Czech hotels suffer worst year ever

Czech hotels were entirely closed for 40 days this year and according to an industry lobby group, 60 percent of Prague's hotels won't open on December 3, even though the government has allowed them to do so. Vaclav Starek, president of the Association of Hotels and Restaurants, told the daily Pravo that 2020 has been the worst year for hotels in modern history. "We've calculated the losses for this year at CZK 160 billion in tourism, up to CZK 60 billion for restaurants and between CZK 80 billion and CZK 90 billion for accommodations services." He is demanding the government renew its Covid-Accommodations support program to help his association's members survive. "A program should also be created to compensate restaurants based for example on comparing turnovers from last year," he said. Frantisek Peterka, founder of the accommodations server Explorio.cz, said the government's decision to allow hotels and pensions to open again could be a lifesaver for many businesses. "This step has saved millions of pre-Christmas, Christmas and New Years reservations," he said. "We think the number of overnight stays will be above average all across the Czech Republic.