The summer season and music festivals are synonymous with the live music fan. Large-scale festivals throughout the Czech Republic routinely pack in thousands of revelers every summer. This year, just like 2020, was marked by a wave of cancellations. At its core a music festival is dependent on attendees forking out money to see acts from all over the world. Once that’s removed there can be no festival. The past two years are perfect examples. This is the third and final installment – focusing on large music festivals – examining COVID’s impact on live music in the Czech Republic. The first installment examining club culture is here, while the second part on live indoor concerts is located here. Prague Morning had the opportunity to speak with Jiří Sedlák, head of press and media for Colours of Ostrava, on a diverse array of topics including the realization that festivals were cancelled for a second straight year, government aid, and the continuous search for the “new normal” that will finally allow the return of music festivals, among other issues. This is the second straight year virtually all festivals were once again cancelled. At what point did you realize this year was not...
The occupancy level in Prague’s hotels was just 10 per cent during the first six months of this year, with revenue remaining far below the average of the pre-coronavirus years. Contrary to initial expectations, their owners are not selling them – definitely not on a mass scale. Investors’ interest in buying remains strong – more than one-third of them are “very” or “highly” interested in Prague according to Cushman & Wakefield’s current Hotel Investor Beat survey. Investors obviously trust Prague’s hospitality market and perceive its current situation as temporary. “I see the principal cause in the restrictions imposed on hotels and travel in the Czech Republic, and also in the trend in the number of infected people. Every increase in this number translated to a decrease in hotel occupancy and booking rates. Once the restrictions were lifted last July and August, occupancy grew immediately and Prague quickly outperformed other European destinations,” says Bořivoj Vokřínek, Partner, Strategic Advisory, Head of Hospitality Research EMEA, Cushman & Wakefield Accordingly, we can expect the figures for July and August 2021 to also be more positive than those for the first half of this year. Prague has a better position for the recovery of tourism...
One of the things I really enjoy in Prague is the countless little ways the city is connected. There are numerous shortcuts locals use to get around efficiently; passages in the center, and especially here in Nusle – staircases and walkways. I would like to share one of my favorites, which connects the Vinohrady and Vyšehrad quarters. It’s a beautiful walk, especially during the golden hour, just before the sun starts to set and the last bits of warm light paint the building like the strokes of a paintbrush rosy and orangey colors. Take the Horská street from the Albertov tram station and walk up between the university buildings till you get to the staircase with a red handrail. Walk up the stairs and enjoy the skyline view at the top. My favorite time to come is just before the bells start to ring (the Vyšehrad bells ring every hour). If you come before 6 p.m., you can visit Ztracenka park, one of the most magical hidden gardens in the city in my opinion. To get there, watch for a gate on the left side of the top part of the staircase. If you take a right (approximately at the...
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 spend—or so the thinking goes. Call it curated tourism. “We met with representatives from Amsterdam, Barcelona and Florence during the pandemic, and all of us were thinking the same thing,” said Hana Třeštíková, Prague’s councilor of tourism. “Before 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 visits—not quantity.” Not so long ago, these cities marketed themselves to everyone. But Amsterdam’s widely available cannabis and legal prostitution, Barcelona’s urban beaches and Prague’s famous beer halls increasingly attracted tourists who brought what Geerte Udo, director of amsterdam&partners, diplomatically called “negative effects.” In recent years, Prague’s tourist problem started to resemble Amsterdam’s, Třeštíková 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 Prague’s case, they clog the Old Town Square and Charles Bridge. “The city...
The willingness of Czechs to get vaccinated against Covid-19 is approaching its limit, at least according to the latest surveys. The declining interest is also visible in the statistics of the Ministry of Health, which show that administrations of first doses have been declining rapidly in recent weeks. There is still less interest among younger people, but while the government is aiming a campaign at them, there are still hundreds of thousands of people unvaccinated among high-risk groups. According to data from the Ministry of Health, over 64 percent of adults have already received the first dose of vaccination, and another almost 4 percent are waiting for their turn. In the last wave from the end of July, similar numbers occur in the long-term “Life during a Pandemic” survey, according to which the same percentage of the adult population already has at least one dose, leaving only 6 percent of people willing to get vaccinated. Beyond the willing and the unwilling, 10 percent remain undecided. The last survey from CVVM comes up with similar numbers. Almost a quarter of people do not want to be vaccinated, while 7 percent remain hesitant. However, the CVVM interviewed people over the age of...
At the last minute, we are expanding this year’s program. We are also looking for the last festival location. We have also announced a competition for university students called the Neon Award. If you have someone nearby, or it’s you, sign in, tell your friends. Signal Festival will take place from October 14 to 17. We are also working on something completely new, which we will talk about a lot during September. Signal AR is a new permanent project to which we at Signal devote a lot of time and care. This is our new experiment. We will soon introduce you to several art installations in augmented reality. And what about the festival theme? What will this year’s Signal be about? The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued a new report on the state of our planet. It unequivocally states that human activity is causing climate change. It is high time to wake up. We’ve been guessing this in Signal for some time. This is another factor that shows that the choice of the Plan C theme for this year is more than timeless. As has been said several times, in 2020 we wanted to open a debate in public space through art about the state...
