Military operations in Ukraine and the ban on entry of Russian tourists to the Czech Republic have led to a decrease in tourism among Russians to Karlovy Vary. Mayor Andrea Pfeffer-Ferklova told Aktuálně.cz that the spa industry in Karlovy Vary is “dying”.
“I would associate this not only with the departure of Russians, but with the exit of SPA customers. if we can’t find a new one [клиентуру]then the spa industry will die completely. There were hotels that were 100% dependent on customers coming for treatment,” he said.
He said the decline in tourist flow began after the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 2014. But the peak came with the coronavirus epidemic and then the war in Ukraine,” he said.
Aktuálně.cz argues that no other Czech city has been more affected by the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine than Karlovy Vary.
In 2022, a record number of tourists visited the city from European countries, including the Czech Republic, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. But as the newspaper noted, it was the Russians who came for the traditional spa treatment that could last for weeks. European tourists, on the other hand, come to the resort only on the weekend. As a result, some sanatoriums had to close, while others had to adapt to shorter visits by Western tourists.
According to Josef Dlohosz, director of the municipal information center, Russians spent a total of about 350,000 nights in Karlovy Vary hotels in the first three quarters of 2019 and just 10,000 nights in the same period of 2022.
“Of course we do not support Russia. But the spa industry can no longer survive without the Russians,” he said.
Real estate of citizens of the Russian Federation
Russians in Karlovy Vary owned real estate and made up most of the customers of local resorts. But the article says that now real estate listings can be found on almost every street in the city, and luxury stores that previously “trusted wealthy Russian buyers” were empty and closed.
According to local media reports, a significant part of the buildings in the historical center of Karlovy Vary belong to the Russians. In particular, Elena Baturina, the widow of the former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, was the owner of the Quisisana Palace spa hotel, located in the center of the resort. She is not working now.
Aktuálně writes that the Felix Zavoisky Hotel, which has hosted members of wealthy Russian families for more than a decade, has become a “haunted house” since hostilities broke out in Ukraine.
“A city that understands Russians”
To attract Russian-speaking tourists to Karlovy Vary, local authorities organized a campaign called “A City That Understands You”. It caused a scandal in December 2022, and opposition members of the city council and some of the public thought its slogan was vague in light of the armed conflict in Ukraine.
The city government argued that the ad targeted Russians who have been living abroad for a long time in Germany, but also in other Western European countries, Israel and the United States.
“We do not direct our ads to Russians from Russia at war with Ukraine, but to Russians who have long lived in Western Europe and are moving away from Russia. But their phones and emails are still in Cyrillic,” said Josef Dlogosh.
The organizers of the campaign decided to remove the advertising slogan “I understand you”. The mayor of the city agreed that this slogan was not entirely appropriate.
“We have completely removed the slogan. But the manager of the city information center said, “Come here for treatment, we will continue to speak Russian with you, and our product is exactly what you are looking for.”
Piotr Kulganek, hetman of the Karlovy Vary Region, was more categorical about the advertising campaign, calling his first slogan “madness”.
“I think it’s totally obscene to invite such clients no matter where they live right now,” Deník told N. “The whole campaign is completely inappropriate. It makes Karlovy Vary the only city in the world that understands Russians, apart from totalitarian regimes.”
Attempts to realign
For the next year, city officials set the task of attracting tourists “accustomed to spending money on their health” to apply for services. According to the mayor, they plan to focus on tourists from the USA, Israel and Arab countries.
“We will have to change our approach and deviate a little from tradition. People don’t like just sitting in the bathroom anymore. We will have to find more active activities,” says Pfeffer-Ferklova.
The director of the city information center believes that “the renaissance of Karlovy Vary will come,” but admits that this will not be achieved immediately.
After the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, the Czech Republic supported Kiev and imposed sanctions on Russia. From October 25, 2022, the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs banned Russians with tourist Schengen visas from entering the republic.
According to the news based on a research by RBC, almost 60 percent of Russians who go abroad for the New Year holidays prefer CIS countries and neighboring countries. Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Thailand were popular countries to visit.