Tourism in Prague Decreased by 73 Percent During the Pandemic

Data from the Czech Statistical Office has indicated that the number of tourists visiting Prague last year dropped significantly to 27 percent of 2019’s numbers.

The report finds that only 2,178,267 visitors came to Prague last year. The massive drop in tourism is not surprising during a global pandemic where many European countries have restricted movement throughout the European Union.

Last summer, however, saw a 16 percent increase from 2019 in domestic tourism as Czechs from other regions flocked to visit the capital in the summer months.

The past year saw about 700,000 domestic tourists visiting Prague followed closely by our neighbors from Germany, Poland, and Slovakia.

The number of tourists from Russia and the United Kingdom hovered around eight hundred thousand in 2019 but decreased to 200,000 in 2020’s Covid-stricken Prague.

Prague City Tourism is a government-funded organization that has successfully executed marketing campaigns like the At Home in Prague campaign which sought to increase domestic tourism during 2020’s restrictions and saw a 16 percent increase from the previous year.

PCT chairman František Cipro says the agency is focused on ways to revive the suffering tourism industry.

“Since our new strategy includes a greater focus on the domestic market, we see the upturn in domestic visitors as a positive sign. One of its contributing factors has been our promotional campaign ‘At Home in Prague’, which ran from the middle of last year. We are currently in discussions with the City about the option to re-run the program this year.”

Prague City Tourism is currently working on what they refer to as a business “roadmap” for the future of tourism.

The goal of the roadmap is to address the needs of the cities businesses and residents. They seek to cater to a more elevated clientele of tourists and steer Prague away from its reputation as a cheap place to drink alcohol.

“This is the first comprehensive Strategic Roadmap for the Destination Management of the city. Among other things, in the future we want to promote tourism outside the high season and to target visitor groups coming to Prague for reasons other than a quick snapshot on Charles Bridge or wild partying,” says Cipro.