Illustrative photo – Tourists in Prague on Wenceslas Square, April 15, 2022.
Prague – According to the Czech Tourism Union (ČUCR), tourism in the Czech Republic will not return to its pre-Covid 2019 state until 2025. but to slow down the sector even more. The Union stated this in a press release today.
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According to the union, data published in February by the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ) on last year's tourism are not optimistic. According to statistics, 19.5 million tourists stayed in the Czech Republic last year, a year-on-year increase of 71 percent, while attendance was 11 percent lower than in 2019. “With the number of 19.5 million tourists in 2022, we are roughly somewhere at the levels before 2017. Roughly 50.6 million overnight stays sounds great, but it is roughly the level of 2016,” said ČUCR committee chairman Jakub Juračka. According to him, the domestic tourism industry lacks manpower. He added that during the coronavirus pandemic, every tenth employee left the industry.
“It is important that the government does not take direct steps against the recovery of the sector,” Juračka said.
The Union has previously stated that if the government implements an adjustment of VAT rates from next year, when instead of two reduced rates of ten and 15 percent there would be one of 13 or 14 percent, services in hospitality and tourism will become more expensive by at least three to four percent. According to her, many service operators would even be threatened with closure. Foreign tourists, such as Germans, who traditionally visit the Czech Republic the most, would go to cheaper destinations or stay at home due to higher prices. “There (in Germany), the reduced VAT rate for services in the tourism industry has been extended at least until the end of this year,” Juračka said. . Entrepreneurs make up almost a fifth of the domestic tourism industry, Juračka said.
Last year, according to the CZSO, roughly 12.1 million Czechs and 7.3 million foreigners stayed in domestic hotels, boarding houses and campsites. “The number of domestic guests in terms of arrivals and overnight stays has already exceeded 2019 by nine percent, but accommodation providers still lack a third (32.5 percent) of foreign clientele,” the CZSO said.
