Prague joins other European cities specifically targeting young tourists whose primary activity is heavy drinking and rowdy behavior.
Bachelor and bachelorette parties headed to the Czech capital will face new restrictions on pub crawls as the city government there has plans to ban them in a bid to improve quality of life for local residents in the city center.
Local officials announced this week that organized pub crawls will be banned between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., hoping to avoid disturbances in the middle of the night for local residents. Many tour operators organize tour packages which include pub crawls for bachelor and bachelorette parties traveling as a group.
The groups, many originating in the United Kingdom, where the parties are called “stag” and “hen” parties, have risen in popularity in recent years as budget airlines have made travel to European capitals much cheaper. The behavior of these groups has been called out as a particular annoyance to cities like Prague, which have long enjoyed a vibrant pub and brewery culture, but have found themselves swamped with groups of young tourists, many wearing outlandish costumes.
Prague’s deputy mayor told BBC News that he wanted the city to become a place where “refinement and respect for shared public space are a priority”.
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It’s worth noting that organized pub crawls will still be allowed earlier in the evening, and visitors will still be permitted to undertake pub crawls on their own at any hour.
Prague joins other cities like Amsterdam in specifically targeting young tourists whose primary activity is heavy drinking and rowdy behavior. The Dutch capital recently rolled out a series of ads targeted to British internet users searching for pub crawls, stag parties, or other keywords. The ads warned that young tourists seeking a “messy night” could wind up in jail.
Countrywide, the Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, is also looking to curb some of the effects of overtourism. A draft bill approved by the government in August would allow cities to limit the number of short-term Airbnb-style vacation rentals available. Such rentals have snapped up residential accommodations in sought-after areas, driving rents in historic city centers higher. The draft bill would also impose stricter regulations, including licensing and tax collection, for the remaining units, which up until now have operated in a gray area without the same regulation and taxation as hotels and other forms of accommodation.
City officials estimate that 40% to 70% of stays booked through sites like Airbnb are not reported for tax purposes, resulting in €32 million in uncollected tax revenue each year.
In July, officials also banned cars from entering the Old Town district of Prague in an effort to reduce overnight noise. Vehicles are prohibited from entering the historic district during the same hours as the proposed ban on organized pub crawls.
Prague is hardly the only European city grappling with how to balance the demands of booking numbers of tourists with the quality of life for city residents. In many cities, residents have begun to forcefully push back on the tourism industry writ large—sometimes even confronting tourists directly. Rome is considering entry barriers (and timed entry tickets) to the popular Trevi Fountain, while officials on Santorini are pondering whether to further restrict the flow of cruise passengers by levying a tourism tax.
Prague, with a population of 1.3 million, welcomed 7.4 million tourists in 2023. The city’s historic district is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with popular attractions including Old Town Square and notable 14th Century architecture including Prague Castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, and the Charles Bridge.
