Amsterdam could ban tourists visiting cannabis cafes and red light district

Amsterdam appears ready to stop tourists buying cannabis from the city's famous coffee shops as they try to slash overcrowding.

The red light district will also be a no-go area for groups as the Dutch city struggles to cope with the volume of visitors.

More than 17 million head to Amsterdam every year - many going to make the most of its tolerant drug policy.

Now Mayor Femke Halsema has come up with a plan to restore order to the Netherlands capital.

She wants to reduce numbers in an effort to clean up Amsterdam's seedy reputation for the benefit of its 1.1 million permanent residents.

Some 100 people aged between 18 and 35 were surveyed, with 57 per cent saying coffee shops played a big part in their decision to visit Amsterdam.

Amsterdam's research, information and statistics office suggest nearly half of Brits say they'd be less likely to visit the city again if they were prevented from making use of its famous hash coffee shops.

Mayor Helsema said she wanted to commission "a study this year to reduce the attraction of cannabis to tourists and the (local) regulation of the back door".

"A clear separation of markets between hard drugs and soft drugs has great urgency because of the hardening of the trade in hard drugs," she wrote.

In a separate announcement on Thursday, Amsterdam city hall said a ban on group tours of the red light district would come into effect on April 1.

Tours in other parts of the city that contain sex workers' windows will also be banned.

Guided tours anywhere else in the centre will require a permit.

At present, up to 115 guided tours pass through the red light district everyday, with residents complaining of inconvenience and sex workers saying tourists are often abusive and take photos without consent.

The council voted to limit the size of tours to 15 people and ban them from stopping in busy places.

Deputy mayor Victor Everhardt said it is "disrespectful to treat sex workers as a tourist attraction".