The last real tulip flower shop closes.
The tradition of sale of tulips in the amsterdam singel canal dates back to 1862. Florists brought tulips from fields outside the city to sell at the floating market in Bloemenmarkt , which over the years has been improving and attracting more visitors. Gaining worldwide fame in the 1960s.
The neighbors approached up to the 16 floating structures to buy fresh flowers to decorate their homes or grow in their own garden . But all that is over. This April the last flower shop that sold fresh flowers on the canal has closed.
Florist Michael Saarloos, interviewed by the Dutch newspaper Trouw, blame mass tourism . Michael Saarloos, who hails from a family dedicated to the sale of flowers since 1943 , says that tourists arrive in groups and cannot attend to their regular customers, in addition these crowds damage flower stalls...
So he has decided to sell his floating shop and move to 750m in Gasthuismolensteeg.
A floating market that has been in the city since 1862.
But The reason is not only the flood of tourists, who arrives in Amsterdam every day attracted by low-cost flights and tourist apartment rentals, but cannot compete with the rest of the Bloemenmarkt stalls.
while the others they sell souvenirs like magnets and fake wooden tulips , he was trying to compete with real flowers. Impossible, come on.
In fact, most skipped the normal that says that only 25% of the stall can be used to sell products that are not related to the plant . “I asked the municipality for help a few years ago. I'm drowning, I told them…”, says Michael Saarloos in Trouw.
At the moment the city council does not have any measures to remedy this situation, and perhaps it is already too late when all the real tulip shops have closed.
Will there be no more fresh tulips at Bloemenmarkt?
HOLLAND GETS STARTED
Not everything is lost. The Dutch government has launched a program to deal with the problem of mass tourism . 'Perspectief bestemming Nederland 2030' will not be able to stop the 25 million tourists expected for 2025 in the Netherlands, 50% more than in 2019, but yes, you will be able to carry out strategies to control them.
The first measures have already been carried out: removing the letters from 'I am Amsterdam', close the Red Light District to guided tours, stricter regulations for Airbnb or implement a tourist tax of 7%.
with this project they want to promote quality tourism and publicize less tourist areas to leave more space for the city of Amsterdam, the keukenhof garden and the windmills kindergarten , the three most visited and affected.