Tourism in Prague 2013 Overall assessment after data Based on the results a Ministry for Regional Development project titled "Improved Information on Selected Tourism Industries", the CZSO Register of Accommodation Establishments has been updated and data on capacity and occupancy for the reference years 2012 and 2013 have been revised. For this reason the time series has been interrupted. New comparable time series are published from 2012 onwards. In Prague, approximately 200 subjects that had not been included in CZSO statistics were added to the Register of Accommodation Establishments. For this reason, the figures for overnight trips and nights experienced a relatively radical change against the original figures published in 2012 and 2013. The following tables show just how great the differences were in the numbers of tracked subjects for individual accommodation categories before and after the data : Year Number of Establishments 5* 4* 3* 2* 2013 after the data 2012 after the data 2012 before the data 858 41 205 219 19 845 42 195 215 20 621 42 178 184 10 Year 1* Other B&B Boarding houses Tourist campsites Hostels Other NEC 2013 after the data 2012 after the data 2012 before the data 5 39 132 19 43 136 5 35 131 22 43 137 1 32 78 22 17 5 In 2013 Prague had 858 accommodation establishments offering 42,664 rooms and 92,093 beds. In addition, there were 967 sites for tents and campers. The net occupancy rate in Prague in 2013 was 53.8% for bed-places and 59.8% for bedrooms. In 2013 nearly 6 million guests visited Prague, spending 14.5 million nights in the country s capital. 1
Visits During 2013 there were 5,899,630 overnight trips to Prague. Of this number, 851,674 (14.4%) were domestic overnight trips and 5,047,956 (85.6%) inbound visits. As usual, non-residents accounted for the lion s share of visits, though domestic overnight trips increased slightly in keeping with the long-term trend. Compared with 2012, visits to Prague rose by 173,176 a 3% change year-on-year. The volume of overnight trips to the Czech capital increased for both domestic and inbound tourism. Domestic overnight trips rose by over 44,677 (+5.5%), while visits from non-residents increased by 128,499 (+ 2.6%). As in past years, the season had an effect on inbound tourism in 2013. The most successful quarter in terms of total visits was the third the main tourist season, which has become the standard rule each year. During these three months there were 1,766,000 visits to Prague from throughout the world. The first quarter was the slowest with 1,075,304 visits. 2
Nights The total number of nights in accommodation establishments in Prague reached 14,654,282 in 2013, which is up 211,139 nights (+1.5%) compared to 2012 and a new record high. We registered increases in the number of nights spent by both domestic and non-resident guests alike. However, non-residents are far in the lead, with just one tenth of total nights coming from domestic overnight tourism. Total nights from inbound tourism was 13,056,931 (89.1%) and domestic tourism 1,597,351 (10.9%). In keeping with total visits, the highest number of nights in Prague was recorded in August and the lowest in February. Average length of stay Both overall and for non-residents, the average length of stay remains at 2012 levels, while the average length of domestic overnight stays increased by 0.1 nights. Total: 2.5 nights Non-residents: 2.6 nights Domestic: 1.9 nights 3
Source markets As in past years, the top inbound market for the Czech Republic in terms of number of visits in 2013 was Germany, with Russia and the United States taking second and third place, respectively. Compared to last year, the top ten markets did not change. Top 10 markets with the highest total visits in 2013: Country Number of guests Growth/Decline Growth/Decline (%) Germany 677,133-19,887-2.9 Russia 542,189 +50,182 +10.2 USA 358,956 +22,304 +6.6 United Kingdom 319,975 +10,386 +3.4 Italy 286,177-20,060-6.6 France 237,311-3,009-1.3 Slovakia 200,792 +7,549 +3.9 Spain 164,694-23,854-12.7 Poland 161,912-5,025-3.0 Other Asian countries 149,478 +10,093 +7.2 The top 10 countries alone accounted for 61.4% of all inbound visits (52.5% of all visits to Prague). Country % of all guests % of non-resident guests Germany 11.5 % 13.4 % Russia 9.2 % 10.7 % USA 6.1 % 7.1 % United Kingdom 5.4 % 6.3 % Italy 4.9 % 5.7 % France 4.0 % 4.7 % Slovakia 3.4 % 4.0 % Spain 2.8 % 3.3 % Poland 2.7 % 3.2 % Other Asian Countries 2.5 % 3.0 % Of the Asian countries tracked individually by the CZSO, the most guests arrived from China at 114,354 (11th place). Countries exceeding the 100,000 mark also included Austria (111,187), Netherlands (106,986) and Japan (105,642). Visits by world region Looking at world regions, most visits continue to come from European markets, though their share in all inbound visits is slowly dwindling due to increasing diversification of source markets especially in favour of Asia and Russia. This is not caused by plummeting numbers of European visitors, but rather more dynamic growth among other groups. In absolute terms there was a slight drop in the number of European guests in 2013 compared to 2012 (down 8,365), but visitor numbers in all other categories experienced growth. 4
Absolute growth in inbound tourism to Prague Total growth in visits by non-residents for 2013 was 128,499 (+2.6%). Fastest growing markets by volume compared to 2012: Country Growth Growth (%) Russia 50,182 10.2 USA 22,304 6.6 Sweden 14,281 20.5 Ukraine 13,129 15.6 China 12,516 12.3 United Kingdom 10,386 3.4 Other Asian countries 10,093 7.2 Republic of Korea 9,465 11.5 Norway 9,229 17.9 Finland 8,187 21.2 The greatest losses by volume compared to 2012: Country Decline Decline (%) Spain -23,854-12.7 Italy -20,060-6.6 Germany -19,887-2.9 Croatia -8,300-23.2 Other European -7,303-7.3 countries Hungary -5,213-6.5 Poland -5,025-3.0 Denmark -4,347-5.3 France -3,009-1.3 Japan -1,914-1.8 5
Top markets by total nights: Country Number of overnight Growth/Decline Growth/Decline (%) stays Russia 2,237,393 +203,283 +10.0 Germany 1,585,767-86,967-5.2 USA 871,133 +38,230 +4.6 Italy 802,199-81,881-9.3 United Kingdom 776,386 +20,671 +2.7 France 617,321-17,138-2.7 Spain 445,606-87,705-16.4 Slovakia 370,528 +2,835 +0.8 Other Asian Countries 335,309 +9,694 +3.0 Poland 313,126-17,853-5.4 Average length of inbound overnight stays The average length of stay remained stable at 2.6 nights, the same as in 2012. On average, visitors from Russia stayed in Prague the longest in 2013 at 4.1 nights; guests from Denmark, Malta and Israel were also high above the average length of stay at 3.1 nights. On the other end of the scale were guests from South Korea and China (1.7) and Slovakia (1.8 nights). Tourism in Prague compared to national trends The volume of total overnight trips to the Czech Republic was 15,407,671 in 2013, representing an increase of 308,854 visits (+2.0%). Of this total, 51% were visits by non-residents and 49% residents. The largest inbound tourism market by volume was Germany (1,484,169 visits), followed by Russia (803,152 visits) and Slovakia (452,421 visits). With 5,899,630 visits, Prague accounted for 38.3% of all visits to the Czech Republic. Total nights in accommodation establishments throughout the Czech Republic reached 43,308,279 in 2013, which is 29,822 (0.1%) higher than the previous year. Prague accounted for 33.8% (14,654,282) of total nights in the country. Nationally there were more visits to the Czech Republic in 2013 than in 2012, but the total nights in the country stagnated as visitors slightly shortened their average stays. Based on data from the Czech Statistical Office published on 5 May 2014 Martina Kuřitková Prague City Tourism 6