Cultural tourism after COVID-19: first findings

Keywords: cultural tourism, COVID-19 pandemic, future trends, Czechia
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 08:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 09:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 39

Abstract

The article presents and discusses visible effects of the CORONA 19 pandemic on cultural tourism in Czechia, Europe. The pandemic has surely caused or accelerated, certain changes. Mainly urban destinations focusing on foreign tourists (e.g. Prague) were affected by the situation. However, despite the significant decline in tourism as an industry, the seeds of positive changes can be traced. For example, domestic tourists have discovered the appeal of the rural regions of their homeland. The trend has started to evolve from mass tourism to a more individual one. The decline of workforce in tourism will likely result in the increase of more self-service forms of activities. Even though e-tourism cannot replace real experiences, it will contribute to a more deliberate selection of tourist destinations and services. Therefore, investing in an infrastructure of higher quality should be a priority. The latest observations show that the main obstacle is insufficient cooperation among local stakeholders, such as entrepreneurs, public administration or individual government departments. Czechia´s fundamental drawback is the lack of clear distinction of whether culture tourism falls into the economic sector or the cultural sphere.

This contribution is supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870644, project SPOT (Social and innovative Platform On cultural Tourism and its potential towards deepening Europeanisation), https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/870644.