A group of residents from Amsterdam’s city centre are taking legal action against the council for failing to comply with its own limits on tourist numbers, the Parool reported on Monday.

The group, who also organised a 2021 petition that attracted 30,000 signatures, say the number of overnight stays has exceeded the 20 million threshold every year since then, leaving them no option but to go to court.

Jasper van Dijk, one of the organisers of the campaign group Amsterdam Heeft een Keuze, said they had had enough. “We have had endless patience but the 20 million limit is exceeded year after year,” he told the paper. “We have no option but to take legal steps.”

In 2021 the city council agreed, almost unanimously, that action would be required if overnight stays exceeded 20 million. In 2023, the number reached 22.1 million. Last year, the figure was expected to rise to 23 million, and forecasts suggest 25 million tourists will visit the capital in the coming years.

The campaigners acknowledge that the council has introduced some measures, including a stay away campaign, a ban on outdoor cannabis smoking in the red light district, shorter café and bar opening hours, limits on river cruises, and an increase in the tourist tax.

Another option, Van Dijk said, would be to ban non-residents from the city’s cannabis cafés, in line with the rules in the rest of the country.

Economic affairs chief Sofyan Mbarki said he would meet the campaigners again but added that it was up to the full council to decide what action to take. “There are measures, such as the residency criteria, that the council has refused to bring in,” Mbarki said in response to questions from councillors.