CzechTourism has hosted a weekend-long travel and trade convention in Ostrava, the country’s third-largest city and a former industrial powerhouse that has been transformed into a vibrant modern base for heritage, hiking and gastronomy.
Attended by nearly 200 domestic and international tour operators, guides, and journalists, the programme from 25-28 April 2025 took delegates to the east of the Czech Republic, with itineraries focused on gastronomy, active tourism, and culture. Led by local guides from the Moravian-Silesian region, guests were introduced to the Beskydy mountains by cable car to see a statue of a local pagan god, as well as participating in hikes, golf, and even a bobsleigh run – good activities to work off hearty Czech fare that featured duck, salmon, cheese, dumplings, noodles, and local honey cake from the Marlenka bakery.
Accommodation under the spotlight included the extraordinary Miura Art Hotel, with picture window views of the foothills, and original artworks by Warhol, Damien Hirst, and Basquiat. Major hotels in Ostrava with conference facilities, such as the Mercure and Clarion Congress also played host.
Participants were also led into the heart of Ostrava’s former coal and iron industry, venturing inside a 25-metre tall, decommissioned Soviet-era blast furnace, into the working lives of the region’s miners, and finishing proceedings with a gala performance and dinner at Gong, an award-winning venue inside the former gasworks, where dancers and aerial artists performed accompanied by the Ostrava Philharmonic Orchestra.
At a media conference, František Reismüller, director of CzechTourism, shared figures about the sector’s recovery since the COVID-19 pandemic. Germany, Poland and the Baltics are the biggest source markets, and Prague remains the country’s most visited destination, with just under nine million visitors in 2024 — a rise of 8.6% since 2023. In terms of regional growth, the spotlighted Moravian-Silesian region ranks around seventh, with 2.3% more visitors in 2024 than the year before, for a total of just over one million.
Pressed on Prague’s success and stories of overtourism, Reismüller said he would never discourage people from visiting the Czech capital, which is still a bucket-list destination for travellers from all over the world. Speaking exclusively to Travel Tomorrow, he highlighted Czechia’s drive to extend visitors’ stays by inviting them to discover the country beyond Prague and the excellent value for money on offer. “One thing is to increase the foreign visitors themselves,” he said because “ foreigners spend more, so that’s how you bring more money in.” But he acknowledged that “you can’t do that with all tourists. Visitors from Asia have limited time, but you can do it with Europeans. And that is why we are holding events like this to show off the regions.”
The rebranding of “the Czech Republic” as Czechia, is an ongoing process, he said, especially for English-speaking tourists, but it’s just a matter of time for people to become accustomed to the shorter name. At the same time, he noted the variety at play in Czechia, with culture, golf, hiking, nature, and industrial heritage all within easy reach. Ostrava, within his living memory, was “synonymous with air pollution, heavy industry, like the black heart of Czechia and now it’s a vibing cultural city, and the nature around it is very beautiful. We have everything,” he said.
