Prague ranked second best solo travel destination in the world
Just trailing Tokyo, Japan, Czechia’s capital city has been ranked the second best destination in the world for solo travellers by travel operator Planet Cruise. The ranking was based on safety, accommodation costs, available attractions, and public transportation. To understand what has been done to bolster the city’s reputation internationally, I spoke to Jan Herget, director of CzechTourism here in Prague.
“This doesn’t surprise me, Prague is a beautiful city with an amazing history, many sight-seeing opportunities, good hotels, and gastronomy. But even more important is safety. The Czech Republic is among the top ten safest countries in the world, which is very important. Public services like transport also operate on a very high level. So the combination of the beauty of the city, safety, and public services make the city so successful.”
I know CzechTourism has been doing quite a bit of work to change the reputation of Prague being a ‘wild party city’ that it’s garnered over the years. Do you see your work paying off, and what are the steps the city has taken to change this reputation internationally?
“Absolutely, we are trying hard together with the city – and I think it’s very important that the city and government have made many changes. For example, taxi and money exchange services have improved. These changes have improved the quality of services, and naturally have shown that Prague is not a stag party city anymore, that the romantic beauty of the city is more important than the price of beer.”
Are there more cultural events available now in the city that may have also changed the city’s reputation internationally?
“I don’t think it changed so much, but we’ve made better effort to communicate these events more. For example Prague Spring or Prague Autumn, two important musical events in the city, have been going on for dozens of years, they aren’t new. It was always here, but perhaps we didn’t communicate it properly. Another thing is that Prague is one of the greenest cities in the world, we have beautiful parks in the city, and the percentage of parks and greenery is one of the highest in the whole world. Together with culture and architecture, it makes a perfect cocktail for tourists.”
How has CzechTourism changed the communication of the city to alter its reputation?
“It’s not just CzechTourism, but also the city of Prague is working on this. For example, on Dlouhá Street, one of the biggest party areas, the city is pushing hard to lower the noise levels by sending police there in order to try and make the atmosphere calmer. If you’re having big parties there all the time, ordinary tourists really don’t like it. So it all starts at the airport, there are signs saying respect the city and the people, and I think this kind of communication is important. I don’t think it will change the behaviour of people in a minute, but over the long term people start to feel it and appreciate it.”
