A popular European city break destination known for hosting stag dos is trying to shake its reputation of being a party hotspot by introducing a new daily ban.
Prague is renowned for its wide selection of cheap beers, attracting a whopping 7.4 million guests in 2023, many of whom are there more for the drinks than the culture.
Now, the city is trying to move away from this and attract “more cultured” and “wealthier” visitors who will appreciate it for more than just its alcohol-based entertainment.
Councillors have banned organised pub crawls and drinking tours between the hours of 10pm and 6am every day.
Jiri Pospisil, one of the Czech capital’s deputy mayors, said: “[We’re] seeking a more cultured, wealthier tourist … not one who comes for a short time only to get drunk.”
Prague has already banned “beer bikes” and, in April, a councillor called for fancy dress outfits that “exceed generally acceptable social conventions” to be banned.
Before the pandemic, it was the most popular destination for British stag dos, much to the exasperation of locals and city officials.
Vaclav Starek, head of the Czech Association of Hotels and Restaurants, highlighted the problem organised bar crawls caused and welcomed this new daily ban.
He told AFP: “Trips to the centre in search of beer have been a problem for local people and for other tourists too.
“I don’t think this will hurt our sales. Nobody will be banned from going to a pub but these nightly organised crawls … are nothing we would need.”
Prague joining the European Union and the emergence of budget airlines has caused it to become inundated with British tourists seeking a cheap party holiday over the past 20 years.
A study found that it ranked fourth in a list of European cities offering the most stag do offers from travel agents, after Barcelona, Riga, and Budapest.
Last year, it recorded the highest amount of beer drunk per head of population in the world, coming in at a staggering 128 litres; and this was even with a decline since Covid.
