Historically, Amsterdam’s Red-Light district has always been in the same location since the Middle Ages. And with good reason. When Dutch East India Company (VOC) ships returned filled with spices and other precious cargo from the East Indies, having stopped at the company’s refreshment colony in South Africa, they had been at sea between six to nine months. During that long return voyage, sailors and soldiers experienced everything from extreme weather conditions, pirate raids and scurvy to monotonous diets. Once their ships anchored in Amsterdam’s harbour, men – without any moral debate – almost immediately pursued their carnal urges in the city’s Red Light district.
Social disturbance
So, since the late Middle Ages, the district has continued to fulfil that purpose. While it’s no longer necessary for sailors – the harbour has moved to outside the centre – it caters to a steady stream of male tourists who visit the city. However, since 2018, several political parties in Amsterdam’s city council have wanted to dissolve and either move or spread the Red Light District into other neighbourhoods.
The reason is mainly practical. In recent years, the number of tourists visiting the city has risen drastically. While in 2004, the city saw eight million hotel bookings annually, in 2024 the number skyrocketed to 22.9 million. In addition, with the number of tourists tripling, the city centre had become overrun with coffee shops, Nutella shops, sex theatres and brothels, which for the residents of the Red Light District, as well as the rest of Amsterdam’s city centre, have become a source of social disturbance.
Drop in real estate prices
The Red Light District has not grown geographically in size, but the number of tourists has. The jam-packed streets and alleyways have become a public disturbance for neighbours. Since 2018 several plans by Amsterdam town council were proposed to either disperse and spread the Red Light District into several neighbourhoods.
The latest idea was to develop an erotic centre in Amsterdam’s posh Zuid neighbourhood, next to the RAI convention centre, Beatrix Park and the financial district. The plan included a Red Light District in one building, like a shopping mall, so all services would be under one roof and not disturb the surrounding neighbourhood. However, parents with school children became alarmed, fearing an erotic centre would bring criminality and unsavoury elements to the neighbourhood. There is a vocational school across the street and an elementary and high school in the close vicinity, so the centre might be tempting to adolescent pupils. In addition, homeowners were worried that an erotic centre in the neighbourhood would cause real estate prices to drop.
Bridge too far
But since 2018, when the first plan was initiated, the idea of moving the Red Light District away from the city centre has lost support from most of the political parties in the town council, and the plan for an erotic centre is now at a standstill, stranded by objections, risks and a loss of political will. Moreover, many of the sex workers themselves do not support the idea, arguing that they earn most of their money from tourists. They do not believe tourists will be willing to travel outside of the historic centre with its nightlife, cafes and restaurants to an erotic centre on the edge of the city in a posh neighbourhood like Amsterdam-Zuid. Probably for many men, traveling to the edge of the city for sex is a psychological ‘bridge too far’, which makes them think deeply about their actions. The historical Red Light District, after all, has always been convenient, both physically and mentally.
Written by Benjamin B. Roberts