<TITLE: Applications of Economics: Czech Republic's Economy and Entrepreneurial Environment
ACADEMIC DOMAIN: economics and administration
DISCIPLINE: economics
EVENT TYPE: seminar presentation
FILE ID: USEMP08A
NOTES: continuation of ULEC070, continued in USEMD170, seminar also includes presentation USEMP08B

RECORDING DURATION: 16 min 51 sec

RECORDING DATE: 25.4.2006

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 8

NUMBER OF SPEAKERS: 3

S1: NATIVE-SPEAKER STATUS: Czech; ACADEMIC ROLE: senior staff; GENDER: male; AGE: 51-over

S4: NATIVE-SPEAKER STATUS: Czech; ACADEMIC ROLE: undergraduate; GENDER: male; AGE: 24-30

S5: NATIVE-SPEAKER STATUS: Czech; ACADEMIC ROLE: undergraduate; GENDER: female; AGE: 17-23

SS: several simultaneous speakers>


<S4> <USING POWERPOINT> (xx) okay so good afternoon everybody let me introduce myself and my colleague so my name is <NAME S4> and my colleague <NAME S5> and we would like to present today erm something about czech tourism </S4>
<S5> because er as you could hear today and also yesterday so almost er the basic facts about czech republic economy was already said so we decided to speak a little bit more about one of the most one of the most one of the main resource of our economy which is er tourism because we also study that so we just would like to show you some facts and statistics about tourism in the czech republic , so as i said er czech tourism is very important resource of our er economy and here could see some facts about that so for example in there is er one statistic in 1999 it was still er like passive tourism so we can really say that (xx) different [between that (and)] </S5>
<S4> [er] we have to speak about the two parts of tourism which is (er) passive tourism and active er tourism passive tourism means that czech people are travelling abroad which means that it it doesn't bring any money for our economy so we don't need to take care about the passive tourism for us it's more important active tourism which means that czech people stay in the czech republic and spend their holidays in the czech republic and er foreigners come to the czech republic and also bring money into our economy so this is the different between active and passive tourism </S4>
<S5> <COUGH> well and er first er big boom of tourism you can see because now it starts to be active tourism it was in 2000 and (part) as you could see was er that number's like erm er 0.7 in er er US dollars profit and for example in 2004 it was er for our tourism were was very successful because it's grow very rapid very big and er er for example in comparison in 2003 er it was like er almost er by ten per cent so now it's growing and growing and here are some statistics that for example er czech tourism's er create seven per cent er of GDP also 14 per cent of of total export and like ten per cent of er people are er employed in the czech tourism , well and there's some more facts about that so here is <COUGH> statistics that er almost like one hundred thousand million er people crossed the border of czech republic also as i said this was very successful year and er these statistics are or they are like con- connected with the history of czech republic as you know before 1989 it wasn't er we didn't have many possibilities to travel abroad but er from that time after 90s it started to be er successful for tourism and er postmod- post-communist countries er became er targets of tourist tourists so that's why this boom of tourisms after 1989 and er we don't have only like sightseeing tourisms but also very famous shopping tourisms which is connected er as our professor said er that er still for many people like especially neighbours like people from austria and germany er go to our country for shopping because it's quite cheap for them and so this one and also like congress tourism and spa tourism and (this all this all this) and er , here er the average duration of stay of tourisms is er 4.3 days and er the one tourist spends er approximately like 1,015 o- 1,115 euros per day but er still er [this is] </S5>
<S1> [one hundred] [115 euros] </S1>
<S5> [oh sorry yes] i'm sorry <S1> [@@] </S1> [@@] thank you okay and but still it's er maybe we would prefer more because see that al- almost like 70 per cent of tourists just go and just stay one day which we would prefer like more days and we should improve and also er like 70 foreigners stay only in prague and also we should need to spread our tourism also like all over the country not only to prague and here you can (see) some statistic that like 95 per cent of people come by car train like three per cent and (last) by plane just two per cent so here are just some statistic about that and now </S5>
<S4> okay then we would like to speak more about erm some positive and negative factors we tried to to make SWOT analyse which is also very good for er to review you what is good what is bad and what should be improved so erm first er first er location well the czech republic has very good geographical and geopolitical location it's kind of small area er the short distances which means you can er every point of czech republic can be reached erm by car in couple hours and it's also good (the possibility) to to get somewhere to the to the er places of interest it's also good that er czech republic is in the we call it the heart of europe especially prague , er what is not good er we can speak about the climate which means a short summer season summer (lasts) just maybe two or three months which er could be more much more longer for touris- tourism period worse condition of the winter tourism erm we compared er this year winter it's it's very long winter but in general the winter doesn't well er last also so long . landscape and er (really) (xx) er is a pleasant climate er the czech republic l- er is in the mild climate er there is a few lowlands many types of