The city’s recalibration – prioritising residents while still welcoming visitors who got the memo on responsible tourism – keeps it at #11 in our Livability index even as visitor nights climb (you can thank the city’s Top 10 Lovability ranking for that). In 2024, tourist overnights hit 22.9 million, already above the official 20-million cap, and city statisticians see a path towards 28 million by 2027. Tourism still generates roughly €11,000 per resident each year, so policy has shifted from “volume to value”: caps on stays, a near-ban on net new hotels and stricter rules on disruptive visitors.
That pivot is clearest in hospitality. Rosewood Amsterdam opened in 2025 in the former Palace of Justice on Prinsengracht, a 17th-century canal-side block now holding 134 rooms and suites, three restaurants and bars, a spa and an indoor pool. In the Museum Quarter, the rebranded Mandarin Oriental Conservatorium – with its dramatic glass atrium – is launching in early 2026, while Mama Shelter Amsterdam follows in Amsterdam Noord in 2027.
At city scale, the big story is redevelopment. Haven-Stad, the Netherlands’ largest inner-city project, will turn docks west of the centre into 40,000 to 70,000 homes and up to 58,000 jobs. Across the water, the 32-hectare Sluisbuurt on Zeeburgereiland is rising as a high-rise, largely car-light neighbourhood of about 5,500 homes, with student towers and a university campus baked in. Further south, Zuidasdok is tunnelling over one kilometre of the A10 Zuid and expanding Amsterdam Zuid into the city’s second major rail hub. The scale and density of these districts underpin Amsterdam and North Holland’s top-tier standing in fDi’s European Cities and Regions of the Future rankings and keep investors focused on a long pipeline of knowledge-economy jobs. The #4 overall Prosperity index ranking proves this out.
Efficient public transport and dense cycle lanes connect talent to the galleries and cafés of Jordaan and to the restaurant streets of De Pijp. Across the IJ, electric and hybrid ferries shuttle locals to NDSM Wharf, a roughly 10-hectare arts and nightlife playground anchored by Nxt Museum and repurposed warehouses filled with bars, studios and start-ups.