Tens of thousands of tourists will use the “At home in Prague” campaign. They were attracted by the zoo, Petřín or Prague Castle – ČT24 – Czech Television
The project Prague at Home to support tourism in the capital was launched by Prague City Tourism together with the Prague management at the beginning of July. Since then, 60,000 visitors from the Czech Republic and surrounding countries have come to the metropolis as part of the campaign.
“The project involves over 400 collective accommodation facilities and almost 80 tourist attractions, such as museums, galleries, monuments and the like,” said Klára Malá, spokeswoman for Prague City Tourism.
Depending on the number of nights booked, tourists received services that served as entry vouchers for various monuments, galleries and museums in Prague. In one night, the visitor automatically received two points, for which he could visit, for example, Vyšehrad or the Kinský Garden.
“Most often visitors come for a holiday and as a result spend one to two nights there. As part of the campaign, most tourists head to the Zoological Garden of the Capital City of Prague, Prague Castle or the Petrin Lookout Tower, ”commented Malá.
Thanks to the project, they came to the capital for the very first time. “The event motivated us and a friend to go on a family trip together, when my mother was in our metropolis for the first time in her life. For an extended weekend, we received every four bodies. We have four entrances to various monuments. We visited Prague Castle, the National Museum, the Old Town Hall and the Werich Villa, “Michaela Šálková commented on a visit to Prague for Czech Television.
The Association of Hotels and Restaurants of the Czech Republic (AHR CR) also participates in the event. “The project is highly beneficial for increasing the demand for tourism from domestic tourists. In total, more than 280,000 points have been issued so far. The campaign brought a total of 70,000 stays, and of course the accommodation is followed by other services that tourists use during their stay, “said the president of the association, Vaclav Starek.
On the contrary, the campaign did not bring customers a guide. Due to the small number of tourists, many of them lost their income and had to look for a new job. On Wednesday, therefore, they went out to demonstrate on Mariánské náměstí in Prague to draw attention to the whole situation.
Thirty percent of Prague’s businesses are still closed
Even according to Stárek, the situation in Prague remains critical for many other entrepreneurs in the field of tourism. “Prague is currently the most affected region of the Czech Republic in terms of the decline in demand for tourism services, accommodation and catering services. It is clear that domestic tourists alone are not able to cover the outage of foreign clients, which currently leads to the fact that approximately 30 percent of accommodation facilities are still closed, “said Stárek.
Compared to last July, according to STR reports, the Global Report of four and the following hotels in Prague show only 22% occupancy. Hospitality also reports a slump. “The situation in the hospitality industry also recommends declines, between 30 and 50 percent year on year. The low demand is due not only to the lack of foreign clients, but also to the fact that many companies still keep employees working from home, ”Stárek explained.
According to the president of the association, the demand for tourism should not improve until the second quarter of 2021. Until then, hoteliers and other entrepreneurs dependent on visitors can also help projects such as the In Prague at Home campaign. It is already required to extend the offers from October this year until the spring of next year.