The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism attendace in Prague

This bachelor thesis has two major purposes: (1) to investigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism attendance in Prague and (2) to evaluate the economic impacts caused by the detected changes in attendance. The thesis is divided into a theoretical and practical part. The first chapter concentrates on the used methodology in this study i.e. (1) comparative method of examined indicators (visit rate, number of overnight stays, etc.) and (2) interpretation of secondary data research. The second chapter describes the evolution of the pandemic worldwide and in the Czech Republic. The third part of the thesis focuses on tourism in Prague before the outbreak of COVID-19. This chapter proves that both numbers of domestic and international tourist arrivals had been growing from 2014 until 2019. In the fourth chapter, the impacts of tourism with emphasis on economic impacts are discussed. The practical part involves an analysis of tourist attendance in Prague between the years 2019 and 2020 and an evaluation of the economic impacts caused by the detected changes in attendance. The analysis revealed that the number of tourist arrivals and the number of overnight stays in 2020 decreased by 73% and 74%, respectively, compared to 2019. Furthermore, the analysis shows changes in the structure of tourists. In 2020, foreign tourists no longer dominated Prague while a large part (34%) was represented by domestic tourists. In addition, neighboring countries were among the top 3 source markets for Prague tourism. On the other hand, countries such as the USA, Russia, China, or South Korea did not figure in the TOP 10 source markets for Prague tourism, in comparison with 2019. The economic impacts were as follows: a decrease in tourist expenditures, a loss of public budgets, and a decrease in employment in tourism in Prague.