highla- highlands er lots of rural valleys three per cent of er is a there is a forest area mineral water sources which is also connected with the spa tourism , what is missing in the czech republic is the sea high mountains short winter season i er which i said and er and so on , the czech republic is er rich for historical and cultural heritage there is variety of monuments from different periods and styles there's also spa tradition er prague is a world-famous tourism destination sometimes you can meet where's also negative damage monuments without money for reconstructions there's still missing huge amount of money to to rebuild mo- monuments and er culture buildings or historical buildings . quality of instrat- infrastructure and service facilities erm there is <SIGH> not huge system of communications er er accommodation are also missing restaurants and hotel facilities and these are not prepared for millions of and millions tourists er there's also missing market development studies there's er not very good concept of the government which should erm be prepared for that amount of the tourists but on the other hands er in the czech republic there is a very flexible labour quite erm sufficient capacity and er there's a lot of network on the tourist (path) in the czech republic . there's also some social and economical barriers er we can also speak about the criminality xenophobia shadow and black economy which also doesn't help to improve our tourism very well . okay </S4>
<S5> so now i would like to say from some facts about er that er that tourism has got quite a big impact on ei- both like to economy and also culture so here are some like positive and also negative er impacts so for among these positive ones it's the (size) it is er (xx) main resource for our economy also er it er it gives many opportunities er for people and er for un- ump- employment of country and er also er it could make improvement for infrastu- infrastructure and se- service development and er even i said that er prague still stays like one of the most visited cities but er now also other areas are visited such as for example the west of country which is known like spa area and also mountains and other historical cities in moravia which is like part of czech republic but er there are some negati- there is this negative impact and this is as i said problems with the shopping tourism and also still in prague and also in mountains highest mountains in our country you can er you can er meet these double prices for tourist and for czech people which is unfortunate not nice for tourist in our country and a culture effects so this is so how to- tourism s- could provide this openness to the world and also good experience and knowledge and but on the other hand you can see er this could cause er increase of xenophobia racism and also criminality which is i just er read today that czech republic er may be not a good advertisement but czech republic er belongs to the country where are like the biggest number of these pickpockets and er if you really could be aware of that which is not which is quite negative factor of our tourism (xx) so and also problem with taxi drivers because if when they know they are like tourists you they could charge you much more than czech people so , and here are just like some er list of perspectives so what our tourisms could lead in future so there could be like slow-down of tourism boom so not like just fashion effect but like stagnation of tourism also like equalisation of national economies with european union quots- quotas and also like prices should be er equalised and er decline of debt not very positive shopping tourism and erm also er this is like er expansion of space an increase of expedition and er the stay of average stay of tourist in our country should it's going to be like longer time and also like the money from every tourist should be er bigger one and as i was speaking about that it's er effort to form decentralisation not only like capital city but also like areas er ar- around frontiers and mountains which are quite worth seeing also and other perspectives of (xx) , so there are more (so) cross-border cooperation especially among e- euro regions and also that there should be like m- multifunctional and specialised tourist centres for especially congress tourism and trade fairs and er more development for spa resorts which are in the west of country and er also we could develop like new forms of tourism so for example ecotourism or biking and and so on and er focus focus on increasing of small and middle-scale enterprises and professional education in this tourism business and legislation and the last is try coordinate the development under ministry for local development so that was all about (xx) perspectives and in the end </S5>
<S4> okay we have er we have this summary so the tourism er is er one of the most growing part of czech economy as you can see the foreign exchange in our national tourism will reach four billion euros in 2005 er which means seven per cent of GDP er GPD <S5> @@ </S5> er and er as you can see from the year 1995 to 2005 number of visitors increased by one third so this period czech republic has been visit almost by ten er er hundred hundred er million of persons average expense in 2005 was 115 euros and the length of the stay was 4.3 days which is important and here you can see why tourist was in the czech republic that erm 65 per cent of the respondents er said that it was for vacation 14 per cent of people come for business to make business in the czech republic 12 per cent visiting their relatives and families and nine per cent shopping and our last graph shows by who or who comes to the czech republic so you can <SS> [@@] </SS> [see almost] three per cent germans comes to the czech republic then aus- then people from great britain poland italy slovakia holland USA </S4>
