Water tourism

Water tourism is traveling by boat while on holiday, with the express purpose of seeing things meant for the water tourist. This can be traveling from luxury port to luxury port, but also landing a boat for lunch or other day recreation at specially prepared day boat-landings. Also known as a boating holiday.

Water Tourism in the Netherlands

Water travel used to be the only form of transportation in the Netherlands. Since improvements in the road and rail structure, less and less commercial freight water traffic is using the water. In recent years the growth of water tourism has exceeded the amount of freight traffic, and older cities whose ports were long disused are refurbishing them for water tourists. Water tourists are a strong lobby for protecting old water routes from being closed or filled. Hobbyists are refurnishing antique canal boats and charging for passenger traffic again. In Amsterdam, a steady tourist industry has kept the old canals open for water traffic, and in the summer the commercial passenger boats compete more and more with private skiffs and low yachts.