Čedok Travel Agency
A well-known brand among all travelers is Čedok: the oldest Czech travel agency that has been operating in the market since 1920. Have you ever wondered where the first office was located, what services it provided to its customers, what lesser-known destinations it introduced us to, and when the very first catalog was published? Additionally, where can you journey with Chedok today?
The travel agency Čedok began its journey in November 1919 in humble beginnings, yet the location was quite impressive: the Information Office, which originally catered to tourists visiting Prague, was situated on the busy Hybernska Street, right across from the iconic Powder Tower. By the summer of 1920, this office evolved into a full-fledged Czechoslovak Travel and Transport Agency. The main office remained on Hybernska street, while branches expanded to places like Brno, Karlovy Vary, Františkovy Lázně, and Bratislava. Just two years later, locations were added in Austria, France, Germany, and the UK. The acronym Chedoc came into use in 1926.
Čedok: “Your journey – our concern”
During the First Republic era, Chedok utilized Praga luxury coaches to transport the first hundreds of Czech tourists to the previously obscure and hard-to-reach Dalmatian coast of the Adriatic. The preferred destinations included the northern Adriatic resorts near Trieste, particularly the island of Grado and the elegant Opatija Art Nouveau Spa close to Rijeka.
Besides Yugoslavia, trips were also organized to Italy’s Lido in Venice and the island of Capri near Naples, as well as France and Scandinavia. Chedok also arranged cruises on the Danube and Mediterranean, reaching as far as Egypt and Morocco. It was one of the pioneering travel agencies in Europe to take its clients through the Alpine passes in Austria and Switzerland. For those who couldn’t afford long vacations, there were many shorter trips to the mountains or spa destinations. Round-trip journeys to places like the Krkonoše Mountains, Štrbské Pleso, or Subcarpathian Russia became particularly popular.
In the mid-1920s, Čedok published its first complete catalog of group tours titled Our Travels, available for order from twenty-one branches. The agency offered not just transportation, lodgings, and meals, but also its own traveler’s checks, ticket sales, banking services, and even operated movie theaters. In 1939, Čedok provided its trains to Sir Nicholas Winton, who managed to rescue 669 mostly Jewish children from occupied Czechoslovakia, saving them from being sent to concentration camps.
The world’s oldest travel agency
Establishing the travel agency was a challenge after Czechoslovakia was founded: the travel market inherited from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire was mainly controlled by foreign firms. A major competitor was the travel giant Wagon-lits, which offered well-organized trips across Europe using both lounge and sleeper train carriages, in addition to Cook Travel Agency. Founded by Baptist minister Thomas Cook (1808-1892), this agency is considered the oldest travel agency worldwide. Its story began in July 1841, with a trip organized for 500 passengers attending a teetotalers’ meeting from Leicester to Loughborough.
Travel as a drug: Don’t drink, but travel and explore
By 1845, Cook arranged the first standard tour to Liverpool followed by a European sightseeing tour. His philosophy saw travel as a lifestyle choice that could steer individuals away from alcohol. His advice to his customers was, Don’t drink, but travel and discover. Although Thomas Cook & Son was not formally established until 1872, it introduced numerous innovations and experiences to the travel sector, like a 222-day global journey, restaurant bookings, and itineraries complete with detailed activities. The company even managed to serve as the official carrier for sports enthusiasts during the inaugural modern Olympics in Athens in 1896. The family maintained ownership of the firm until 1928, when Thomas Cook’s grandsons sold it to a Belgian enterprise. The agency faced constant ownership changes afterward and eventually went bankrupt in 2019.
Čedok in the past…
Chedok wasn’t spared hard times either: it was nationalized in 1948 and experienced many structural transformations. During the previous regime, it was required to promote travel options to countries behind the Iron Curtain, focusing primarily on destinations like Bulgaria, Hungary, and the Soviet Union, while domestic tours consisted mainly of spa excursions and leisure activities for workers. Clients had to wait until 1954 for the next catalog to be released, and during this time, various specialized travel agencies began to appear, such as CKM or Youth Travel Agency, Rekrea, Balnea, Sportturist, and Autoturist, which was aimed at members of the Automobile Club.
By the end of the 1980s, Chedok boasted 166 domestic offices and 20 abroad, employed 21,000 people, and managed more than 200 hotels featuring 23,000 beds, alongside 265 restaurants, numerous ski facilities, and even five cable cars. The company also contributed to the construction of modern establishments in Prague, including the Prague Forum and Atrium hotels, currently known as Corinthia Hotel and the Hilton.
…and what Čedok is today
Shortly after November 1989 and the easing of border restrictions, Čedok began organizing one-day coach trips to border towns in Austria and Bavaria. However, it wasn’t until several years later that it regained its status as a significant player in the Czech tourism industry. This was hardly surprising; after so many decades, the entire world opened up to local travelers, and Čedok’s competition ballooned from just eight agencies to more than a thousand private travel firms.
Today, Čedok is a stable part of the Czech economy and has the largest network of branches among domestic travel agencies. It organizes tours to fifty countries across five continents, publishes many catalogs, and stays current with the latest travel trends. Čedok offers not just excellent destinations with a wide range of top-notch services, but also combinations of sports activities, evening entertainment, children’s programs, and our own direct connections to both European and distant exotic locations. Additionally, Čedok supports transportation and services for national sports teams, their partners, and fans attending the Olympic Games and other events. In the TOP 100 poll, it consistently ranks as one of the top 100 companies in the Czech Republic and has received the Best Travel Agency in the Czech Republic award from the prestigious TTG Travel Awards survey of tourism professionals multiple times.
