Prague, May 5 (CTK) – The Chinese are the sixth strongest group of foreign visitors to the Czech Republic and their numbers are growing the most quickly of all, but hotels are not prepared for them from the linguistic and other points of view, daily Hospodarske noviny (HN) writes on Thursday.
Last year, a total of 285,404 Chinese tourists arrived in the Czech Republic, which was 35 percent more than in 2014, according to the Czech Statistical Office (CSU), HN writes.
“The development of Chinese arrivals is even more dynamic than in the case of the Japanese. Their numbers rose by 74,000 in 2000-05, while the number of the Chinese increased by more than 130,000 in the past four years,” the CzechTourism agency’s spokeswoman Martina Fiserova said.
Zuzana Stuchlikova, who guarantees the Chinese studies specialisation at Prague’s University of Economics (VSE), told HN that the upswing in the position of the middle class that can afford to travel more is behind the Chinese tourism boom.
Direct flights to Prague also boost tourism. Since September 2015, a Beijing-Prague air connection has been in operation and flights from Shanghai and Chengdu are prepared, HN writes.
Compared to tourists from other countries, the Chinese arrive for a relatively short time. Last year they stayed for an average 2.7 days, compared to 5.9 days in case of Russians, for instance, HN writes.
Stuchlikova said Chinese tourists combine their visit to the Czech Republic with two to three other countries and they usually travel in organised groups.
The main reason for group tourism is the lack of knowledge of English, representatives of hotels in Prague and Cesky Krumlov, south Bohemia, the second most frequent destination of Chinese in the country,say.
Tourism experts say hotel operators should bear the language barrier in mind and offer leaflets and menus in Chinese in addition to their Internet web page, HN writes.
“I believe that Czech hotels are not yet ready for the Chinese clientele,” Stuchlikova said.
The Chinese also have specific wishes. Three out of four guests want to be served Chinese food abroad, which Czech hotels do not usually offer, HN writes.
Chinese tourists often want to borrow a high-speed electric kettle because they drink hot water and use it to make tea or boil noodles, a Cesky Krumlov hotel representative told HN.
Another hotel said most Chinese tourists seek a room with a bath, while hotels usually offer a shower cabin.
Non-smoker hotels must display “No Smoking” inscriptions in Chinese because about 70 percent of Chinese smoke, according to the statistics of the Czech Association of Hotels and Restaurants, HN writes.
Hotel staff should be careful not to accommodate Chinese in rooms with the nmber four. “It is an unfortunate number that arouses fear and which is pronounced similarly like death in Chinese,” Stuchlikova said.
