Christmas flight bookings to Prague up 16.5% this year, among the biggest increases in Europe

The big crowds at Prague’s Christmas markets are set to even get bigger this holiday season.

Prague is trending as one of the fastest-growing Christmas destinations in Europe, according to new data released this week by travel analytics firm ForwardKeys.

Advance flight bookings to the Czech capital from locations outside of Europe for dates between December 15 and January 15 are up a whopping 16.5% over the same period last year, the company has revealed.

That makes Prague, already one of Europe’s most popular Christmas destinations, among the 10 European cities set to receive the biggest increase in international tourists for Christmas 2019.

With 16.5% more advance bookings from international tourists, Prague slides in at #9 among the European destinations set to receive the biggest increase in tourists this year.

At nearly 30% more international tourists, Helsinki tops the list, followed closely by Budapest (29.3%) and Bucharest (28.4%).

Tourists coming to Prague make up 2.7% of all tourists headed to Europe for the Christmas season, which falls just short of Europe’s top 10 Christmastime destinations.

London (16.2%), Paris (13.6%), and Rome (7.4%) – Europe’s most popular destinations regardless of the season – soak up the largest share of international tourists coming to Europe during the holidays.

But Prague will see a bigger year-on-year increase than those cities in its percentage of tourists headed to the Czech capital this year.