Amsterdam will be investing best efforts over coming years to make the capital more attractive to tourists and business travellers. Plans include a water museum and a watchtower.

The extra efforts are being inspired by ever declining numbers of 'visitor nights' in the city. In 2003 the number dropped to below the ten million level for the first time in years. The number of conferences too declined. Since 2003 Amsterdam has no longer been among the top-10 international conference cities.

The Amsterdam Tourism and Conference Agency (Amsterdamse Toerisme en Congresbureau), formerly called the VVV, is hoping to turn the tide by emphasising the capital's image as a city of culture, canals and conferences.

Themes for the period to come include City on the water (2005) and Rembrandt 400 (the four-hundredth anniversary of the painter's birth will be celebrated in 2006). Also, the city will focus more on attracting medium-sized conferences, instead of few large ones.

British, Americans, French, Spaniards, Italians and Germans have always made up the most important groups of visitors. In the future the city hopes to attract more people from Eastern Europe, especially the Czech Republic and Poland. Many Chinese tourists are also expected to visit the Dutch capital.