Cities across the continent want to mold visits into shapes less onerous for residents, and perhaps more lucrative for business.
Optimally, a virtuous circle can be created where loud partiers are supplanted by museum-goers with more money to spendโor so the thinking goes. Call it curated tourism.
โWe met with representatives from Amsterdam, Barcelona and Florence during the pandemic, and all of us were thinking the same thing,โ said Hana Tลeลกtรญkovรก, Pragueโs councilor of tourism. โBefore Covid, over-tourism had become almost unbearable, and Covid gave a pause to try and make some changes in what our cities represent, how we promote ourselves and how we must focus on quality of visitsโnot quantity.โ
Not so long ago, these cities marketed themselves to everyone. But Amsterdamโs widely available cannabis and legal prostitution, Barcelonaโs urban beaches and Pragueโs famous beer halls increasingly attracted tourists who brought what Geerte Udo, director of amsterdam&partners, diplomatically called โnegative effects.โ
In recent years, Pragueโs tourist problem started to resemble Amsterdamโs, Tลeลกtรญkovรก said. The Czech capital was getting 8 million visitors a year, almost doubling between 2012 and 2019. And like Amsterdam, most headed to the same neighborhoods, she said. In Pragueโs case, they clog the Old Town Square and Charles Bridge.
โThe city center is not a residential locality anymore, Tลeลกtรญkovรก said. โThere are not many apartments, and those are largely occupied by expats or converted to hotels and short-term rentals. We need to focus on what residents need and show a city thatโs not a film set but alive with people from Prague.โ
But reshaping a cityโs tourist trade is harder than just changing marketing firms. Tลeลกtรญkovรก said the biggest factors behind โlow-qualityโ visits arenโt in the cityโs control. The cost of tickets on budget airlines, the number of Airbnb units and even the price of beer can only be changed at the national level, she said.
A spokesperson for the Czech Ministry of Regional Development acknowledged that taxes on alcohol and air travel are determined by Parliament, but noted Pragueโs city council can submit legislative proposals. A bill from the city that would provide municipalities with more power to regulate short-term rentals is currently under consideration, he said.
Even before Covid, Prague officials hired an agency that sought to persuade tourists โto come for more than two nights.โ During the short-lived summer 2020 reopening, the city introduced โPrague Unlocked,โ a campaign aimed at a Czech audience, since foreign travelers were still rare. It was a success.
Usually, just 15% of Pragueโs tourists are domestic (compared with 20% in Vienna and almost 50% in Paris). But in 2020, the number of Czech visitors rose by 16%, with many staying in three- and four-star hotels, Tลeลกtรญkovรก said.
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