Lufthansa subsidiary to take off from the Czech capital for the first time from October to attractive vacation and business destinations throughout Europe Eurowings will launch 11 new routes from Prague from the end of October, the airline announced on Tuesday. It plans to have flights to cities in Spain, Greece, Great Britain, Italy, Denmark, Croatia, and Israel. The company has previously announced that it will open a new base at Prague Airport in the autumn. It will have three Airbus A320 aircraft in operation. The Lufthansa subsidiary will deploy new flights from October 31. However, right now passengers can already book flights to Malaga, Barcelona, Fuerteventura, or Tenerife, as well as to Athens, Birmingham, Bristol, Copenhagen, Milan, Zagreb, and Tel Aviv. Eurowings’ only current route from Prague is to Düsseldorf, Germany. The expansion of flight routes is related to the planned opening of a new Eurowings base in Prague. Initially, the carrier plans to operate two Airbus A320 aircraft, and next summer, the existing fleet will be completed by a third aircraft. That way, Prague will become the tenth Eurowings base in Europe. From Prague to Spain Eurowings flys its passengers from Prague up to four times a week...
Children who will not get tested for Covid-19 or prove to be safe from the infection in another way at the beginning of the school year will not be temporarily allowed to attend physical education indoors and sing at school, according to the health ministry manual sent to schools on Tuesday. In addition, such children will have to wear face masks all the time at school and should keep a distance from others, also when eating and drinking. These special rules will be applied until the end of the extraordinary testing at schools, that is until September 10, Heath Minister Adam Vojtech and Robert Plaga told a press conference. “Mandatory testing is supposed to show us a picture of the epidemiological situation in the country as a whole. (…) But the mandatory testing applies only temporarily,” said Vojtech. Some parts of the manual are only recommendations while other instructions are binding for schools. The recommendations relate mainly to the rules for disinfection, cleaning, organization of teaching, meals, etc, while regulations regarding the wearing of respiratory protection, isolation of the infected, and testing at the beginning of the school year are mandatory. Testing will take place in early September. The manual...
The 8th edition of the Pilsen Busking Fest 2021 will take place on 2-5 September. City’s residents can watch a variety of up-and-coming performing artists on 2-5 September. With this festival, the city’s streets will finally see the return of artists, singers, and performers who have struggled tremendously since the outbreak of the pandemic. According to the festival’s website, Pilsen Busking Fest typically searches for young and lesser-known talented individuals. For this reason, this event differs greatly from other festivals which feature famous artists and talents. As such, Pilsen’s residents will get the chance to witness new and exciting performances by up-and-coming individuals. Some of the performers feature the Irish/German band TAU which has reportedly promised visitors a “hypnotic experience”. The festival’s attendees can also enjoy Caribbean rhythms, reggae, and ska performed by La Orquesta Informal from the Canary Islands. In addition to these entertainers, the German band Beranger Grasse will perform alongside drummer Todd James. Aside from musical entertainment, the festival will also host shows by circus performers and acrobats. More specifically, Afrika Indux Malax Akrobatic is set to entertain visitors with fire, human pyramids, etc. What is more, The Electric Brothers will juggle and unicycle. Finally, the Polish firebreather Plucie Ogniem will also perform and astonish the festival’s attendees. Although the event is free of charge,...
Czech President Milos Zeman said NATO had failed in Afghanistan and its legitimacy was in question, as he called for his country to focus on national defense rather than “wasting money” on the alliance. The Czech Republic has pledged to raise its defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product, the NATO target level, by 2024, but the government said in June that this deadline would not be met due to the economic crisis after the coronavirus pandemic. Zeman, known for his pro-Russia and pro-China stance, said that NATO’s main role was to fight global terrorism, but the alliance has failed at that task now. “The distrust towards NATO from a number of member countries will grow after this experience because they will say – if you failed in Afghanistan, where is a guarantee that you won’t fail in any other critical situation?” Zeman said in an interview published by Parlamenty Listy on Tuesday, a website favored by the president for airing his views. “Now that investing in NATO is kind of wasting money, our defense spending should focus on national defense, on national (military) procurement,” Zeman said. NATO said on Tuesday that the Taliban must not let Afghanistan become...
The state agency CzechTourism has launched a campaign that aims to attract German tourists on spa trips and city stays. It will continue for three autumn months and the agency has set aside a total of six million CZK. The campaign is aimed primarily at the residents of the border federal states of Saxony, Bavaria, as well as Berlin and Thuringia. According to Markéta Chaloupková, director of the CzechTourism’s foreign representation in Germany, the tourists interested in a spa holiday will be addressed through some of the most widely read Saxony newspapers or on public radio. According to her, the digital ads on outdoor showcases or online advertisements will be aimed at urban tourists. In 2019 alone, more than 2 million tourists came from Germany. To support the arrival of German tourists, CzechTourism also organizes individual and group thematic trips that might center around caravanning, cycling, or exploring the cultural life in Czech cities. “Despite the fact that the Germans spent their summer holidays mainly by the sea, the Czech Republic becomes a point of interest for them during autumn holidays,” CzechTourism stated in its press release. Online campaigns to support tourism in the Czech Republic are also simultaneously running...
The Russian anti-coronavirus crisis center is lifting restrictions imposed on regular and charter air travel from Russia to the Dominican Republic, the Czech Republic and South Korea on August 27, the crisis center said in a statement on Monday. “Following discussions and considering the epidemiological situation in certain countries, the decision was made to lift restrictions on international regular and non-regular (charter) flights from Russian airports to the Dominican Republic, South Korea and the Czech Republic starting from August 27, 2021,” the statement reads. Additionally, international flights from Surgut International Airport are resuming on August 27. According to the Russian anti-coronavirus crisis center, the number of regular flights from Russia to Hungary, Cyprus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will be increased starting with August 27. The number of Moscow-Budapest flights will be boosted from four to seven a week, while one flight a week will be permitted from several other cities. The number of flights from Moscow to Larnaca and Paphos in Cyprus will also reach seven, while other Russian cities will have four flights a week. Seven flights a week will be operated from Moscow to Bishkek and Dushanbe. Moreover, several Russian cities will be cleared to have one flight a...
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