The Amsterdam branch of the PvdA (Labour party) wants to ban tourists from cannabis cafés in the city centre, marking a U-turn on its previous position, the Parool reported on Friday.

Amsterdam currently does not enforce the official ban on non-residents, unlike border cities such as Maastricht that attract large numbers of “weed tourists”.

But the easy availability of soft drugs remains one of the city’s main draws for budget travellers, and officials have been struggling to bring visitor numbers under control.

If introduced, the ban would apply only to cannabis cafés in the city centre and some of them would then, the PvdA hopes, move their outlets to other areas.

The PvdA, which campaigns separately from its national partner GroenLinks, is traditionally the largest party on the city council. Local elections are due to take place on March 18, 2026.

Coalition partners GroenLinks and D66 have been opposed to banning tourists from city centre coffeeshops in the past.

A group of Amsterdam residents are taking the city council to court for failing to tackle rising tourist numbers. In particular, they are angry that the council’s self-imposed limit of 20 million overnight stays a year has been broken for the past three years.

The campaigners also propose banning tourists from cannabis cafés.