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There were almost five million people staying in Czech hotels and pensions in the fourth quarter of this year, which is two percent more than at the same time last year. The number of both local and international tourists have increased, according to the Czech statistical office. Overall, the most tourists visited the Olomouc region, where their number increased by around 12 percent. Although the slight increase in encouraging, the Czech Republic’s tourist industry has fared a bit worse than other countries in the region, where the number of tourists this year increased by around eight percent.

This year’s Josef Škvorecký literary prize has been awarded to Jakuba Katalpa for her novel “Germans”. The 100-thousand crown prize, named after the famous Czech émigré writer and publisher, is awarded annual for the best work of new fiction in Czech. There were six finalists this year, instead of the usual five, which included well-known writers like Ivan Binar and Petra Hůlová. “Germans” is the fifth novel published by Jakuba Katalpa, whose real name is Tereza Jandová. The novel also received the Czech Book Prize this year.

Andrej Babiš, the head of the ANO movement that may enter a new coalition government with the Social Democrats and the Christian Democrats, said on Wednesday it is not a necessity for him to join the cabinet and that he would not apply for a screening certificate which President Miloš Zeman set as a condition for ministerial candidates. Mr Babiš told journalists that he wants to wait until a Slovak court decides on his exoneration claim in January. The Czechoslovak Communist secret police (the StB) kept a file on Mr Babiš, who they listed as a collaborator. Babiś, born and raised in Slovakia, has denied ever being an StB agent.

The Czech Republic will send 50 million crowns to aid countries which have seen a massive influx of refugees from Syria, including Bulgaria and Turkey, the Rusnok cabinet agreed on Wednesday. The funds are to be covered by the Interior Ministry. Outgoing Interior Minister Martin Pecina is currently in Turkey and met with his counterpart, presenting him with a cheque for half-a-million euros (roughly 12.9 million crowns) to go towards humanitarian aid. Turkey has around 600,000 Syrian refugees. Earlier, the Czech foreign ministry provided 22 million crowns. Twelve Syrian patients have also received medical treatment in the Czech Republic.