According to the Czech Tourism Union (ČUCR), tourism in Prague faces financial losses of billions of korunas, a figure which continues to grow. As Covid-19 measures are still in place, without a quick and effective solution to the current situation, a dramatic impact on the entire Czech Republic and its economy can soon be expected, the union said, calling on Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib of the Pirate Party to take action. According to an earlier statement by the Association of Hotels and Restaurants of the Czech Republic, Prague accounts for 60 percent of tourism in the Czech Republic. Before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019, 8.4 million guests visited the capital, according to ČUCR President Viliam Sivek. Of these, about 6.8 million were from abroad. “In the first half of this year, it was less than 1.9 million visitors. There were just over 286,000 foreigners. It is obvious that such a decline is driving down the whole of Czech tourism,” he noted. ČUCR also criticized political parties for putting tourism on the side of their agenda. According to Sivek, it is necessary to support inbound tourism, which, unlike other European Union countries, has remained in the Czech Republic...
The CEO of Czech energy giant CEZ, Daniel Beneš confirmed that the price of electricity will rise by around a third while gas prices will be half to two-thirds more expensive. During an interview with Hospodářské noviny, he said the company will announce the changes on November 1 with effect from January 1. “We estimate that the final bill received by households may result in an increase of 30 percent compared to this year,” said Beneš. He reminded that the wholesale energy prices in Europe had reached record levels this year. According to him, there are several reasons. “On one hand, it is an increase in the price of gas, with which the price of electricity is connected, and on the other hand, emission allowances have become more expensive and the economy has risen in time, so the demand for energy has risen, as well,” he said. The increase in gas prices will be even higher than for electricity. “It’s really dramatic. We are not the main supplier, there are other players on the market, but my estimate is that the final bill will increase in price by half to two-thirds”. In addition to the impact on consumers, the situation...
If your day doesn’t start until you’re up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to our new morning fix. CZECH REPUBLIC The Health Ministry will propose that quarantine might be finished by a negative test after seven days for those in contact with coronavirus infected, Czech Health Minister Adam Vojtech told journalists today. At present, the people must be in quarantine for two weeks. The Czech Republic is the ninth least COVID-afflicted out of the 27 EU countries with 98 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the past 14 days now (roughly 72 a week ago when it was the fifth least-afflicted), the data released by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) show. A lack of computer chips means that the Czech Republic’s automakers will produce more than a quarter of a million cars fewer than planned, the Automotive Industry Association said on Sunday. The shortfall will mean a loss of CZK 200 billion for one of the country’s most important sectors. WORLD Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez pledged on Sunday to outlaw prostitution in the country. Prostitution was decriminalised in Spain in 1995 and in 2016 the UN estimated the country’s sex...
President Miloš Zeman is currently experiencing liver encephalopathy, Deník N said on Wednesday, referring to informed sources. Neither the castle nor the Central Military Hospital (ÚVN) is publishing details about the condition of the hospitalized president. Senators, who fear that Zeman is currently unable to hold office, are also being kept in the dark. Zeman’s spokesman Jiří Ovčáček claims that health problems do not prevent the president from exercising his constitutional powers at the Central Military Hospital in Prague-Střešovice. Sources from Deník N say the opposite. Apparently, Zeman’s health is worse off, supposedly preventing him from fully fulfilling the function of president. Referring to “very well-informed sources from around the president, government, and the medical community,” Zeman says he suffers from liver encephalopathy, a serious complication brought on by acute or chronic liver failure. It presents various mental and neurological symptoms and can be caused by cirrhosis of the liver. “This is manifested, for example, by the fact that he is disoriented and says unrelated things,” said one source, describing the president’s state. According to another source, the president is communicating, but with difficulty. At its mildest, hepatic encephalopathy causes confusion or sleep disorders. In severe cases, the patient can...
If your day doesn’t start until you’re up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to our new morning fix. CZECH REPUBLIC President Milos Zeman will convoke the session of the new Chamber of Deputies for November 8 and then outgoing Chamber chairman Radek Vondracek will call its constituent meeting for the same day. Vondracek said he was informed about the president’s health condition, but could just generally state it was improving. The Pirates group in the Chamber of Deputies will continue to be headed by Jakub Michalek, with Olga Richterova, the party’s deputy chairwoman, as his deputy. After the weekend general election, the Pirates deputy group was dwarfed from 22 to four lawmakers. 1,534 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded in the Czech Republic on Thursday, around 550 more than the same day last week. The number of people in hospitals with the virus rose to 448, with 80 of those patients in critical condition. WORLD India is set to reopen its borders to overseas travellers as it relaxes Covid-related restrictions amid a drop in daily infections. Starting Friday, the country will grant tourist visas to travellers arriving on chartered flights. The facility will be...
By 2025, there are plans for 3,000 charging points for electric cars to be created in the Czech Republic. According to the National Action Plan, net mobility also expects up to 500,000 fully electric vehicles to run in the country by 2030. The Deputy Minister of Industry, Eduard Muřický, said that the automotive industry is the basic pillar of industry and the economy in the Czech Republic, accounting for about one tenth of GDP and 20 percent of exports. “By 2030, 35,000 charging points should also be generated, especially fast ones,” he added. The new charging port plans follow from the Memorandum on Cooperation in the Development of Electromobility in the Czech Republic, signed by representatives of the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, infrastructure managers, ČEZ and Škoda Auto. According to Škoda Auto, the charging stations are to be set up at railway stations and along the main roads and powered by carbon-neutral electricity from ČEZ to significantly accelerate the transition to electromobility. Among other things, decisions will be made based on data on the busiest road routes. The country is working on decarbonization and one of the possible ways to do this, and to support...
