Prague - More and more foreigners are putting off Czech spa stays at a time of economic uncertainty. The number of spa guests has fallen by 10% in the first quarter of this year.
Compared to the first quarter of 2008, there were 15,857 fewer spa guesters this year. Of that, nearly 14,000 were foreigners. A large proportion of them German. Spa operators confirm the trend.
Fewer Germans
"We have noticed a decrease in the number of clients already in the last quarter of 2008, and the trend continues this year. Mostly, there are fewer visitors from German," said Miloslav Peterka, the economic director of the spa Lázně Poděbrady.
Other spa operators in also see this trend. "We are seeing fewer guests from Germany and also Austria. Fortunately we are not so relaint on foreign clients. They make up only 15-20% of our guests," said Jiří Dědek, operational director of Lázně Luhačovice.
High-end hotels still doing well
Since the biggest proportion of foreign guests go to the Karlovy Vary region, that is where the greatest decline has been. Of the 14,000 decline in the number of foreign guestes, there was a nearly 12,000 decline in this region.
The downturn has not had the same impact on all operators. "The decline hasn't been so drastic. We have noticed that there are fewer Germans, but it is not so bad. I expect that our target group has not been so greatly affected by this crisis," said Alexandr Rebjonok, general director of the Karlovy Vary company Imperial Group.
The group owns the four-star hotel Imperial and the spa complex Sanssouci, which is also high end. And although there were fewer Germans, the number of Russians has not fallen.
"Our the customs of our clients have changed a little bit.
They used to make reservations several months in advance. Now it's just a few weeks in advance. You can see that the economic uncertainty has led many of them to put off booking their spa stay to the very last minute," added Rebjonok.
Czechs still using spas
Those spa operators who mostly cater to Czechs do not need to worry for now. Statistics show that Czech clients are still booking their stays.
"We've seen an 18% decline in the number of foreign guests, but the number of Czech guests remains the same. This despite the fact that guests who stay at our spa for medical reasons and whose stays are covered by insurance companies make up only a fifth of our clientele," said Dědedek.
He added that Luhačovice will continue to be a medical spa for those whose stays are paid from their insurance.
The Poděbradké Lázně director echoes his words. "We plan to use the space freed up thanks to fewer foreign guests for patients recovering from heart surgery. At the same time we are also expanding our selection of shorter weekend stays, for those who just want to come to Poděbrady to relax," said Peterka.
Adated by Prague Daily Monitor.
