Tourism - 4. quarter of 2021

This increase is significantly influenced by the situation in 2020, when accommodation services were restricted due to pandemic reasons.

For the whole year 2021, collective accommodation establishments reported an increase in both: the number of arrivals and overnight stays. 11.4 million guests accommodated in collective accommodation establishments and spent there 32 million nights. The last year’s volume of the number of guests was only a half compared to the pre-covid year of 2019.

The number of overnight stays of guests in collective accommodation establishments reached 7.7 million nights in the Q4 2021, which was over three times more (362.4%) compared to the corresponding period of 2020. It was an increase by 5.6 million nights. The number of overnight stays of guests from the Czech Republic (CR) increased by 171.5%, y-o-y. As for guests from abroad, their year-on-year increase was over nine times. This comparison is influenced by a low number of guests in collective accommodation establishments in the CR in the end of 2020, when it was forbidden to use accommodation services.

In the Q4 2021, 3 million guests accommodated in collective accommodation establishments, which was an increase by over 2.3 million arrivals, y-o-y. To express it as a percentage, it was by 353.5% in total. The number of accommodated guests from the Czech Republic was 2 million in total, i.e. over three times more compared to the end of 2020. The number of guests from abroad increased by 896.2% to one million arrivals. The number of guests was increasing in the end of 2021 across all categories of accommodation establishments and in all Regions of the Czech Republic.

Inbound tourism was and still is influenced by various degrees of spreading of covid waves in individual countries and restrictions on travelling and on border crossing related to that. Due to those reasons, the numbers of foreign guests are still far behind expectations of many hotel owners who focused mainly on visitors from abroad before the pandemic. The number of foreign guests was higher in the Q4 2021 compared to the corresponding period of 2020. However, compared to the year 2019, it was only on the level of 40%. The highest number of foreign guests (non-residents; by citizenship) came from Germany in the Q4 2021. In the surveyed accommodation establishments, Germans still made a fourth of guests from abroad (256 thousand arrivals, index 1 658.8%). The second most numerous group consisted of guests from Slovakia (101 thousand, index 604.8%). Guests from Poland ranked third (67 thousand arrivals; index 546.4%). As for non-European countries, the highest number of foreign guests accommodated in accommodation establishments in the CR were citizens of the United States of America (44 thousand) and Israel (38 thousand).  
 

Development in 2021

In 2021, the number of guests was still influenced by the pandemic situation both in the Czech Republic and abroad. Collective accommodation establishments reported last year an increase in the number of both arrivals and overnight stays. In the collective accommodation establishments, 11.4 million of guests accommodated (+5.2%) and they spent there 32 million nights in total (+1.8%).

The number of domestic guests accommodated in collective accommodation establishments in Czechia was 8.8 million, by 9.6% more than in 2020. The number of overnight stays of domestic guests increased by 5.9%. On the other hand, the number of foreigners accommodated in collective accommodation establishments in Czechia decreased again. The number of arrivals from abroad dropped to 2.6 million, i.e. by 7.6% and the number of overnight stays decreased by 11.4% to 6.5 million nights.

Compared to the pre-covid year of 2019, the volume of the total number of guests in 2021 was on 52% of arrivals and 56% of overnight stays. In 2021, 79% of residents accommodated in collective accommodation establishments compared to the year 2019. Last year, the number of guests from abroad reached mere 24% of the volume before the pandemic.  
 

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Notes:

Responsible head at the CZSO: Marie Boušková, Director of the Trade, Transport, Services, Tourism, and Environmental Statistics Department, phone number (+420) 274 052 935, e-mail: marie.bouskova@csu.gov.cz
Contact person: Pavel Vančura, Head of the Tourism and Environmental Statistics Unit, phone number (+420) 274 052 096, e-mail: pavel.vancura@csu.gov.cz
Method of data acquisition: direct survey of the CZSO in collective accommodation establishments
End of data collection: 24 January 2022
End of data processing: 1 February 2022
Related data set: https://csu.gov.cz/tourism_ekon
Next News Release will be published on: 11 May 2022