Large congress hotels, organizers of exhibitions and fairs, and the Prague Palace Žofín, which feeds balls and congresses, will not survive next year without help. The Ministry of Industry and Trade is now seeking help quickly.
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“This year’s season is practically stopped from March 12. Only the councils of Prague 1 take place here, and since September dance courses in chamber form have been held in a small hall. The only event this year was perhaps only the Winemaker of the Year. But what’s worse, the events ordered for January next year are already being canceled. The screws are tightened every day. When it is now clear what awaits us, I am skeptical, “said Jan Hrubý, long-term operations director of the Žofín Palace; dominants of Prague, where over 30 balls are held annually and has also become the place of the last farewell to Karel Gott or Waldemar Matuška.
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Sales fell 80 percent
The business director of Žofín, this national cultural monument, Petr Denk points out that the events of the past days and new measures have brought all the organizers of major events in Prague to their knees. Without foreign visitors, large congresses and conferences, and now without Czech organizers, many will not survive the next six months.
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“If there is no form of support, the whole of Prague will fall. Not only us, event agencies, a number of hotels that feed congresses, conferences and gala evenings just like us. If we survive and can, say, function normally from May, it will take five years to reach the pre-pandemic level, “says Director Denk, listing other victims of the pandemic:” Fatal is the current development and measures for The Prague Congress Center, networks of congress hotels, such as Clarion, Mr. Sivek’s hotels, ABF, exhibition and trade fair organizers. “
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According to the newly founded Centrum života, which maps the damage to the economy of the metropolis center and comes up with proposals for solutions, the occupancy of all Prague hotels dropped significantly by approximately 70% in the first days of September, and sales even increased by 80% compared to 2019.
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Another help program
The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic (MIT) is going to answer the call for a lifebuoy. Programs that were supposed to help with the spring strangulation are not enough for the impending apocalypse.
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“We continuously deal with the support of organizers of public events, including entities that organize, for example, conferences, congresses, trade fairs, etc. They can get help from existing programs, such as COVID-Rent or COVID-Culture. For the latter program, the deadline for submitting applications under the 1st call has been extended to the end of September, “said Martina Tauberová, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade for Foreign Relations and the EU.
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She told the editors that they were really planning more help. “We are preparing the second call in the COVID-Culture program, which should also respond to the suggestions of the organizers of public events so that more entities can draw support. It is almost every day, there are many entities operating in the area, and finding a compromise solution so that the approach to all business entities is equal and transparent is not easy at all, “admits the deputy, adding that once the conditions are agreed , a new call will be published on the MIT website.
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