In 2021, 2.4 million tourists visited Prague – primarily from the Czech Republic

9 February 2022 – The year 2021 was once again a disaster for tourism in the Czech capital city. According to the Czech Statistical Office (CSO), visitor numbers fell by more than 70% compared to 2019. However, the data shows a slight - 8% - improvement compared to 2020. Prague received 2.4 million visitors, 40% of whom were domestic tourists. During the last three months of the year, nearly one million visitors traveled to the capital. This was a 52% drop compared to the same period in 2019. Almost a quarter of a million tourists visited the metropolis in December and during Christmas and New Year's Eve.

According to the latest data from the CSO, tourism fell by 71% in 2021 over 2019's figures. During the last quarter of the year (October to December), 987,024 tourists arrived in Prague, 6% less than in the third quarter of the year. The largest group were visitors from Germany and domestic guests, who are now coming to Prague in much larger numbers than before the pandemic. 

“Together with Prague City Tourism, we're working to strengthen the image of Prague as a city brimming with culture, history, art, and fine dining. We're not happy, of course, about last year’s low tourist numbers, but our goal is to gradually return to pre-pandemic tourist arrival numbers. In the future, we want to attract a different type of client, as well as families with children, seniors, and trade fair organizers – in essence more sophisticated tourists, who, although fewer in number, will stay in Prague for a longer period of time and spend more money here than Euro-weekend ‘alcotourists’,” says Hana Třeštíková, city councilor for culture and tourism. 

During last year’s Advent period, almost 245,000 visitors came to the capital. The largest group were domestic guests and tourists from Germany. However, this is a 65% decrease compared to 2019, when 700,000 visitors visited the metropolis in December. 

“December and the Christmas and New Year's Eve period are among the most popular tourist times of the year. This year, however, inbound tourism was negatively affected by the cancellation of the Christmas markets, a traditional annual attraction. Unfortunately, this also led to cancellations of hotel reservations and flights. This resulted in the number of visitors to Prague at the end of the year falling to less than 35% of 2019," explains František Cipro, Chairman of the Board of Prague City Tourism.

In mid-October, Prague City Tourism launched the digital campaign Stay in Prague in cooperation with Prague Airport and the Association of Hotels and Restaurants of the Czech Republic to promote inbound tourism. The campaign presented a new image of the capital city and targeted clients over 35 years old to help reduce the idea of Prague as a party destination. With the campaign, Prague has become a much more popular destination than neighboring Vienna or Berlin, but more importantly, it has set the stage for future campaigns that will be much more effective as a result.

“In the fourth quarter of 2021, Prague Airport handled approximately 20% more passengers on routes from typical inbound markets than in the third quarter. However, compared to the same period in 2019, there were still approximately 63% fewer passengers. Nevertheless, 2021 proved that there is a strong potential for the renewal of inbound tourism, which must be significantly boosted, especially when faced with competition from nearby Vienna and Budapest," says Jaroslav Filip, Director of Air Commerce at Prague Airport.

Prague City Tourism and its partners plan to follow up on the Stay in Prague marketing campaign later this year. Tourism experts from Prague City Tourism and Prague Airport predict that this year, Prague's visitor numbers will reach 50% of 2019, when 8 million tourists arrived in the capital. In addition, airlines are planning to reintroduce overseas flights this year.