Czech summer travel abroad significantly increases over 2020 levels

More Czechs traveled abroad this summer compared to last year, Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhánek told journalists at a press conference on Friday. More than 750,000 of them spent their vacation in Croatia, nearly as many as before the pandemic, making the country the most popular Czech holiday destination this year.

Traffic density at Prague's Václav Havel tripled this year compared to 2020, Kulhánek added. Despite the year-on-year increase, however, tourism to the Czech Republic has not fully rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.

"This summer season was noticeably better than the previous one. According to the latest data, tens of thousands more people traveled abroad to countries close to the Czech Republic," Kulhánek said.

He added that summer travel was still affected by anti-epidemic measures.

As usual, the highest number of Czechs traveled to Croatia, most of them by car or train.

Greece turned out to be the second most popular destination for Czech travelers, as nearly 200,000 spent their summer holidays there. Bulgaria came third with 120,000 Czechs visitors. Turkey followed with about 100,000 Czech travelers.

The data, provided by travel agencies, showed that the highest percentage increase in Czech travel was seen in Egypt, Spain, Greece, and Bulgaria. In contrast, fewer people spent their holidays in Tunisia, Austria, and Slovakia than in past years.

Deputy Foreign Minister Martin Smolek said that among travelers who tested positive for Covid-19 after they returned home, 266 people came from Croatia. Czechs returning from Spain tested positive in 144 cases, and those coming from Bulgaria and Turkey followed, with 140 and 138 positive cases, respectively.

Kulhánek added that most countries prepared their anti-epidemic regulations in advance this summer, and the rules they set were much more effective than in 2020.

Over 40,000 Czechs registered within the DROZD, the Foreign Ministry's system used to notify travelers about natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and other extraordinary circumstances. Via the DROZD platform, the Ministry sent over 20,000 text messages and more than 42,000 emails this summer.

Earlier this summer, the Foreign Ministry launched the dovolena2021.cz website to inform Czech travelers about current anti-epidemic measures for traveling to and from selected countries. To date, 1.5 million Czechs have visited this website.

Over the summer, the Czech Republic established special consulate offices in Barcelona, Burgas (Bulgaria), Split and Rijeka (both Croatia) and Valetta (Malta). The regular consulate in Athens was reinforced as well.

Joint police patrols bringing together Czechs and foreign colleagues were deployed in the most common tourist destinations, for instance in Croatia and Bulgaria. Patrols were also sent to Albania. They are meant to help travelers in emergency situations, such as road accidents and other situations.