It’s a tragedy to have to break to you what is perhaps the worst travel news of the year, but here goes: foreign visitors are to be banned from visiting cannabis-selling coffee shops in the southern Netherlands as of January 1.

The decision by the Dutch justice ministry has been made to combat anti-social behaviour among tourists. Licensed coffee shops will now only admit Dutch residents who can present what has been branded a ‘dope card’.

The new rules are expected to come into force throughout the rest of the country in January 2013 – and that includes Amsterdam. Some Dutch MPs have branded the move “tourism suicide”.