Foreign tourists are starting to return to Prague, hotel offers are growing exponentially – FAEI.cz
Hotel occupancy in the Czech capital exceeded 69 percent this June, while last June it was only 19 percent. Compared to the 86 percent occupancy rate in June 2019, this is still almost 17 percentage points less. The average achieved price per room was 106 euros this June, which is 45 euros more than last year and at the same level as before the crisis.
“Our revenue per available room, up 682 percent compared to the previous first half, is huge, the highest in Europe. This is partly due to the fact that last year the performance of Prague’s hotels was among the worst in Europe,” said David Nath, head of the hotel team for Central and Eastern Europe, Cushman & Wakefield.
According to him, it was a temporary situation influenced mainly by non-market factors. “Just one year after the lifting of restrictions and anti-pandemic measures, the average achieved price per room exceeded the pre-crisis value,” added Nath. However, for the time being, Prague still lags behind some cities in the Central European region, such as Belgrade, Vienna or Budapest, in terms of half-yearly sales per available room.
Prague Airport reports on its website that the number of passengers exceeded expectations, which on the 4th reached the same figure as for the whole of last year – namely 4,389,350 passengers. The original assumption of 8.6 million passengers for the entire year 2022 has thus been adjusted to exactly ten million – which is still less than before the coronavirus crisis, but it is a sign of positive development.
The airport has only opened three-quarters of 2019 destinations so far; they are currently served by 147. According to experts, this confirms the increased demand for established connections. According to Kiwi.com’s internal data, the number of foreign tourists in the Czech Republic increased by an average of 2.5 times during the summer holidays compared to the same period last year.
“During the summer months, the Czechia is experiencing a return of tourists, the number surpassing the values before the pandemic. In addition to European tourists and Americans, who placed second, travelers from China, India and South Korea also returned to the top twenty after two years, despite the current complications that accompany trips to and from Asia,” says Eliška Butcher Dočkalová from Kiwi.com.
However, it is definitely worth comparing the company’s internal data with the data of the entire market, i.e. with the data of the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ). According to CZSO data, the majority of foreign visitors to the Czech capital this year came mainly from Germany, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, France and Poland. However, their numbers are still far from the pre-pandemic level.
“There are also tourists from Asia, Russia and the USA. To improve the key performance parameters of hotels and speed up the market recovery, both further growth in visitor numbers from European countries and a recovery in tourism from more distant destinations will be needed,” commented David Nath from Cushman & Wakefield on the statistical data.
According to specialists, the two new ones that opened this year on Senovážné náměstí could also help attract guests to Prague. Both Andaz Prague in Cukrovarnické palác and the hotel-residence concept The Julius have supplemented the so far not very wide range of luxury accommodation, which contributes to changing the image of Prague and its focus on a higher price offer for clients.