In an effort to spread the blessing and curse of Amsterdam’s 17 million annual overnight tourists, The Hague has temporarily taken over the capital’s main physical marketing outlet.

For three weeks, visitors to the Iamsterdam store and information point at Amsterdam Centraal train station will be met with a green carpet and a barrage of charming propaganda suggesting that all ways lead to The Hague.

On the first day, tourists were offered free fifty return train tickets to the Dutch centre of government and the first to turn up, American artist Annamarie Trombetta, also won a guided tour around the city highlights in a horse-drawn, golden carriage.

Richard de Mos, head of economic affairs for The Hague’s municipal council, told DutchNews.nl that this is part of a three-year joint strategy to share some of Amsterdam’s tourism largesse and burden.

‘It’s good for the corporation. The Netherlands to present itself as the whole of the Netherlands, not just Amsterdam,’ he said.

 ‘Amsterdam has 13 times more overnight visitors than we do. But we offer something different: a seaside town, a royal town and a place of knowledge and peace. If The Hague can help make Amsterdam less busy, it is happy to do it.’

Earlier this month, Haarlem announced a new strategy to prioritise certain types of ‘quality visitors’ and minimise negative effects, and an influential think-tank announced a need to invest in better national planning to cope with burgeoning tourism.

 ‘The Hague is unique: it’s a royal city where our government is located and they have beautiful places and events. ‘Spreading tourism isn’t easy but if you look at the data, there are people who have been here many times who are interested in new areas,’

Behaviour Geerte Udo, chief executive of the city’s marketing agency Amsterdam&partners said.

‘We are an open and tolerant city, but we do not accept that people disrespect our locals. There are many solutions we have to invest in but this is a partial one, if people have a broader idea of what the Netherlands has to offer.’