PRAGUE IS LOOKING to ban night-time pub crawls organised by travel agencies so that the city can target “more cultured” tourists.

It will mean guided tours from from bar to bar may no longer be able to operate in the Czech capital between 10pm and 6am , according to Czech media. It does not affect regular tour groups.

The Czech capital of 1.3 million people has for a long time been a popular destination for noisy stag parties and pub crawlers, largely from Britain.

But Prague’s city councillors have backed the ban in a bid to change the tourist hotspot’s image.

Deputy mayor Jiri Pospisil said local politicians were “seeking a more cultured, wealthier tourist” and “not one who comes for a short time only to get drunk”.

Foreign beer lovers have for years flocked to the Czech Republic where beer is still cheaper than water in some restaurants.

Vaclav Starek, head of the Czech Association of Hotels and Restaurants, hailed the council’s decision.

“Trips to the centre in search of beer have been a problem for local people and for other tourists too,” he told AFP.

“I don’t think this will hurt our sales. Nobody will be banned from going to a pub but these nightly organised pub crawls… are nothing we would need.”

Travel agent and stag and hen organiser Simon Old doesn’t think the move will deter stags and hens from heading to Prague.

“It’s a bit of a half-hearted ban to stop pub crawls from 10 pm,” said Old, who arranges Prague visits for UK stag and hen party providers Stag Web and Go Hen.

He accused the city of “trying to have their cake and eat it” given it has “profited for years on its reputation” as a destination for stag and hen parties.

“Whilst they’re well within their rights to try and curb anti-social behaviour, people will just do their own pub crawls or do them earlier on, ” Old said.

Contains reporting from © AFP 2024