Tourism direct GDP (2024) | Tourism direct employment (2024) | Travel exports (2024) |
|---|---|---|
2.5% of total GDP (up 0.1 percentage points since 2023) | 4.3% of total employment (up 0.1 percentage points since 2023) | 21.4% of total service exports (up 1.8 percentage points since 2023) |
OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2026
National tourism strategy: Tourism Development Strategy of Czechia 2021-2030
National tourism administration: Ministry of Regional Development
National tourism budget: CZK 1.5 billion (2025)
Key tourism policy priorities and actions:
Implementing effective governance systems – Creating an effective, transparent, and multi-level tourism governance system based on co-operation between the public, private, academic and non-profit sectors.
Developing a competitive and high-quality tourism offer – Supporting service innovation, modernisation of infrastructure and expansion of the tourism product portfolio, with an emphasis placed on cultural and natural heritage tourism.
Managing demand and visitor flows – Strengthening Czechia’s brand and image, both domestically and internationally, while developing supra-regional, cross-sectoral and thematic tourism products for targeted visitor segments and supporting off-season tourism.
The tourism economy remains an important driver of economic growth in Czechia. Tourism directly contributed CZK 201.6 billion in 2024 (2.5% of GDP), representing an increase of 10.7% compared to 2023 (CZK 182.2 billion or 2.4% of GDP). Tourism employment accounted for 233 400 people or 4.3% of employment, representing a 2.6% increase on 2023. In 2024, travel accounted for 21.4% of service exports.
Czechia recorded 10.9 million international tourists at commercial accommodation establishments in 2025, up 4.0% compared to 2024, and 0.1% from 2019 levels. The top international inbound markets remained Germany (21%), Slovak Republic (8%), and Poland (8%). International tourism accounted for 57% of tourism expenditure in 2023.
In 2025, domestic overnight visitors in commercial accommodation increased slightly to 12.6 million, up 2.5% compared to 2024.
The Ministry of Regional Development is responsible for tourism policy, competitiveness, and legislation in Czechia. The Ministry develops strategic documents and supports tourism via subsidies for public tourism infrastructure, marketing and support to NGOs. The Collegium for Tourism is the consultative and advisory body of the Minister.
The Ministry, represented by the Tourism Department, co-ordinates with other central government ministries, departments and regions, as well as the private and non-profit sectors and academia on the sustainable development of tourism. Co-ordination mechanisms include tourism working groups, roundtables and ad hoc thematic meetings. The Ministry participates in meetings of the Commission of the Council of the Association of Regions for Culture, Heritage and Tourism and in meetings of relevant formation within the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament usually under the Economical Committee.
CzechTourism is the state-funded national tourism organisation, established by the Ministry and supervised by the Tourism Department. It plays an important role in marketing and co-ordination with regional level organisations. CzechTourism operates 15 international offices representing Czechia in more than 40 countries across Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Close co-operation between CzechTourism and regional tourism organisations is subject to the agreed CzechTourism strategy, which follows the balanced scorecard model and includes the perspectives of both stakeholders and residents.
Every region has a tourism co-ordinator to synchronise marketing activities across all public tourism bodies and CzechTourism and to provide two-way communication between regional public tourism bodies and CzechTourism at the national level. Twice a year, the tourism co-ordinators meet CzechTourism and delegates of the Ministry. Once a year, the regional DMOs are invited to share knowledge, needs, and information.
The 2025 tourism budget was CZK 1.5 billion of which CZK 402.8 million was allocated to CzechTourism. The main source of funding for tourism comes from the state budget, but EU Funds also represent an important support mechanism for the sector, particularly for investment in tourism infrastructure. In addition, a local tourism tax is collected by municipalities, but allocation for this is decided locally.
Source: OECD, adapted from the Ministry of Regional Development, 2026.
Tourism in Czechia is guided by the Tourism Development Strategy Czechia 2021-2030. The Strategy aims to establish the country as a safe, sustainable, and competitive destination at the forefront of Europe. It aims to achieve this by implementing effective governance, delivering high-quality and innovative tourism offerings, supporting regional development, integrating marketing, research and education, and ultimately increasing the contribution of tourism to GDP, employment, and overall quality of life. The Strategy is implemented using evolving action plans. The Action Plan for the years 2024-2025 focused on supporting the sustainable development of tourism, enhancing the quality of services, increasing competitiveness, fostering regional co-operation, and effectively utilising data for marketing and innovation. The Action Plan for 2026-2027 is focused on further implementation of the previous action plan and will focus mainly on:
Cross-sectoral, inter-ministerial and international co-operation – including support for increased direct air connections, strengthening participation in international structures, and re-activating the Inter-ministerial Co-ordination Commission for Tourism.