The Ministry of Health will propose to the government to shorten the validity of antigen and PCR tests. Prime Minister Babiš said that the validity of PCR should be reduced from seven to three days and the antigen test from 72 to 24 hours. The Ministry of Health will present a specific proposal at a press conference on Friday. The changes come in response to a recent marked rise in Covid infection numbers. Chief Hygienist Pavla Svrčinová said that “the Czech Republic should reach a comparable level of rules of neighboring states”. “Vaccination is stagnating, we have not yet vaccinated even 60 percent of the population,” said Svrčinová on Czech Television. “We have thought of different strategies to motivate citizens to come to the first two doses of vaccination and to come to the third dose, where a relatively small percentage of people who have been invited to revaccinate have arrived so far,” Svrčinová said. As part of the strategy, mobile vaccination teams should be sent to places with lower vaccination coverage. According to Babiš, vaccination is a crucial factor in managing the pandemic and expects the same strategy from the next government. “There should be fewer paid tests per...
Czech President Milos Zeman will meet with the leader of the opposition coalition Together, Petr Fiala, at his request at a time to be determined later, the president’s spokesman said on Twitter on Wednesday. Zeman was taken to hospital and placed in an intensive care unit on Sunday, a day after Together and another coalition group defeated Prime Minister Andrej Babis’s ruling ANO party and its allies in a parliamentary election and pledged to form a cabinet. Zeman, an ally of Babis, has not yet said who he would tap to try to form a government talks first. Election in numbers With 27.8% the SPOLU (Togеther) coalition, consisting of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL), and Liberal Democratic Party (TOP 09), received the most votes; the next largest vote share — 27.1% — went to Babiš’s movement ANO (Yes), which received 29.6% in 2017; next came the coalition of the Pirati (Pirate party) and STAN (The Mayors and Independents) at 15.6%; SPD Movement (Freedom and Direct Democracy, a right-wing Eurosceptical party) at 9.6% (10.6% in 2017). The parties that were unable to enter the Chamber of Deputies were the ČSSD (social democrats), which got 4.7% of votes (7.3%...
If your day doesn’t start until you’re up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to our new morning fix. CZECH REPUBLIC The coalitions Together and Pirates/STAN want to conduct talks on the Czech government so that they might sign their coalition pact by November 8, the leader of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), Petr Fiala, told journalists. ODS, the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) and TOP 09, and the Pirates, Independents and Mayors (STAN), had their first meeting this morning. The Czech Republic and France are preparing an alliance of European Union member states in nuclear energy. Štěpánka Filipová, a spokeswoman for the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade, announced the alliance on Monday. More than half of women in the Czech Republic have experienced some form of sexual harassment or violence, according to a survey for the non-profit group proFem conducted by MindBridge Consulting. WORLD Several people have been killed and others injured in Norway after a man used a bow and arrow to attack them. Police first received word of an attack in the town of Kongsberg, south-west of the capital Oslo, at around 18:13. Chief Oeyvind Aas said a suspect had been caught and...
Bohemia Energy, one of the biggest electricity and gas suppliers in the Czech Republic, halted operations on Wednesday to become the largest group in the country to buckle under a Europe-wide jump in energy costs. Benchmark European gas prices have soared this year because of factors such as low stocks, infrastructure outages and high demand in Asia, lifting power prices to record highs. The privately held Czech business, which had about 900,000 customers, said clients would be served by suppliers of last resort, including the country’s biggest electricity producer CEZ . The situation echoes that in Britain, where soaring wholesale energy prices have led some suppliers to collapse, with nine going bust in September alone. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said the government would look at how it could minimise the impact on customers, CTK news agency reported. “With regret, we have to announce that the Bohemia Energy Group is, with immediate effect, ending supplies of electricity and gas to the Czech energy market,” the company said on its website on Wednesday. “We were forced into this drastic step by the continued extreme growth of power prices in the wholesale market, where the price of both supplied commodities (electricity and...
Prague was recently voted the most beautiful city in the world. With its castles, gorgeous architecture and cobblestone streets, the Czech Republic capital is viewed as one of the most picturesque corners of Europe where tourists entering in floods every year. However, many are ignorant to the fact the Czech Republic is not merely immersed in attractive and charming buildings. Much of its architecture, and where many residents live, is still froze in the times of the communist era, in the form of Panelák housing. Referred to frequently as an ‘architects’ nightmare,’ the bleak, towering and frankly ugly apartments are a stark contrast to the beauty of the traditional, well-loved, construction of the beauty spots of Prague. The Panelák apartments were a quick solution in the communist era- they solved a need for quick, affordable, and modern housing in large quantities when the country was known as Czechoslovakia. Under total government control, soviet-style cities, and the housing developments within, generally featured tower blocks in park-like settings. This explains the enormity of some paneláks, which can be more than 100 meters long, and 20 stories high. Standardized and mass-produced, urban planning in the Soviet-run countries during the Cold War era was...
According to data from statisticians, prices rose by 4.9 percent year on year in September, surprising economists. They did not anticipate such inflation until the end of the year, and the increase is impacting nearly every facet of life: “Year-on-year price growth was recorded in most of the monitored items,” said Pavla Šedivá from the Czech Statistical Office. Here is a run-down of what items are more costly these days. Fuel and car The average price of petrol rose to 35.11 CZK per liter, while the price of diesel reached 33.56 CZK. The last time it was more expensive was in November 2018. Trinity Bank chief economist Lukáš Kovanda now expects that the price of diesel will rise with high demand in the coming winter. Heating oil is used more frequently during this season, mainly in industry sectors. “In winter, an increase in gasoline prices in the Czech Republic of up to 40 crowns per liter cannot be ruled out,” Kovanda repeated. Simultaneously, fuel is already 20 percent more expensive than the year before. Car prices are rising by six percent compared to last year. There are not enough new or used ones on the market because manufacturers are lacking...
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