Tourism - 4. quarter of 2018

For the entire year 2018, collective accommodation establishments reported again historically record numbers of arrivals of guests as well as of their overnight stays. Over 21 million guests accommodated in collective accommodation establishments and spent there over 55 million nights.  

The number of overnight stays of guests in collective accommodation establishments reached 10.8 million nights in the Q4 2018, i.e. by 3.1% more compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. The number of overnight stays of residents increased by 5.5%; non-residents spent in accommodation establishments by 1.4% more nights. The number of overnight stays in hotels increased by 2.4%, y-o-y, and in boarding houses by 10.9%, y-o-y. As for the regional breakdown, accommodation establishments in all regions reported growth, except for those in the Pardubický Region and in the Královéhradecký Region. The most successful were operators in the Středočeský Region, in which the number of nights spent increased by 11.7%, y-o-y. A two-digit growth was reached also by accommodation establishments in the Plzeňský Region and in the Ústecký Region.

In total, 4.5 million guests arrived to collective accommodation establishments during the surveyed period; it was 5.9% up, y-o-y. The number of domestic guests increased by 6.9% and the number of guests from abroad grew by 5.1%. The highest number of guests accommodated in four-star hotels (1.7 million); it was by 7.0% more than in the previous year. Three-star hotels accommodated 1.3 million of tourists, which was a 5.4% increase. Boarding houses reported 8.6% up and 420 000 visits. In terms of regional comparison, the number of guests decreased only in the Pardubický Region (−6.9%). Visitors were interested the most in accommodation in the Středočeský Region (+13.6%), in the Jihočeský Region (+11.3%), and in the Moravskoslezský Region (+11.0%).

The highest number of foreign guests (by citizenship) came from Germany. Almost half a million of Germans accommodated in the surveyed establishments, which was by 4.0% more compared to the Q4 2017. The second most numerous group of guests were guests from Slovakia with 184 000 arrivals, which was a 10.2% increase. Tourists from China ranked third (+26.3%). The numbers of guests from the Russian Federation were decreasing already for the third successive quarter.

Development in 2018

The number of guests in collective accommodation establishments reached 21.3 million in 2018. It was by 1.3 million more than in 2017, which was an increase by 6.4%. Almost the same number of domestic as well as foreign guests accommodated there (10.6 million each). In the y-o-y comparison, the number of domestic guests in collective accommodation establishments increased by 8.1% and foreign guests by 4.7%. Also the threshold of 55 million of overnight stays has been overcome. The total number of nights spent by guests in collective accommodation establishments reached 55.5 million, which was by 2.3 million more compared to 2017 (+4.3%).

In almost all regions of the Czech Republic, both the number of arrivals as well as the number of overnight stays of guests increased, y-o-y. Only in the Pardubický Region both the number of guests as well as the number of nights spent by them dropped by 1 or rather 0.6%.

During the entire year 2018, by 550 thousand more foreign guests came to accommodate in the Czech Republic compared to 2017. Germany remained to be the most important source country of guests in 2018; in total, 2 million guests came from there and accommodated in the CR (+3.6%). Slovakia ranked second with 735 thousand arrivals (+7.8%), and Poland remained the third; 620 thousand guests came from there (+7.8%). Dynamics of the number of arrivals from China is the highest from the TOP 10 countries (+26.5%).

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Notes:
Responsible head at the CZSO: Marie Boušková, Director of the Services Statistics Department, phone number (+420) 274 052 935,
e-mail: marie.bouskova@csu.gov.cz
Contact person: Pavel Vančura, Head of the Tourism Statistics Unit, phone number (+420) 274 052 096, e-mail: pavel.vancura@csu.gov.cz
Method of data acquisition: direct surveys of the CZSO in collective accommodation establishments
End of data collection: 29 January 2019
End of data processing: 31 January 2019
Related data set: https://csu.gov.cz/produkty/cru_ts
Next News Release will be published on: 10 May 2019