Tourism-related services suffer severe losses

Sales in services decreased by 7.9 percent in real terms compared to the first quarter of last year, according to data released by the Czech Statistics Office. Quarter-on-quarter, seasonally adjusted sales in services increased by 0.5 percent in real terms.

Tourism-related services suffered the worst losses. In the first quarter of this year the number of foreign guests in hotels, boarding houses and camps fell by almost 97 percent. The number of domestic visitors to the metropolis who stayed overnight decreased by 86.4% compared to the first quarter of last year.

The coronavirus crisis also had an impact on spa accommodation establishments. Spas were allowed to remain open but they could only provide care paid by health insurance companies and not by self-payers.