Occupancy of Czech hotels slightly up at almost 43% in 2012

Prague, Jan 13 (CTK) - Occupancy of Czech hotels and similar accommodation facilities moderately grew to 42.8 percent last year, and accommodation prices rose by 3 to 5 percent year-on-year, rebounding after a previous decline, according to estimates released by consulting company Mag Consulting.

Occupancy of accommodation facilities in the Czech Republic was 42.3 percent in 2011, according to data of the Czech Statistical Office (CSU).

Czech hotels registered the lowest guest numbers in 2008 when only less than 39 percent of their capacity was filled.

Hotel room occupancy reached the highest value in Prague (60.3 pct) and in Karlovarsky region (58.1 pct) in western Bohemia last year. In contrast, the occupancy rate was the lowest in Pardubicky region (25.1 pct) in eastern Bohemia and in Vysocina region (25.7 pct) in southern Moravia.

Prices at hotels and similar accommodation facilities bounced off the bottom last year. The average price of a room at hotels and other similar accommodation facilities grew by 3 to 5 percent in 2012, Mag Consulting said.

But the Czech Association of Hotels and Restaurants (AHR CR) said accommodation prices grew only locally last year, and only around one-third of accommodation facilities expect their 2012 sales to grow year-on-year.

Several factors can be the reason behind the insufficient growth in the average price, AHR CR president Vaclav Starek said.

"In the first place, it is the consumer behaviour of domestic as well as foreign tourists who are reducing their consumption and try to behave more economically. However, they have not stopped travelling, which is good news," Starek said.

Another reason are the activities of flash sale websites that lead to a drop in accommodation prices, according to Starek.

The segment was also negatively influenced by two hikes in value added tax (VAT) that have reduced competitiveness of Czech accommodation services compared with the other countries, Starek said.

The average price of accommodation in hotels of company Vienna International, for example, increased by between 3.0 and 9.0 percent last year, Vienna International spokeswoman Kristina Maixnerova said, adding the hotels' occupancy also moderately grew.

"We registered a growth in the number of tourists from the USA, France, South Korea, China, Russia and Turkey in the course of the year 2012. In contrast, the number of tourists from Spain and Australia was lower than in the previous years," Maixnerova said.

Occupancy of accommodation facilities in CR in percent:

2000 53.4
2001 54.6
2002 47.8
2003 42.1
2004 44.1
2005 42.4
2006 43.0
2007 42.8
2008 42.4
2009 38.7
2010 40.5
2011 42.3
2012 42.8*

* Mag Consulting's estimates

source: CSU