Development of the tourism organisation system – including adjusting the categorisation and certification of DMOs, increasing the strategic capacity of people, and further developing national funding programmes supporting tourism infrastructure, DMO, NGOs and business investment.
Data and decision making support – including creating a framework plan for research and surveys and the regular development of the Tourism Satellite Accounts (see box below).
Human resources in tourism – including support to improve the employability of tourism graduates and the ongoing training and education of tourism workers.
Marketing activities – including the development of integrated destination marketing strategies and the promotion of domestic, international and meeting and business tourism.
The Strategy is complemented by the CzechTourism and Destination Czechia Strategy 2026–2030, which introduces a more integrated and data-driven approach to national tourism governance, emphasising long-term competitiveness and sustainable destination management. It positions Czechia as a safe, authentic and diverse destination, aiming to strengthen its international image while ensuring balanced development across all regions. Tourism development strategies that align with national objectives while addressing specific regional contexts will be implemented for all 14 Czech regions.
A multi-source funding schedule has been included for the life of the current action plan to develop competitive and sustainable tourism products, integrated destination marketing, unified branding, and evidence-based decision making. Joint marketing projects between CzechTourism and certified DMOs contribute to the co-ordination of the country’s image within the Commission for the Unified Presentation of the Czech Republic Abroad. The activities of certified DMOs are financially supported by the national grant scheme “Support for Destination Management Organisations 2025+”, which provides state funding for their operational costs and selected marketing activities.
To attract long-haul markets, Czechia has invested in opening new direct routes to provide access to markets in the Americas and the Asia Pacific region, through South Korea, Chinese Taipei and China. The initiative involves a co-operation with Prague Airport and marketing campaigns in partnership with the respective airlines. The TouchPoint platform brings together Prague Airport, CzechTourism, Prague City Tourism and other institutions to co-ordinate activities in selected overseas and Asian markets. Within this co-operation, activities such as online campaigns, professional presentations and participation in international aviation events and forums are carried out.
Czechia conducts surveys, studies, and analyses on visitor demand, the potential of national products in selected markets, monitoring sector performance, and evaluating the effectiveness of marketing activities. Work is also underway to develop new tools to provide data and information to tourism partners. In 2025, data from the two largest mobile phone operators was integrated and analysed to draw tourism insights after a pilot in 2024. In parallel, a market consultation and subsequent procurement procedure was launched in co-operation with Prague City Tourism to establish a tool for obtaining and managing tourism data from commercial sources (e.g. payment cards, online travel agencies, review platforms).
The Tourdata.cz portal includes new interactive outputs, including analyses of seasonality in collective accommodation establishments, reports for each of the 14 regions, country reports by source market and analyses of the potential of national tourism products. The improvement of the tourism database is ensured by the Czech Statistical Office, which produces official tourism statistics and the Tourism Satellite Account, and by CzechTourism’s Institute of Tourism, which conducts surveys and analyses of domestic and inbound tourism and operates the Tourdata.cz as a shared tool for public authorities and destinations.
A key challenge for the tourism sector is obtaining reliable, timely and detailed data to guide evidence-based decision making. While Czechia has established a solid statistical foundation for tourism through its official statistical system and Tourism Satellite Account, further efforts are underway to strengthen the integration of data sources, expand analytical capacity and improve the timeliness and granularity of information available to policymakers and DMOs.
Current policy efforts focus on strengthening the tourism data ecosystem and improving co-ordination of data collection and analysis. The Action Plan for 2026–2027 allocates approximately CZK 1.2 billion annually to tourism policy implementation, with a significant share dedicated to the creation of a comprehensive framework for tourism research, monitoring and data-driven decision support to ensure national and regional stakeholders, including municipalities, DMOs, and private sector actors, have credible and comparable evidence to inform their decisions. Key components will include:
Tourism Satellite Account: Securing regular statistical inputs to measure the economic contribution of tourism across GDP, employment, and balance of payments at the national and regional level.
Research Framework Plan: Co-ordinated national surveys on tourism demand, visitor satisfaction, and the potential of flagship tourism products (e.g. spa tourism, cultural heritage, eco-tourism).
Digital and SMART solutions: Expansion of mobile network data analysis and integration of alternative data sources to capture visitor flows, mobility trends and seasonal variations at both national and sub-national levels.
Destination Management Reform: Giving regions responsibility for certifying local DMOs and requiring stronger participation of private stakeholders, ensuring data collection and usage are embedded at regional and local management levels.
Policy efforts focus on the long-term development and continuous expansion of tourism data, including ensuring sustainable financing for data collection and strengthening the methodological coherence of data acquisition and interpretation across different sources. Pilot projects on mobile network data and visitor mobility have provided opportunities for more accurate estimates of domestic tourism flows.