Tourism - 1st quarter of 2010

Q1 2010, the number of overnight stays decreased by 1.2% year-on-year, of which residents decreased by 2.7%, on the contrary non-residents went up by 0.5%. In total, more guests (by 0.5%) arrived in collective accommodation establishments, of which foreigners increased by 2.8%, on the contrary non-residents went down by 1.6%.
The number of overnight stays in collective accommodation establishments totalled 6.9 million in Q1 2010; this was by 1.2% less than in the same period of the previous year. The number of overnight stays of non-residents went up by 0.5%, on the contrary the number of residents was by 2.7% down. The sharpest drop reported other collective accommodation establishments (by 8.8%). In contrast a remarkable year-on-year increase was recorded by upper class hotels – as for five-star hotels it was by 9.0% up, as for four-star hotels it was even by 12.8% up – this may relate to special prise offers. From regional point of view the highest increase in the number of overnight stays of guests was recorded in accommodation establishments in Prague (by 3.7%), in contrast the highest decrease was in Moravskoslezsky region (by 10.6%).

In Q1 2010, a total of 2.2 million guests was recorded at surveyed establishments; this was 0.5% up on Q1 2009. The number of foreign guests increased by 2.8%; the number of residents was lower by 1.6%. The decrease in the number of domestic guests was probably influenced, among other things, by the fact that they went for good snow conditions abroad rather than stay at home. The highest increase was in five-star and four-star hotels (by 15.2% and 13.7%, respectively). The highest increase, like in case of overnight stays, was surveyed in Prague (by 4.7%) and the highest drop was in Moravskoslezsky region (by 11.5%). One half of remaining regions coped with a slight decrease in the number of guests, the second half showed in contrast a slight increase. As far as tourism regions is concerned there was the highest number of guests, apart from Prague which was visited the most, in Krkonose Mountains but the highest growth was reported in Plzensky region (10.7%). In contrast the highest decrease was recorded in region of Northwest Bohemia (by 9.4%).

The highest number of foreign guests (as for the country of permanent residence) arrived from Germany, although they reported a slight year-on-year decrease. But they showed higher downfall in the number of overnight stays (3.5%). In spite of a financial crisis and problems with gaining visa permit guest from Russia was the second as far as the number of guests was concerned, their number was even higher by 4.5% than in Q1 2009 and the number of overnight stays of Russians increased too (by 3.5%). From top ten countries, the highest increase was shown by tourists from Austria (by 20.5%) and France (by 11.2%).

At spa accommodation establishments the number of overnight stays totalled 1.3 million; this was 0.9% down year-on-year. The number of overnight stays of non-residents went down by 2.9%; the number of overnight stays of residents went up by 0.9%. In Karlovarsky Region, which reports more than half of overnight stay from all spa establishments, was a decrease by 1.3% (of which non-residents by 1.3% and residents by 1.5%).

Rooms of hotels and similar establishments were used from 33.1% in Q1 2009; this was by 0.5 p.p. more than in the same period of the previous year. Four-star hotels with the highest utilisation of 40.2% increased their usage by 1.3 p.p., a growth by 1.6 p.p. was shown by boarding houses but their utilisation of rooms was as usual the lowest (24.0%). On the contrary a decrease was reported by all low categories of hotels, of which the highest (by 4.0 p.p.) by one-star hotels.

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Methodological note:
¹ ) Data on guests at collective tourist accommodation establishments are obtained from the monthly CR1-12 sample survey and the quarterly CR2-04 survey. Data mentioned are sums of the data processed from submitted questionnaires and imputed data on the accommodation establishments that failed to report. Net use of room is the number of overnight stays in a particular period divided by the number of room-days (stated as a percentage).

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Contact: Hellerová Alena, phone: (+420) 2740529 21, E-mail: alena.hellerova@csu.gov.cz
Data source: CZSO direct survey in collective accommodation establishments
End of data collection: 26 April 2010
End of data processing: 3 May 2010
The data are preliminary; final data for all quarters of 2010 will be known in February 2011.
Quarterly data since 2000 are available in time series ( /produkty/cru_ts ).
Data for year 2009 were revised on 15 April 2010