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While Prague is traditionally the main attraction for Australians visiting the Czech Republic, the latest figures show there was a 13 per cent increase in the numbers of Australians visiting easily-reached regional areas, Czech Tourism Board (CTB) CEO MR Jan Herget announced at the Travel Trade Day held in Cesky Budejovice in South Bohemia this week.

He was speaking to more than 300 international agents, suppliers and media who mixed with local ground operators at the Board’s fourth annual Travel Trade Day event– a function designed to strengthen and create tourism partnerships. More than 20 countries were represented and 1600 meetings took place, along with a cocktail evening event, gala dinner at the Cesky Kromlov Castle and pre and post tours to promote regional areas such as South Bohemia and Southern Moravrian.

The focus of the B2B event was to join foreign partners with regional operators and to showcase what the country has to offer outside Prague. With more than 10.6 million international guests in 2018 staying at least one night, Mr Herget reaffirmed his organisation’s commitment to support regional areas in what is affectionately known as ‘the heart of Europe”- all of the Czech Republic.

He added, “As a tourism body it is our responsibility to create opportunities for international retail agencies and wholesalers to access local organisations to grow partnerships worldwide. This is our largest Travel Trade Day to date and I am extremely optimistic that great benefit will come from an event such as this”.

“As the fourth most-visited city in Europe, Prague is on the bucket list for all visitors, however there is an abundance of destinations and activities within close proximity to the city, often only one or two hours’ drive,” said Mr Jan Urban, the Australian marketing representative of CTB.

He added that his aim was to sell the whole of the Czech Republic to Australians, not just the capital.

“The Czech Republic was recently named the seventh safest city in the world (Global Peace Index 2018) and offers fantastic value for money, a year-round modest climate, numerous UNESCO sites, national parks, wineries and breweries , more than 200 castles and with English widely spoke, makes it a very attractive destination for all Australian travel markets.”

Mr Urban also announced the 2020 CTB Travel Trade Day will be held in the spa capital of the country Karlovy Vary and expects Australian participation will be as positive as this year showed.