Prague is the most beautiful in the world, the vote decided. Does it attract tourists back?
Prague is more beautiful than Paris or New York, 27,000 people from all over the world decided, who voted in the TimeOut magazine poll. In short, the most beautiful in the world. But can he use his title properly and turn it into money?
The most beautiful woman in the world has taken care of her job for at least a whole year, she flies from continent to continent and devotes herself to charity. The city can’t go anywhere, on the contrary – its beauty should attract people to it.
Does such a win make sense, or is it just a cat’s gold crown?
“Of course, we appreciate the title, as well as other titles that Prague has received,” comments Vít Hofman, head of the media department of the Prague City Hall. “For example, it has become the seventh best city in the world, the city with the most beautiful parks in the world, and has long been one of the five safest cities and the five cities with the best public transport,” he said.
According to him, titles can be used for a long time when communicating on various topics. “Such awards are also an excellent business card abroad for the city, and I firmly hope that it will also attract tourists here,” believes Hofman.
Prague City Tourism spokeswoman Klára Malá confirms that the report was immediately published on Czech and foreign social networks and sees that it has a great response.
“In addition, the survey is published by the world-famous magazine Time Out, and we appreciate the award all the more. Prague will become known to millions of potential tourists who can visit it during their visit, “he adds to the representatives of the municipality.
But it still looks pretty miserable with foreign tourists. Once in the first and second quarters of the pre-pandemic year 2019, almost 3.7 million of them visited Prague and about seven to eight million a year, a year later in the second period, when the disease began to spread in full, it was less than 1.3 million guests.
“In order for the borders to open at the end of June, the number of foreign visitors in the segment of cheap hotels who would come on holiday was minimal in July,” says Martina Vávrová, marketing director of the Four Seasons Hotel in Prague.
The situation began at a hotel on the Prague waterfront, where Hollywood stars like to stay, improving in August, when the number of guests was double compared to last August and tripled in September.
“We are also helped by film productions and corporate groups, which, on the other hand, would look at the numbers of those who come to the metropolis for leisure activities to understand the demand for Prague,” says Vávrová.
If the current trend continues, the hotel expects the third quarter to be approximately seventy percent below the 2019 results, and for the last quarter to be fifty-five percent lower than two years ago. But there is already interest in Advent weekends, Christmas and the New Year.
“Since July this year, most guests are tourists from the USA, Germany, France, Switzerland and the Middle East. We are also seeing Poland anew and in September, for example, guests from Israel, “describes Vávrová. On the contrary, there is a lack of traditionally strong clientele from Great Britain and Russia.
“Clients from Russia cannot come to us, but we know from colleagues in Budapest that the demand is huge there,” adds the marketing director, and at the same time believes that after the lifting of restrictions, tourists from Great Britain will travel briskly again.
The owners of hotels and restaurants can only hope that the pandemic will subside and that the interest of tourists will also support their own Prague. “At the moment, we have a campaign for the In Prague at Home program, which ended in August. As part of it, we targeted domestic visitors and tourists from European countries, ”informs Klára Malá from Prague City Tourism.
The organization is preparing an autumn and winter digital campaign, in which, together with the Association of Hotels and Restaurants of the Czech Republic, Prague Airport and Mastercard, they have selected the main destinations in which they will run. Its specific form will be presented in early October.