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Czech Republic, tourism
Martin S
ˇauer
1
and Bohumil Frantál
2
1
Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
2
Department of Environmental Geography,
Institute of Geonics, Czech Academy of
Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in
Central Europe (Figure 1), with total area of
78,867 km
2
(30,450 mi
2
) and a population of
10.5 million. The country has one of the most
developed, industrialized, and prosperous econo-
mies among the postcommunist states of Eastern
Europe (US$27,200 of GDP per capita in 2012).
The socialist period (1948–1989) was charac-
terized by dominance of social forms of tourism
concentrated in mountain areas and around water
bodies. Political and economic changes after
1989 have brought about the transformation of
accommodation through privatization and of
demand from the Eastern to Western countries.
The total ▶accommodation capacity
(in collective establishments) has increased
from 360,000 beds in 1987 to 500,000 in 2009
(Vystoupil et al. 2011).
▶Urban and ▶cultural tourism represent
45 % of the total bed capacity, with Prague the
capital city being the most frequently visited
▶destination and UNESCO monuments, histori-
cal towns, castles, and chateaus being the main
attractions. An important role is also played by
▶spa tourism which accounts for about 8 % of
total bed capacity but generates 16 % of over-
night stays. The increasing popularity of Czech
destinations (especially Prague) is reflected in the
gradual growth over the last decade of up to 13.6
million guests and 39.6 million overnights
recorded in 2012 (CZSO 2013). The share of
foreign tourists was 52 %, with ▶Germany,
▶Russia,▶Italy, the ▶United States, the
▶United Kingdom, and ▶Slovakia as its main
source markets.
In 2011, tourism generated about 2.7 % of
GDP and employed 232,000 people (CZSO
2013). While the ▶performance has been grow-
ing, the importance of tourism to the GDP has in
the long run been declining. Taking into account
its indirect effects, the total volume is $17.4 bil-
lion (8.4 % of GDP) and the share of ▶employ-
ment is 10.6 % (WTTC 2014). Compared to
1993, in constant prices, the value of the tourism
▶product increased 1.5-fold, making its growth
rate in the Czech Republic higher than that of the
European Union in this period.
The Ministry for Regional Development is the
central state administration for tourism, respon-
sible for coordination and setting guidelines. The
tourism department provides activities related to
the implementation of the State Tourism Policy
Strategy (2014–2020) and founded the
CzechTourism, a state contributory organization
for promotion. An important role in tourism
▶development has been played by the EU Struc-
tural Funds. In the period 2007–2013, about
#Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
J. Jafari, H. Xiao (eds.), Encyclopedia of Tourism,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_439-1
$1.98 billion was invested in tourism promotion
from public sources, particularly from the
Regional Operational Programs. As for the prior-
ities of tourism policy, the most important
research issues are destination governance as
interorganizational cooperation of tourism actors
and the economic contributions of tourism at the
regional level.
See also ▶Cultural tourism,▶spa tourism,
▶urban tourism.
References
CZSO 2013 Tourism Satellite Account www.czso.cz/eng/
redakce.nsf/i/tourism_satellite_account (25 October).
Vystoupil, J., M. S
ˇauer, A. Holes
ˇinská, J. Kunc,
D. Seidenglanz, and P. Tonev 2011 Geografie
Cestovnı
´ho Ruchu C
ˇeske
´Republiky. Plzen
ˇ: Ales
ˇ
C
ˇene
ˇk.
WTTC 2014 Travel and Tourism Economic Impact
2014 – Czech Republic. London: World Travel and
Tourism Council.
Decin
Ústi nad
Labem
Liberec
14 16 18 52
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0 30 60 km
Snêzka
Hradec
Králové
Olomouc
SLOVAKIA
GERMANY
POLAND
AUSTRIA
HUNGARY
Plzen
Brno
Moravian
Gate
Ostrava
PRAGUE
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Czech Republic, tourism,
Figure 1 Map of the
Czech Republic
2 Czech Republic, tourism