Tourism rebounds in Czechia, but foreign visitor numbers still lagging

In the second quarter of 2022, some 5 million guests in total stayed in hotels or similar establishments. This was 229 percent more compared to the previous year. Of these, 3.1 million were from the Czech Republic and 1.9 million were from abroad. As is usual, people from Germany were the largest group of foreigners. In Prague, foreigners made 73 percent of people using accommodations. In other regions, Czech clientele prevailed. The total number of guests includes data concerning Ukrainian nationals who paid for their accommodation themselves. However, due to the conflict in Ukraine, operators of accommodation establishments were not always able to distinguish whether their guests are tourists or refugees.

The number of overnight stays of guests in collective accommodation establishments increased by 190 percent year on year to 12 million nights. The number of overnight stays of residents was 7 percent higher than in the second quarter of 2019, before the pandemic. However, the number of overnight stays of non-residents still has not reached the 2019 level. In the second quarter, it was 36 percent lower.   

A Czech man died last week while rafting in the Sjoa River in Norway where he was together with another seven Czechs, the local police told journalists yesterday. The remaining Czechs were treated by rescuers.

The police said two rafts with eight Czechs were floating down the Sjoa. However, the rafts capsized near the Ridderspranget waterfall. Rescuers used a helicopter and drone to look for the missing rafter. The police found his body last Monday several kilometers from the place of the accident. The accident occurred in the upper section of the river where rafts are usually not used. Since the start of the summer tourist season, 50 deaths of Czech citizens abroad have been reported.  

The 61st annual Wilber Czech Festival took place Aug. 5–7 in Wilber, Nebraska, which is called the Czech capital of the United States, the Grand Island Independent reported. Czechs from Iowa, Minnesota, Texas, and even overseas attended the festival. Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts also visited the festival this year.

First Czechs settled in Nebraska in 1865, and about 50,000 of them came and started living in the towns of Wilber, Schuyler, Clarkson, and Prague.

The ANO movement will always designate a place for opponents at its political meetings as recommended by Police President Martin Vondrášek after recent incidents, ANO head and former prime minister Andrej Babiš said in his video on social media. Vondrášek denied this, saying such practice would be illegal.

Vondrášek said after meeting with Interior Minister Vít Rakušan that a preventive separation of participants in a rally would be unlawful. He denied having recommended this to any organizer of public gatherings.

The ČEZ energy group had a net profit of CZK 33.6 billion for the first half of the year, ČTK reported. Operating revenues increased by 21 percent to CZK 130.5 billion. According to ČEZ, the profit was influenced, among other things, by the enormous rise in commodity prices on wholesale markets.

The 12th Prague Pride, an annual week-long festival of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT+) awareness began with raising the rainbow flag at Prague City Hall today. The festival runs through Aug. 14 and offers 150 events, its director Tom Bily and Prague officials have told media. The program will culminate with a carnival parade in the center of Prague on Saturday.

Based on the recommendation of police chief Martin Vondrášek, the ANO movement will reserve a place for opponents at political meetings every time. This was stated in a video on social networks by the leader of the movement and former prime minister Andrej Babiš (ANO), who faced loud protests from his opponents at meetings last week. 

Minister of the Interior Vít Rakušan discusses the actions of the police at Babiš's meetings with Vondrášek. During a meeting in Borovany in the České Budějovice district of South Bohemia, plainclothes police officers knocked down a schoolboy who took one of Babiš's loudspeakers. The officers took him to the police station. According to the server, they refused to take his mother with them, even though she told them that the boy was autistic.

The average salary in the Czech Republic, including bonuses and rewards, in the first half of this year, was CZK 49,166. Compared to the same period last year, the earnings of employees increased by seven percent. 

Compared to the first quarter, the increase was four percent. This follows from the data of the salary portal Profesia.cz, which collects data on the salary evaluation of employees in the Czech Republic. The estimate is based on answers from more than 45,000 respondents.

Thirteen firefighting units are responding to the fire, and the third level of alarm has been declared. A helicopter was also called to the scene. The fire broke out at the Vrchoslav sawmill near Krupka. The fire is contained, the firefighters of the Ústí nad Labem region announced on Twitter.

Former Deputy Mayor of Prague Petr Hlubuček, who is accused in a corruption case involving a Prague transport company, paid CZK 2.49 million last year for a half share in the purchase of an apartment in Spain, reveals an additionally submitted declaration. 

Last year, the politician had other secondary financial income of CZK 1.69 million. Last year, Hlubuček and his partner Jiří Karvánek bought two more apartments near Malaga. In total, they had four apartments in Spain together.