News of: Monday, February 21 2005,
Mr Frits Huffnagel and the Amsterdam Tourist Board are 'not pleased' about the latest promotion by Transavia Airlines, containing a hemp plant leaf.
Transavia Airlines runs the promotion in Barcelona, Spain. The hemp leaf appears on the city buses.
The City of Amsterdam and the Tourist Board have been trying for a number of years to improve the image of Amsterdam, particularly where (soft) drugs are concerned. Recently the campaign I AMsterdam (website in Dutch) was launched for this purpose.
Transavia says this is only part of the campaign, also images of Van Gogh, windmills and tulips are used. The hemp leaves were chose because in Spain there is a lot of discussion going on about coffeeshops (whose main activity is -other than the name suggests- the sale of soft drugs).
Alderman Huffnagel (Economic Affairs) and the Tourist Board have approached Transavia about its campaign.
