Last year, almost 10 million foreign tourists (43.3% of the total) stayed in mass accommodation facilities in the Czech Republic. Another almost 12.5 million guests were Czech citizens (56.7%) who decided to spend their vacation in one of the local accommodation facilities. Overall, the number of tourists who went to the Czech Republic exceeded 22 million last year, an increase of 13.5% year-on-year. In general data, tourism is thus returning to pre-pandemic numbers. The share of Czech and foreign tourists is also gradually reversing.
During the whole of last year, Germans (2,307,282, year-on-year + 25%), Slovaks (875,742, year-on-year + 12%), and Poles (762,112, year-on-year + 24%) made decisions for the local region. The “jumpers of the year” are the citizens of Taiwan (a Chinese province), who came to the Czech Republic by 931% more than in 2022 (a total of 142,136) and South Korea (year-on-year increase of 250%, a total of 234,810 people ). More than 100% increase is also in the case of visitors from China, Japan, Thailand, or perhaps New Zealand or Australia. The most frequent destination was Prague, the South Bohemian and South Moravian regions.
“The total number of tourists who stayed in mass accommodation facilities in the Czech Republic increased year-on-year. This brings us to pre-covid data. But what has changed is the ratio of foreigners and locals. While in 2019 domestic tourists made up 50.5% of the total number of guests staying, last year it was already 56.7%. At the same time, it is precisely foreigners who spend more than residents on trips to and around the Czech Republic. Last year, citizens of Germany, Slovakia, Poland, the USA and Great Britain chose the Czech Republic as their holiday destination most often. We will focus our biggest campaign this year not only on them, but also on other markets selected using an exact method according to their creditworthiness. Through it, we want to arouse interest in new segments and products and attract more foreigners to us,” sums up František Reismüller, director of the Czech Tourism Headquarters – CzechTourism, and adds: “Tourism significantly helps the domestic economy, before Covid it accounted for 3% of our country’s GDP. So it is worth investing in it. And in this regard, it is certainly worth mentioning that we can strengthen the visibility of the Czech Republic abroad and at domestic events thanks to the fact that we managed to negotiate an increase in the budget for tourism by 27 million crowns compared to 2023. We currently have CZK 400 million available for these activities, and I would like to thank the Ministry for Regional Development for that.”
In the 4th quarter, a total of 4,658,434 guests stayed in mass accommodation facilities. 8% more than in the same period of 2022. Foreign (2,332,309 persons, 50.1%) and domestic guests (2,326,125 persons, 49.9%) participated in a similar proportion. Compared to 2019, 11% more residents traveled around the Czech Republic, 10% fewer foreigners. Citizens of Germany (542,308, year-on-year +6%), Slovakia (202,860, year-on-year +5%), the United Kingdom (135,146, +39%), Poland (130,754, year-on-year + 5%) and the USA (126,116, year-on-year +29%).
In the 4th quarter of 2023, the most tourists stayed in all types of accommodation facilities in Prague, approximately 2 million. It was followed by the South Moravian region with approximately 416 thousand guests and the Karlovy Vary region, with a total of 318 thousand travelers staying overnight in Vekterem. Tourists from abroad also stay the longest in the latter region, spending an average of 4.84 days, while the national average for 2023 is 3.44 days.
As far as hotels are concerned, a total of 1,200,573 guests visited them in the Czech Republic in December of last year alone. Of this, 37.4% were residents (449,027) and 62.6% were foreigners (751,546). The largest part of foreign guests who chose this type of accommodation at the end of last year came from Germany (174,616, year-on-year + 13%), the United Kingdom (51,683, year-on-year + 44%), Slovakia (50,997, similar to last year), Italy (40,814, year-on-year +32%) and the USA (39,968, year-on-year +29%).
At the same time, direct air connections play a vital role in the travel industry. CzechTourism works intensively on them with Prague Airport and other entities. Last year, among other things, the lines Prague – Seoul and Prague – Taipei were put into operation, and work is being done on the following years.