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

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. 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

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

, a steady tourist industry has kept the old canal

Canal

Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...

s open for water traffic, and in the summer the commercial passenger boats compete more and more with private skiffs and low yachts.