The Observer
25.08.19 21ents into posing for outrageous pic-
tures at city landmarks, according to
Prague 1 municipality, which joined
one such tour. Tourists were pictured
clambering on to outsize statues of
babies designed by the Czech artist
David Černý in Kampa Park and pour-
ing beer into the mouths of two male
fi gurines in the courtyard of the Franz
Kafka museum.
The authority scrutinised the tour
after complaints that people had uri-
nated on a statue unveiled in 2014
by Sir Nicholas Soames, Winston
Churchill’s grandson , to honour
Czechoslovakian pilots who fought
with the RAF in the Battle of Britain.
During the tour, some participants
were observed writing obscene slo-
gans on the Lennon Wall , owned by
the Sovereign Order of Malta , which
afterwards fi led a criminal complaint.
Residents say such activity has
made living conditions intolera-
ble. “I remember this square being
a quiet area where you would rarely
meet anyone, let alone a tourist,” said
Karolina Peake , 43 , a lawyer who has
lived her entire life in a house near
the wall.
“Ever since the wall became part
of the tourist and Baedeker circuit, it
has become a bit of a nightmare, and
in the last fi ve years it has become
unbearable. A lot of drunk tourists
are coming and acting like they have
conquered the place rather than just
One result will be an informa-
tion campaign of dos and don’ts on
Instagram, which could include pic-
tures of some of the most notorious
acts of misbehaviour being used in
pixelated form to advise visitors of
what to avoid. Posters have already
been placed on the Prague metro
warning visitors about the need to
keep quiet in the streets after 10pm
and that failure to comply could result
in a €400 fi ne.
City-centre residents are being
offi cially “encouraged” by Prague 1
municipality to report disturbances
from Airbnb properties and other
short-term rentals to the police, ena-
bling the authority to fi ne the owners.
Meanwhile, pub-crawl and alco-
hol-based walking-tour companies
will come under greater scrutiny for
infractions, such as failing to offer
customers receipts – as required by
Czech law – or to check if they are
over 18.
Bars cooperating with pub crawls
will face increased inspection on
health and safety matters, like
whether they are exceeding capacity,
said Čižinský, who added: “We will
have to be tougher ... I do not consider
the negotiations very successful.”
Despite that verdict, Prague is the
envy of Budapest, a city of compa-
rable architectural distinction that
shares its communist legacy and
new-found problems with tourism.
“What I see from Budapest is that
tourism in Prague is managed a lot
better,” said Daniel Nemet, a de facto
nightlife mayor of the Hungarian cap-
ital, working under a private associ-
ation of about 50 business owners.
“We have many of the same problems,
we have two budget fl ights arriving
from London every day. But Prague
is ahead of Budapest in appointing
an official night mayor, providing
information on what to do and not
to do and generally being proactive.
Budapest could learn a lot from it.”Catalan capital that tourists have
supplanted immigrants as targets of
hostility – pithily expressed in the
slogan “Tourists go home, immigrants
welcome” , which began to appear on
walls in the city in 2017.
Protesters have since marched
chanting “Barcelona is not for sale”
and “We will not be driven out”, as a
familiar pattern of budget fl ights and
the rising availability of Airbnb rentals
has brought a welter of short-term
visitors to the city , threatening totrigger an exodus of locals from
traditional neighbourhoods.
Called tourism-phobia by the
Spanish media, the sentiment
confounds the economic reality that
tourists spent an estimated €30bn,
according to 2017 fi gures.Amsterdam
Th e authorities have become
so concerned about the eff ects
of a certain type of tourist who
visits the city in order “to partyexcessively without regard for the
consequences” that they have
launched a video as part of an “ Enjoy
and Respect ” campaign.
Th e video targets young men
aged 18 to 34, from the Netherlands
and UK, who, it says, engage in
behaviour that creates “annoyance
for locals and business owners
and makes ... parts of the city
less liveable ”. With more than
17 million visitors a year – including
day-trippers – Amsterdam municipaloffi cials have moved to curb other
excesses, including the growth of
hotels, souvenir shops, ticket sales
outlets and cheese shops.Palma de Mallorca
Authorities in the capital of Spain’s
Balearic islands voted last year
to ban almost all short-term
holiday rentals in private fl ats,
such as Airbnb , after complaints
from locals that the phenomenon
had triggered a surge in rents.Residents had also protested that
short-term renters were behaving
disrespectfully and paying little heed
to local norms.
Palma is one of several European
cities that have been driven to drastic
action on holiday rentals. Th is year,
10 European cities wrote to the
European Commission requesting
its support for their fi ght against the
“explosive growth” of short-term
letting platforms.
Robert TaitLEFT
A tour group at
Prague’s ninth-
century castle.
Visitor numbers
reached nearly 8
million this year.
ReutersLEFT
A beer-bike tour,
one of many
alcohol-related
activities, offers
unlimited Czech
beer. Alamythey left without imposing fi nes or
making arrests.
Such scenes are familiar to Peake.
“I’ve remonstrated with tourists and
some have been apologetic, but the
guides have been aggressive and con-
frontational,” she said. “They see the
residents as a threat to their business.
Unfortunately Prague has become a
bit of an Eldorado for these type of
tour groups.”
The sometimes-obscene graffiti
defacing the Lennon Wall has spread
to neighbouring properties and
sometimes even cars. “It’s pure van-
dalism,” she added.
One particularly ugly piece of van-
dalism last month prompted city
authorities to up the ante , when graf-
fi ti was sprayed on the 600-year- old
Charles Bridge. Two German tourists
were fi ned and ordered to pay res-
toration costs. The graffi ti was later
removed by a Czech man acting alone
and without authorisation.Tourists from Germany made up the
highest proportion of visitors to
Prague with 13.9% in 2017GermanyUSASouth KoreaSlovakiaUKRussiaItalyFrancePolandChina914477300288404389323234225285The number of people visiting
Prague between 2012 and 2017
rose by 1.9 million02468m2012 2013 2014 2015 20162017Prague tourism
Source: Prague City TourismTop ten visitors from abroad, thousandsvisiting. They have no respect for the
fact that there are people living here- and it’s making people reconsider
whether they want to continue living
in a place where their families have
been for generations.”
B
ack on the tour that the
Observer and the local
councillor joined, peo-
ple on the Prague Pub
Crawl were led down
Celetná Street , once
the route of ancient Bohemian kings,
to a nearby establishment that offered
an open bar for two hours before the
tour was taken to a series of other
pubs on a crawl that lasted into the
small hours.
As the group wound from bar to
bar, being greeted at each venue
with a free “welcome drink” of cheap
vodka, residents could be seen closing
their windows – despite warm sum-
mer temperatures – against the ris-
ing din. The commotion grew louder
as the night wore on. At no point did
a tour guide ask the group to keep
the noise down, despite local laws
demanding quiet in residential areas
after 10pm.
Indeed, there appeared to be lit-
tle fear of the law. At the corner of
Rybná and Benediksta Streets – near
the heart of Prague’s infamous “party
district” – a woman vomited copi-
ously, oblivious to a police station justyards away. She eventually required
fi rst aid, administered by the coun-
cillor. Outside a bar on 28 October
Street, near Wenceslas Square , a cou-
ple lay smoking fl at on their backs,
while others on the pub crawl milled
raucously around them.
Only after the councillor – who
requested anonymity – called the
police did offi cers arrive to tell the
pub crawlers to quieten down. But