HN: Russian tourists prefer Czech hotels, spas to Egypt, Turkey

Prague, Feb 21 (CTK) - Russian tourists start to prefer Czech hotels and spas to Egypt and Turkey, daily Hospodarske noviny (HN) writes yesterday, adding that the 570,000 Russians who visited the Czech Republic last year beat all records.

The figure was 37 percent higher than in 2010 and only Germans outnumbered them. The total of German tourists, however, rose only slightly last year and the number of German spa clients has been decreasing, HN writes.

"The increase in the number of visitors from Russia is higher than expected. The reason is not only the closeness of the Czech Republic but also reasonable prices for quality services, and probably also some shortening of the visas deadlines," HN quotes Darya Yeliseyeva, from Olivier agency specialising in promotion of Czech-Russian tourism, as saying.

Russian tourists traditionally stay in Prague and the Karlovy Vary spa town in west Bohemia.

The Karlovy Vary airport handled a record number of passengers last year. It grew by 40 percent year-on-year to almost 99,000. Ninety-one thousand of them were from Russia, HN writes, adding that the upward trend continues this year too.

The Russians arrive aboard traditional flights, mainly from Moscow, but they also use newly launched flights from Yekaterinburg and Samara, airport director Vaclav Cerny told HN.

HN writes that the number of Russian visitors has increased almost five times over the past ten years.

"Without Russians many hotels and spas would be on the brink of survival," HN quotes Jiri Milsky, co-owner of the Imperial hotel company, as saying.

Until recently the chain hotels accommodated about the same numbers of German and Russian guests. Now Russians account for 65 percent of the clientele, HN writes.

The Russians spend an average of 150 to 200 euros a day in the Czech Republic that is a welcome revenue also for restaurants, shops and other services, Milsky said.

Internet web pages in Russian and the knowledge of the Russian language are slowly becoming a matter of course for hotels, spas, towns as well firms across the country, HN writes.

Classical hotels are also quite well accepted by tourists from other countries, HN writes.

It writes that according to the Czech Statistical Office (CSU) the number of tourists from the Baltic countries, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Italy increased year-on-year in 2011.

In spas Russians are the sole nationality whose number is growing, HN writes.

However, this cannot compensate for the decrease in the number of Czech patients sent to the spas by health insurance companies who constitute the main source of revenues of curative spas, HN writes.

Their numbers dropped by 13 percent year-on-year last year and the downward trend is expected to continue this year as a result of austerity applied by the health insurance companies, HN writes.