August 12, 2007
Party Capital Heaves Sigh of Relief
- Except for Strippers
Prague
A young stripper wearing braids and a skimpy black outfit has a
bored, blank stare as she sits slouched on the backrest of a
chocolate-brown leather club chair.
While only two years ago her workplace - a dim red-lit strip club in
the historical heart of Prague - would be already crowded with
British revellers, during last week its high-heeled personnel
clearly outnumbered the clients.
"This summer is the worst in the history of this establishment,"
grumbles its tanned owner on condition of anonymity. "Two years
ago", he adds, "you would have a hard time making your way to the
toilets."
Prague became a hotspot for rowdy Brits celebrating the passage from
bachelorhood to matrimony soon after budget airlines first landed at
this charming city five years ago.
But as cheap airlines have been swiftly opening up new destinations
across the continent, including the former Eastern bloc, the
boozed-up British partygoers have followed.
In 2006 the British, at 566,225 visitors, safely ranked as the
second-largest group visiting the Czech Republic. At the same time
though the number was down by 13.6 percent on the year before - the
sharpest drop in any of the 10 top visiting nations.
Tourism analysts believe that the British bachelor parties - the
stag dos and their female hen counterparts - account for the
downturn.
"We welcome the ebb of this kind of tourism," says Tomio Okamura,
spokesman for the Association of Czech Travel Agencies. "We don't
want alcohol and girls to form the image of Prague."
At Caffrey's, an Irish pub on the historical Old Town Square and
once a stag and hen favourite watering hole, the staff heaves a sigh
of relief this season, despite smaller sales and tips.
"I am glad but my boss may not be," quips bartender Tomas Kaplan.
Now the pub attracts families that would have been put off by the
rowdy revellers. "Nobody calls you names. Nobody takes a leak in the
corner. Nobody runs around naked," Kaplan lists the benefits.
But not everyone enjoys the ebb.
Hotels that had accommodated several groups each weekend only two
years ago say the numbers are down by half. "We would gladly take
them, if they were to come," says Zuzana Krahulikova, bookings head
at Hotel Olsanka.
The strip club owner has also seen the stag business reduced by
half.
Only a year ago, he had the club's sprawling basement premises
turned into an Irish pub complete with washable green wallpaper.
"Now we almost never open it," he gestures at the bar, which smells
of fresh wood rather then of spilled liquor. He is gratified that
half of his strippers left for beach resorts to pull themselves over
the summer slack.
Meanwhile, Prague Pissup, a stag-party tour operator with branches
in Tallinn, Bratislava, Budapest and Warsaw, which brings anywhere
between 35 and 70 groups to those Eastern European cities each
weekend, plans to expand its offerings to make up for the Prague
decline.
Trailing low-cost airlines to new corners, the firm is to add Berlin
and Split this year and Sophia and Bucharest the next. "The more
places you offer, better it will be," says co-founder Tom Kenyon
because "groups go everywhere."
The Prague business has been down 10 percent this year and some
eight percent the year before, he adds. But he is far from worried.
"As long as you can buy five beers in Prague for a price of one in
London they will come," he says with a cheerful yet slightly
malicious laugh.
Boloji.com is owned and managed by Boloji Media Inc Privacy Policy |
Disclaimer
No part of this Internet site may
be reproduced without prior written permission of the copyright holder.
