Helms now runs five Green House coffee shops in Amsterdam — a sign of how business has boomed over the last decade, with soaring numbers of tourists arriving in the Dutch capital.
In 2019, more than 20 million foreign visitors came to the city, which has a population of just over 800,000 within the city limits.
The outside facade of a Green House coffee shop in Amsterdam.
Credit:
Courtesy of Green House
Over the last few years, Amsterdam’s City Council has adopted increasingly aggressive measures to combat the overwhelming number of visitors. An advertising campaign by the Dutch tourist board in 2019 actively encouraged visitors to go elsewhere in the Netherlands. Airbnb has restricted rentals and the Council is in the process of attempting to move the famous red-light district and its sex workers to a purpose-built center elsewhere in Amsterdam.