks to peek into the houses.”
The BBC reporter who visited the village says he heard people speaking Chinese, English, Italian, Arabic, Russian, and Spanish. Many of whom were waiting in line for a good photo spot.
The $20 fee will not only get admission to the village but also entry to the museum and inside one of the windmills. Inside the windmill is a Claude Monet painting, a French impressionist who visited Zaanse Schans in 1871.
The village directors say that if only half the number of tourists arrive in 2026, then annual revenues will be roughly $28.8 million (€24.5 million). But not everyone is happy with some local shop and restaurant owners fretting that the entry fee will slash their income as tourists decide to go elsewhere.
“If you’re with a family of four and you have parking, it will be around €100. So people won’t have a lot of budget over for other stuff,” says Sterre Schaap, who runs a gift shop there called Trash and Treasures.
Overtourism
What’s happening in Zaanse Schans is taking place all over the world as small locations struggle to deal with the huge numbers of tourists, many of whom are looking for a great photo for social media.
Venice famously charges €5 ($6) for day trippers, and more places may start following suit. Last year, UNESCO said that historical landmarks are at risk of being destroyed as a result of “selfie-tourism.”
It comes after foreign tourists seeking photographs have caused traffic accidents to double around Mount Fuji, a Spanish island banned influencers, a tourist spot in China imposed a 60-second photo rule for tourists, and a Scottish village has been overrun by Harry Potter fans.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
