Newspapers kick in massive 'research' into more expensive cultural outings.

That's a scare. On Friday, reports De Volkskrant that prices for cultural activities in Amsterdam have risen by a whopping 37.3% since 2009. Nu.nl picked it up immediately, soon followed by TROS Radar. Then it must be true.

The news blindly adopted by everyone refers to a post on the BBC site. That message, of course, is not about Amsterdam. It proclaims that London is the most expensive cultural city in Europe. And if the BBC says so then it must be true. So good thing the journalist on duty at the Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau not only translated it neatly, but also filtered out the information relevant to our country. What emerges? Everything is getting more expensive. And cultural activities in Amsterdam are even 37.3% more expensive. Not 37.2% and certainly not 37.4%.

How did the BBC and thus the General Netherlands Press Office actually come up with that figure?

Simple: "Two people were instructed to buy tickets in 12 major European cities to visit an art gallery, a museum, a monument, an opera performance, a ballet performance and a classical concert."

The 2009 results were compared with those of 2014, et voila: 37.3%.

Case closed.

Or is it?

Does it still matter which concert, which opera performance, which museum?

The Volkskrant does not know. Neither does Nu.nl. Neither does TROS Radar. Because: ANP doesn't know. But the BBC doesn't know either. Well, doesn't mention it. The BBC does refer to the source, the Post Office Travel Money, but without a link.

No problem, the original press release is so found.

And immediately it is clear that the firmness with which 37.3% is spoken of in the Netherlands is sloppy. After all, as the name clearly indicates, the Post Office Travel Money survey converted card prices to pounds in 2014, just as it did in 2009.

Detail? Well no. The press release already tells us that the pound itself has become more expensive against the euro 11% between 2009 and 2013. That makes conversion very tricky. The UK rate can never be simply copied.

But there is more.

Because it is easy to criticise Dutch newspapers and sites for blindly posting a BBC report translated by ANP, even the BBC journalist on duty processed a press release into a piece without thinking.

In fact, the study makes no sense at all.

The Post Office looks at what they think are the top institutions. And yes, it's easy to come to the conclusion that Dublin is much cheaper than London and Amsterdam. But, with all due respect to the Irish Opera Touring Company, surely that is something different from The Royal Opera House or De Nationale Opera. Just as the Concertgebouw Orchestra is surely something different from The Dublin Symphony Orchestra.

In the Netherlands, The Van Gogh Museum is counted among both monuments and art museums. Logical, as the rest of the monuments in the Netherlands either have free admission or were closed in 2009 (Stedelijk, Rijks).

Apples, pears and nothing. Hard to compare. And then it's also about price rises for Brits. Not for Dutch people with museum year cards, pass 65 and that kind of benefits.

But of course, you can still compare prices for a city. Since opera tickets are the most expensive, according to the Post Office, and thus provide the main differences, we focus on that and look at what the fictional couple would have spent in October 2009 and in October 2014 - clever, by the way, how the Post Office has already received that couple's completed questionnaires by now. Fortunately, we don't have to look for the first grade, but the second. And what turns out?

Opera in Amsterdam became only 9.3% more expensive in five years!

And we really sent our couple to a performance of De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam, ticket second grade.

Dido & Aneas 2009:	75 euros
L'etoile 2014:	82 euros

But then the misery begins. Because Opera in Amsterdam has also become 90.6% more expensive in five years.

Dido & Aneas 2009:	75 euros
L'Orfeo 2014:	143 euros

In fact, it varies greatly on which day you want to go (weekends are more expensive) and at what time you buy your ticket.

And a quick look at the prices at the Concertgebouw Orchestra gives a similar picture: 46 euros for the second piano concerto for Rachmaninov, six days later 56 euros for Strauss and another week later 12.50 for a family concert. At the latter you do get a conductor you probably don't know, but still the KCO.

So it is impossible to come up with a percentage like 37.3, even by the Post Office's rules of the game. And that leaves aside the fact that in each of the cities surveyed, there is much more than just the 'top institutions'.

But the travelling culture enthusiast knows that. And these are apparently not the editors who, at the offices of BBC, ANP, Volkskrant, Nu.nl, TROS, blindly copy pieces.