The Economic Crisis and the Development of Tourism in the Czech Republic

While the significance of tourism for the Czech Republic's economy is relatively high, it is far from being the dominant industry. Despite the recent substantial investments in this particular field of economic activity, the share of tourism in the gross value added has been steadily declining, similarly to the ratio of tourism revenue to the gross domestic product. The year 2008 saw these values hitting a bottom as a result of the overall stagnation of tourism in the European Union, with the mild growth in 2009 being mostly attributable to the overall economy going through the recession; in this respect, the mild increase in tourism revenue to the GDP did not come as a surprise. In terms of the development of the entire industry, the real impacts of the crisis on tourism within the Czech economy need examining, although this particular influence should also be distinguished from other aspects such as the steady decrease in the share of tourism in the gross value added and in the ratio of tourism revenue to the GDP. This will enable us to exactly define the key reasons for tourism within the Czech economy not yielding the results that the same industry has generated in comparable countries. The present work formulates, and using a host of statistical data and their analysis also proves, the thesis that contrary to popular belief, the Czech tourism industry had been experiencing a downturn even before the economic recession set in.