Enhancing Tourism in Prague and Czechia: Leveraging Advanced Data for Optimal Management by Prague City Tourism and CzechTourism
The collaboration between CzechTourism and Prague City Tourism marks a significant milestone in the movement toward data-driven tourism in the Czech Republic. For the first time, a comprehensive tool is being created to connect anonymised data on payments, airline usage, and visitor behavior. This innovative approach allows for real-time monitoring of tourism, enabling better planning and marketing, as well as responsive actions to current trends in visitor behavior.
“We are thrilled that the City of Prague has partnered with CzechTourism to access such advanced data through an open competition. This information will help us develop tourism in the city more effectively, in line with our strategy of sustainable and culturally focused tourism. We believe that this initiative will contribute to a more balanced and sophisticated tourism experience in Prague,” states Councillor for Culture and Tourism Tomáš Slabihoudek.
“For CzechTourism, utilizing such detailed data marks a major shift in our approach to tourism management. It’s not just about counting visitors; it’s about deeply understanding who visits Czechia, when they come, how long they stay, and their spending behaviors. This insight will enable more focused marketing, enhance the economic benefits of tourism, and promote a balanced distribution of visitors throughout the region,” explains František Reismüller, Director of the Czech Tourist Authority – CzechTourism.
“Through this collaborative procurement of a challenging contract, we will gain access to invaluable data regarding traveler behavior, both behavioral and economic,” remarks Jana Adamcová, Vice President of Prague City Tourism. “This tool will empower us to manage our destination more effectively and adapt to changing trends. It will also provide valuable benchmarks against other major cities.”
Experts agree that data is essential for smart, sustainable tourism management in Prague and its regions. It will help us understand visitor demographics, interests, and spending patterns, ultimately allowing for a more effective response to both tourist needs and destination requirements.
Utilizing this data will support key goals in the capital’s tourism strategy, including targeting high-value clientele, easing tourist traffic out of conservation areas, enhancing customer experience, and more accurately predicting traveler numbers with data on air capacity and bookings. Over time, this data will also integrate with the upcoming My Prague app, which will serve as a smart guide and help manage tourism in real time.
From Analysis to Predictions and International Comparison
“An important advantage is our ability to better predict future trends, such as air accessibility and visitor interests. This will enable us to plan capacity, tourism development, and investments collaboratively with regional and national partners, promoting a more even distribution of visitors over time and space. We will gather concrete data to strengthen the Czech Republic’s position in the international tourism market in the long run,” adds Petr Janeček, head of the Institute of Tourism at CzechTourism.
The agreement with Mastercard grants access to the Mastercard Tourism Insights analytical tool, which draws from ten key markets—including Poland, the USA, the UK, and Germany. These aggregated, anonymised data will allow comparisons with other major destinations like Vienna and Berlin, all while adhering to GDPR guidelines.
This four-year contract enables access to anonymised data from key source markets. The cutting-edge analytical tool will provide visual trend insights and ongoing reports. Developing such a comprehensive contract took about a year and a half and was awarded to Mastercard Europe SA through an open tender at a cost of €790,000.
“We are proud that Prague and CzechTourism are among the innovative destinations recognizing the vital role of quality data for informed decision-making. Advanced data analytics is crucial for tourism management, and we are excited to be part of this transformative process. The long-term vision of both organizations to integrate data into every key area—from tracking visitor trends to strategy development and evaluating marketing activities—will also help optimize public fund use,” concludes Jana Lvová, General Manager of Mastercard for the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
