Amsterdam Wants Visitors to Pay More, and Its Hotels Are Pushing Back

Amsterdam already charges one of the highest tourist taxes in Europe, and the city wants to go further. The current levy is 12.5 percent of the room price before VAT. Under the municipal budget plan, it would rise to 16 percent in 2027 and keep climbing by about a point a year, reaching 20 percent around 2031. Hotel stays in the Netherlands have also carried the full 21 percent VAT rate since the start of 2026, so the two increases stack.

The industry is fighting back. NL Times reports that outgoing Corendon chief executive Gunay Uslu and 46 other figures from hospitality, culture and events, including RAI Amsterdam CEO Paul Riemens, have written to the city asking it to suspend the increases. Their letter argues Amsterdam is pricing itself out of the market and asks for research into the effect on jobs before anything changes. Hotel association KHN has already started legal proceedings against the current increase.

Mayor Femke Halsema has said visitor numbers need to come down, but the figures are already softening. Dutch hotels recorded 30.8 million overnight stays in the first half of 2026, down 1.8 percent, according to Horwath HTL, while business stays fell 9 percent to 7.8 million, according to Statistics Netherlands. Cruise passengers are taxed separately under their own ordinance, so the proposed change targets overnight stays in hotels and other accommodation rather than ship visitors.

For a sense of scale, Pixidia calculates that on a €200 night before VAT, the tourist tax would rise from €25 to €32. The city council was expected to decide on the 2027 budget on November 11 and 12, according to KHN. If you are booking Amsterdam for next year, check whether your rate includes local taxes, because the final bill could move even if the room price does not.

Sources: NL Times, Pixidia