Prague - The Czech Republic is still very successful in attracting foreign tourists.
In the first quarter of this year, Czech accommodation facilities hosted a total of 2,6 million turists.
This is ten percent more than last year.
The number of overnight stays was 8.2 million, which reflects an increase by 6.8 percent in comparison with last year.
These numbers were released by the Czech Statistical Office.
Winter sports and spa towns
What is behind this increase is, above all, better snow conditions and Easter feasts held in March.
In the first quarter of this year, the most significant increase was among visitors to cities, spa regions and winter sports areas.
More than one third of all the tourists have visited Prague. The average number of overnight stays during this period was 3.2 nights.
Most turists from Germany
Most tourists came from Germany, Great Britain, Russia and Italy, with Russia and Italy switching their position in comparison with figures from last year.
The most significant increase was among incoming tourists from Spain (55 percent) and Poland (37 percent).
The number of domestic and foreign tourists is the same - 1.3 million.
The rising number of incoming tourists also can be linked to the increasing popularity of spa towns.
More stars, more foreigners
One third of visitors booked their accomodation at three-star hotels, which experienced the sharpest increase in the number of guests (16 percent).
Five- and four-star hotels have experienced an increase in the number of guests as well, with the majority of their clientele being from abroad (92 percent in the case of five-star hotels, 77 percent in the case of four-star hotels).
For domestic guests, these hotels are not very popular, yet, although in comparison with 2007 there were 30 percent more Czech guests in four-star hotels.
