[Someone]

> am I struggling to understand the issue

As the article says, Amsterdam is drowning in tourists, and prefers those that bring in more money to the local economy.

Cruise ship passengers sleep on board, have breakfast on board and may even have dinner on board because that’s included in their fee for the cruise.

I’m also guessing that most of these cruise ships aren’t the most luxurious of cruise ships, and aren’t carrying the richest of tourists.