The Prague Post Online: News: Tourism numbers up, but problems persist

August 29th, 2008

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Tourism numbers up, but problems persist

Effects of stronger crown and Schengen yet to be determined

By Curtis M. Wong
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
April 9th, 2008 issue

As the 2008 tourist season ramps up, statistics indicate good news for the travel industry. After dropping half a percentage point in 2006, Prague tourism rebounded with an 8.2 percent increase in foreign visitors for 2007.

The city also held onto its ranking as the sixth most visited city in Europe, according to the Association of Tour Operators and Travel Agents of the Czech Republic (AČCKA). In addition, Prague recently ranked 12th on the list of most popular cities in a poll conducted by the international travel Web site TripAdvisor, which named New York, London and Paris as the world’s top three.

According to travel officials, Prague’s 2007 tourism increase was driven largely by visitors from East European countries, including Slovakia, Poland and Russia, due in part to those countries’ strengthening economies.

“It certainly looks like the increase of tourists in 2007 is very good,” said Tomio Okamura, spokesman for the AČCKA. “Until recently, many residents in eastern nations weren’t able to travel throughout Europe, and now they’re finally able to.”

Although figures are not yet available, many officials predict that the nation’s accession to the Schengen zone could have a positive influence on tourism as well. Travelers from non visa-free countries will no longer need a separate visa to visit the Czech Republic during their European travels, and Prague’s proximity to both Germany and Austria makes it especially attractive for those visitors.

“The number of foreign tourists in Prague is still steadily increasing,” said Dana Soukupova, spokeswoman for CzechTourism. As for the Schengen effect, she added, “For that, we’ll have to wait for this coming season’s figures. But we hope that it will have a positive impact, especially for travelers from countries such as China who will now find it easier to travel here.”

Room for improvement

Despite the upsurge in travelers, many officials remain concerned about the status of the city’s tourism industry in the context of the weakening U.S. dollar. Combined with an overall increase in prices of accommodation and services, Prague’s reputation as a budget destination, particularly for Americans and West Europeans, has suffered somewhat.

“At the moment, it would appear that Americans are still coming to Europe,” said Ian Rumgay, communications manager for TripAdvisor. “However, they may be cutting back on spending, e.g. moving to cheaper accommodations and staying for a shorter period of time.”

While the city is seeing higher numbers of first-time visitors from eastern countries, some officials say that Prague needs to better promote itself as an attractive location for repeat trips, particularly for American and West European tourists. The answer, they say, relies on stronger promotion for sights within the outlying regions of Bohemia and Moravia. At present, an estimated 60 percent of all foreign tourists to the Czech Republic only visit the capital.

“Most shop and restaurant owners will tell you that turnover is either decreasing or holding steady,” Okamura said. “It seems that we’re not able to attract as many tourists from countries with the most economic spending power, such as the U.S. or Western Europe. We need to offer more to attract returning tourists for second and third visits [and first-time visitors] to the outlying regions.”

Okamura said strengthening the tourist infrastructure within Prague and the rest of the Czech Republic will be key to bringing back more visitors. Many guidebooks, he says, warn tourists about the city’s pitfalls, including swarms of pickpockets, problematic currency exchange, terse customer service and notoriously overcharging taxi drivers.

As a result of the strengthening Czech crown, the cost of these services is comparable with Western cities such as Vienna or Berlin — but lacking some of the “finesse” associated with those destinations.

The city’s legislators could make small steps to gradually improve the city’s reputation and bring back more return visitors, such as printing travel information in more languages, Okamura said.

“The problem is that we’re gradually becoming a standard West European destination,” he said, adding that, however, “we’re generally not a tourist-friendly town. We have West European prices, but not the same level of services as Western Europe.”

While some officials think many of these problems are misperceived as being specific to the Czech Republic, they admit there is room for long-standing improvement.

“Prague, like many other big cities, has problems with taxis, pickpockets and some types of services,” Soukupová said. “But all big cities have these problems, and [trying to solve] them isn’t easy because of the current legislation.”

Curtis M. Wong can be reached at news@praguepost.com

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