Amsterdam's Tourism Transformation: Brand Washing or Genuine Degrowth?

This study investigates the alignment of Amsterdam’s tourism management strategies with degrowth principles, focusing on the dichotomy between progrowth and degrowth. Over the past decade, the rapid increase in tourist numbers in European urban destinations has negatively impacted host communities and the natural environment, sparking discussions about the suitability of a tourism system centered on growth. This has led destinations to embrace degrowth principles, including Amsterdam, expressing commitment to curbing growth for a more sustainable and socially responsible visitor economy. The city emphasizes residents’ well-being, aiming to attract fewer, higher-quality tourists while shedding its transgressive reputation associated with drugs and sex-related activities in favor of a cultural focus. However, previous studies suggest that shifting towards 'quality tourism' can mask a pro-growth agenda, raising concerns about ‘fake’ degrowth or ‘greenwashing.’ This thesis has researched how Amsterdam's tourism management strategies commit to genuine alignment with degrowth principles. The study finds its theoretical framework on the conceptualization of overtourism, understanding of critical contributors, causes, social and ecological impacts, and potential strategies for managing and mitigating its adverse effects, focusing on the ongoing debate on ‘fair’ vs fake degrowth. Data was gathered from operational and promotional texts produced by the municipality, tourism authorities, and stakeholders, supplemented by expert interviews, yielding a sample size of 40 exemplary texts and 3 expert interviews. The analysis utilized the 6Ds & 6D-Ds framework (Blanco-Romero et al., 2019) and Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to categorize tourism policy maneuvers and marketing strategy and examine the textual, discursive, and social dimensions. Results indicate that Amsterdam’s tourism strategy promotes a diverse and sustainable visitor economy through a mix of degrowth and pro-growth principles. This dual approach reveals a complex interplay between degrowth and pro-growth discourses, underscoring urban tourism management's complexities and potential contradictions. While the city aims to reclaim public spaces and reduce the negative impacts of tourism, efforts to attract ‘quality tourists’ and enrich the cultural offering suggest an underlying objective of maintaining economic growth. While Amsterdam’s policies are framed around reducing overtourism’s negative impacts, the parallel push toward quality tourism suggests a shift rather than a reduction of carrying capacity, indicative of 'fake degrowth'. The study highlights the importance of genuinely sustainable practices over superficial marketing tactics to ensure equitable and sustainable development, using terms such as ‘brand washing’ - an alternative to ‘greenwashing’ - indicating how they may enhance the city’s appeal to a selective demographic but does not necessarily equate to change. The findings contribute to the broader debate on sustainable tourism, informing policymakers and city marketers about the complexities and potential misalignments in current practices and emphasizing the need for a more nuanced understanding that transcends the binary classification of tourism policies as either degrowth or pro-growth.