How is tourism managed in... Madrid, Amsterdam, and Berlin?

In a series of four articles, we explore how tourism is managed in major cities around the world.

At a time when tourism has become one of the most important activities in large cities, governments are taking management measures to ensure this activity remains a positive and long-term activity in a world where traditional industry has been replaced by a cleaner type of industry that enables development and secures jobs. Among the global measures are hotel restrictions on the construction of new hotels, stricter legislation on tourist apartments, and increased taxation of the tourist tax.

In 2003, strolling around the Prado Museum, the Reina Sofía Art Center, or the Royal Palace was very different from today. Mass tourism had not yet taken off. That year, Madrid received 4.5 million visitors from around the world. Of these, 2.3 million decided to visit the Prado to admire the paintings of Velázquez, Goya, or El Greco up close. Two decades later, these figures seemed paltry. In 2023, the Spanish capital welcomed 10.6 million tourists, 135.5% more than twenty years earlier, and the city's most famous museum welcomed almost 3.3 million visitors, 43.5% more, according to official data. The situation is replicated in almost all top tourist destinations.

Be attractive and sustainable

While the pandemic halted tourism growth, cities like Barcelona, ​​Amsterdam, and Berlin have recovered in different ways but with positive indicators. In others, like Madrid, 1% more tourists arrived in 2023 than before the pandemic. All of this has reopened the debate on how to manage the massive influx of visitors. "If we want to remain attractive and sustainable, the changes we implement must be beneficial for the people who live in the city," notes the city council of Amsterdam, the main tourist destination in the Netherlands. This is stated in a report reflecting on how tourism should change by 2035. "Visitors come, stay in the city for a few days, and leave, but they leave a permanent mark that changes urban life," it continues.

Finding a tourism management formula that maximizes the benefits citizens receive from tourist visits is also the philosopher's stone Barcelona is seeking. In fact, Amsterdam has been reflected in the Catalan capital when designing its public policies. Just four months ago, the Dutch tourism councilor, Sofyan Mbarki, met with his Barcelona counterpart, Jordi Valls, to learn firsthand about measures that could help rectify the situation. On the table were two folders: Barcelona's decision not to renew any tourist apartment licenses starting in 2028 and measures to support local businesses and the city's iconic establishments, in the form of promotion, protection, and financial aid. Two leading European cities in the search for solutions to global challenges.

Most livable destinations

Amsterdam's goal is to maintain a livable city for the 935,000 people who live there, and, following in the footsteps of Barcelona, ​​it has already begun work on this. The local government has initiated a package of measures such as reducing the number of river cruise ships docking in the city. While 2,125 docked in 2023, 1,150 will stop by in 2028. Buses from outside the city are also prohibited from circulating in the city center, and the tourist tax has been raised to 12.5% ​​of the price of a hotel room. Since 2016, opening a hotel in the city was already difficult, but now it is no longer possible: the city has decided to cap its capacity to accommodate tourists, preferring to focus on the quality of tourism rather than the quantity. According to the latest data from the public statistics agency CBS, the city had 41,991 rooms, only a thousand more than Barcelona, ​​despite having almost 700,000 fewer inhabitants.

Further south, in Berlin, the German city is also trying to take advantage of mass tourism to improve life in the capital. Specifically, it is focusing its efforts on sustainability. With the goal of reducing emissions generated by flights landing at the city's airport—which annually carry more than 23 million passengers—just a couple of months ago, it launched a high-speed train linking Paris and Berlin, passing through Strasbourg and Frankfurt. This measure is part of the city's promotional campaign to attract tourists to green practices. It has published guides featuring organic restaurants and issued sustainability certificates for 137 hotels. All of this has earned it a place in fifth place in the Global Destination Sustainability Index, which ranks the most sustainable cities in the world.

In Barcelona, ​​more than 1,000 tourism companies (mostly hotels) have withdrawn their Biosphere Commitment to Sustainability certification to align with good sustainable practices. The Sustainable Restaurant Guide, in a joint initiative with a private operator like VISA, also has 150 members.

Meanwhile, in Madrid, one of the measures the city has implemented to regulate tourism is a ban on tourist-use apartments located within residential communities. The measure is included in the Reside Plan and will be implemented this summer. The government will also allow tourist apartments to open in completely unoccupied residential buildings, but with a license contingent on the property being renovated.

Today, there are still more than 17,000 tourist apartments in the city, according to data from Segittur. In Amsterdam and Berlin, however, the situation has changed: strict regulations have been in place for some time and have already managed to reduce the number of tourist apartments to 4,661 and 6,846 respectively, according to Airbnbs. When Amsterdam implemented the new law in 2021, the number of apartments fell from 18,000 to just over 4,000 today.

Madrid's desire to move toward better tourism management is also reflected in the 2024-2027 Strategic Tourism Plan, which the city council presented this January. "Our goal must be to promote sustainable management of the destination, decentralize tourism, attract high-impact visitors, and revalue the tourism industry," the Madrid City Council stated in a statement. "We must redefine tourism policy to make Madrid a better city to live in, promoting its essence, lifestyle, culture, gastronomy, talent, and diversity," it concluded.

See other articles in the series:

How is tourism managed in Paris, London, and New York?