Amsterdam Tourism Statistics and Trends 2026

In short: Amsterdam recorded 23.7 million tourist overnight stays in 2025 — a record, and the third year running above the city's own legal cap of 20 million. Visitors now pay Europe's highest tourist tax (12.5% of the room rate), new hotels are effectively banned, and from 2026 the combined tax burden on a hotel room reaches roughly a third of the bill.

Last reviewed 7 September 2026. Every figure on this page was checked against the source named next to it; where two official series disagree, the difference is stated.

Amsterdam is one of Europe's most visited — and most regulated — city destinations. This page collects the key numbers: how many people visit, where they come from, what they pay, and how the city is actively trying to shrink its own tourism industry. All figures come from Statistics Netherlands (CBS), the City of Amsterdam's research office and other primary sources, updated for 2026.

Overnight stays: records despite the cap

Amsterdam counted a record 23.7 million tourist overnight stays in 2025, up roughly 800,000 on the year before, according to city figures reported by NL Times. That followed 22.9 million in 2024 and 22.1 million in 2023 (Onderzoek & Statistiek Amsterdam). The pre-pandemic 2019 level of about 22 million has been left behind.

The remarkable part: since 2021, a citizens'-initiative ordinance ("Tourism in Balance") legally caps overnight stays at 20 million a year. The city has exceeded its own cap every year since 2023 — by nearly 3 million in 2024 — and residents have sued the municipality over it. The city's own research office now projects 25.0–29.4 million stays by 2028 if nothing changes, with growth slower than in 2015–2019 but still driven by international demand (Onderzoek & Statistiek Amsterdam).

Who visits Amsterdam?

Amsterdam's hotels took 9.5 million guests in 2025 (+2% on 2024), who spent 22.2 million nights in the city — more than any other Dutch city (CBS); 81% of them came from abroad (CBS StatLine 82061NED).
By hotel nights the United States overtook the UK as the number-one inbound market in 2025: 2.82 million American nights (+14%) against 2.77 million British (+8%) and 2.01 million German (−3%); in 2024 the UK had still led (CBS StatLine 82061NED). The city's own visitor monitor confirms the pattern — Germans increasingly come for the day, while growth in hotel guests comes mainly from the US (amsterdam&partners, Ontwikkelingen bezoekers Amsterdam 2023–2025).
Day visitors added another 26.7 million trips in 2024, two-thirds of them domestic.
Average stay has crept up to 2.28 nights (about 2.0 in 2019).

Hotels: high occupancy, capped supply

Amsterdam has just under 500 hotels with roughly 42,000 rooms and 92,000 beds — an all-time high that is now frozen by policy: since April 2024 no new hotel permits are issued; a new hotel may only open if another closes and the bed count does not grow (NPR). The frozen supply has not, however, translated into pricing power: STR reports that Amsterdam hotels underperformed through the first seven months of 2025, with roughly three in four properties cutting their average daily rate month after month, and CoStar's February 2026 forecast has 2026 as the third consecutive year of falling RevPAR as the VAT rise squeezes leisure demand (STR/CoStar). The peaks are still steep — event-heavy April 2025 ran at 85% occupancy with an average daily rate of €210.87 (STR via Hotel News Resource) — and Amsterdam remains one of the priciest city hotel markets in Europe.

The tax bill: Europe's highest, and rising

Tourist tax: 12.5% of the room rate — the highest in Europe (City of Amsterdam).
Day-tripper tax for cruise passengers: €14.50 per person in 2025, €15 from 2026.
Tourist-tax revenue: €242.5 million in 2024, budgeted at €265.7 million for 2025 and €275.5 million for 2026 — with the 12.5% rate itself left unchanged for 2026 (KHN).
Since 1 January 2026 Dutch VAT on accommodation has been 21%, up from 9% (Belastingdienst) — stacking to a combined tax burden of roughly 33.5% on an Amsterdam hotel room (CMS Law).
The PRO Amsterdam–D66 coalition agreement of June 2026 lifts the tourist tax to 16% in 2027, then by one percentage point a year to 20% in 2031 — expected to raise about €60 million extra in 2027, rising to roughly €75 million a year by 2030 (Pretwerk, Hospitality Management).

Cruise: from 190 calls to zero?

Sea-cruise calls are being cut from as many as 190 a year to a maximum of 100 from 2026, with mandatory shore power from 2027 (DutchNews). River cruising — about 1,950 calls in 2024 — is slated to shrink to 1,150. A January 2026 proposal would end sea cruises in the city entirely by 2035, at an estimated revenue loss of €46–103 million — the executive weighed that against an €85 million bill for relocating the terminal to the port's industrial zone (Travelweek). The June 2026 coalition agreement confirms the direction: the Passenger Terminal is to close to sea cruises (Pretwerk).

Getting there and what people see

Schiphol handled 68.8 million passengers in 2025 (+2.9%), making it the EU's second-busiest airport (Schiphol Group).
The Rijksmuseum drew 2.3 million visitors in 2025 (Rijksmuseum); the Van Gogh Museum, which deliberately caps its numbers, received 1.84 million visitors in 2024; the Anne Frank House had 1.21 million in 2024.
Peak season runs April–September with July busiest; January–February are the quiet months.

What it means for visitors

Amsterdam is deliberately trading volume for value: capped beds, the continent's highest taxes and shrinking cruise capacity all push prices up — and push the experience upmarket. For travellers, the practical takeaways are to book hotels early (capped supply meets record demand), expect roughly a third of the room bill to be tax from 2026, and consider the November–March window, when the city is at its calmest.

Amsterdam Tourism Statistics and Trends 2026

Overnight stays: records despite the cap

Who visits Amsterdam?

Hotels: high occupancy, capped supply

The tax bill: Europe's highest, and rising

Cruise: from 190 calls to zero?

Getting there and what people see

What it means for visitors

Sources

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