Foreign arrivals in the Czech Republic, based on accommodation data, totalled 6.3 million in 2010, a 5% increase on 2009, with the highest increase in tourists coming from Russia at (+26.6% to 413,000).
The data, released by the Czech Statistical Office (CSO) last month, also showed significant increases from the USA, up +13.3% to 311 000, and the ‘other Asian countries’ category from which numbers rose to 224,000. Among the top ten source markets in 2010 the most popular destinations were Prague followed by Carlsbad.
Czech Tourism’s Moscow Director, Linhartová Monica, says: “It is clear that the crisis is on the decline. Obviously we are pleased that Russian tourists are returning.” However not all key markets did well. Traditionally the Czech Republic’s biggest tourism market, Germany saw arrivals fall by 3.1% to 1.4 million, while numbers from Italy slipped by 6.9%.
UK tourist numbers meanwhile declined by -0.9% to 368 000, which Czech Tourism’s London’s Director John Mlčák puts in context. He says: “A small drop is a significant achievement. Based on data from the UK Statistics Office for the period to November 2010 overall, outbound British travel dropped about 7%. If the arrivals in the Czech Republic fell by less than 1%, the result is more than satisfactory,” says Mlčák.
