While the erotic center is one of the many options still being discussed, the city government decided to take a definitive measure in February. After earlier measures taken to reduce tour group sizes did not yield the desired results, the decision was taken to ban ‘Red Light District Tours’ and the area’s public pub crawls completely. Victor Everhardt (the city’s councilor of finance) made a statement to the press, saying that the tours at De Wallen would be banned due to the disrespect involved with treating sex workers as a tourist attraction, demonstrating that this decision combined ethical considerations with the interests of the city. Fines will be imposed upon guides that refuse to comply with the new law. In addition to that, a measure involving police and law enforcement is being processed as many customers, residents, and sex workers feel unsafe due to drug dealers in the area.
In conjunction with GroenLinks’ decision to move the ‘Iamsterdam’ sign, the city seems to be pushing to change how it is experienced and perceived.