By Hannah Sampson
Amsterdam has already warned rowdy tourists to stay away and cracked down on smoking weed in the streets of its famed Red Light District.
Now, city leaders are targeting what they see as another scourge: giant cruise ships, which dock at a terminal near the centre of the Dutch capital.
Political party D66 Amsterdam said its proposal to relocate the terminal, effectively blocking cruise ships from the city, had been adopted by a large majority of the city council.
An announcement said the proposal is meant to address concerns around air pollution emitted by ships and the crush of tourists who pour into the city during port visits.
Anouk Panman, a spokesperson for deputy mayor Hester van Buren, confirmed in an email the city council had adopted the motion. "The municipality of Amsterdam is going to investigate how this proposal can be implemented," she wrote.
Panman said the proposal still has to be discussed with partners in the North Sea Canal area.
"This will take some time, so at the moment we cannot give any details on how or when the proposal will be implemented," she wrote.
Dick de Graaff, director of the operator of the cruise terminal, told the Associated Press that 114 ships were expected to stop there this year, with 130 forecast for next year.
He said Cruise Port Amsterdam was waiting to see what the city would do next but was not immediately closing the terminal.
The move comes amid a years-long effort to address the impact of overtourism in Amsterdam and follows a broader outcry over crowding from popular cruise destinations in Europe and elsewhere.