The French travel most often in Europe, making 80% of their trips there. The Czech Republic is very interesting for them, last year more than 213 thousand French tourists came to domestic hotels, apartments, and pensions. Even if the numbers before the COVID-19 pandemic have not yet been reached, the potential to attract the French to the Czech Republic is offered. They like local gastronomy, new places, and interesting programs and activities. The inhabitants of France are, in the best sense of the word, hedonists, individualists, and people who bet on certainty. They want to enjoy traveling to the fullest.
This and other information were part of the export workshop organized by the Czech Tourism Office – CzechTourism. Among other things, it was heard at the event that the French have more vacations than in other countries of the world and are among the creditworthy tourists. They prefer an interesting program and accommodation in four-star hotels for a low price. 30- to 50-year-old residents of France go on trips the most, and they prefer transport by airplanes.
“Even though the French most often go to Prague here, they are gradually discovering the regions as well. Last year, in addition to our capital, South Moravian and Pilsen regions were the most visited. According to the NMS Market Research 2021 survey, in addition to Prague, the Czech Republic is also associated with landscape, culture, castles, beer, history, monuments and beautiful architecture,” says František Reismüller, director of the Czech Tourism Office – CzechTourism, adding: “This year in the 3rd quarter, French tourists, with a total of 67,500 arrivals, placed 12th in the list of countries from which most foreigners come. From July to September 2023, they spent almost 172 thousand nights in the Czech Republic, with the average length of stay of one guest from France being 3.54 days. On average, the French spent 2,432 CZK per person per day traveling to the Czech Republic last year.”
That is why the 1st and 2nd wave of this year’s main campaign of the CzechTourism agency Nečekáné tradice – Unexpected Traditions was focused on France. In the Czech Republic, last year and this year, French television often filmed – for example, TF1 reported on Crystal Valley, ARTE programs on Czech gastronomy in Invitation au voyage producers, marketplace and landscape. And it was ARTE television that recently started broadcasting documentaries about Czech gastronomy with the words: “The soup is the grunt and the meat is the plug”. You can find the first report from footage 32:08 on Invitation au voyage – Bretagne / Éthiopie / Thailande – Regarder le documentaire complet | ART.
“When luring the French to the Czech Republic, one must, among other things, remember the more demanding requirements of French guests regarding language skills, which of course plays a role in choosing a destination. Although guests from France speak English more often than before, the undeniable advantage is simply the destination where they are able to communicate with them in their language. This is not the only reason why we are not slacking off in our activities, as far as French-Czech relations are concerned, this autumn was also very busy,” says Markéta Dianová, Director of the Foreign Office of the Czech Tourism Headquarters – CzechTourism for France, and adds: “In October, together with the Czech Embassy and nine partners prepared the presentation of the Czech Republic at the IFM TOP RESA tourism trade fair in Paris. Furthermore, at IPT UNESCO, we presented domestic UNESCO monuments from the Giant Mountains to Rautis in Poniklé to Žďár nad Sázavou. And we are currently preparing events for the French focused on traditions, including Christmas, and presentations of places where congresses, conferences, fairs, exhibitions or events for employees can be held in the Czech Republic.”
And next year? The traditional Czechia Travel Trade Day event, directed by CzechTourism, which will take place in Hradec Králové, should not miss French buyers, representatives of travel agencies, and the media. And not only the French will be treated to a workshop on the topic Discover Central Europe, which is jointly prepared by the foreign offices of the Czech Tourism Headquarters for France, Poland, and Slovakia. Last but not least, they will be very important – in the spirit of the main communication theme of 2024, which is “active tourism” – the Summer Olympic Games in Paris. In connection with them, the Olympic festival will take place at Lake Most.
Photographed by Jana Trojanová