Peering through the mist in Prague
THE LATE NOVEMBER FOG THAT GREETED CMW REPORTER SIMON GEORGE ’ S ARRIVAL IN THE CZECH CAPITAL PROVIDED AN APT BACKDROP FOR A PRAGUE INTERNATIONAL MICE MARKET STRUGGLING TO BREAK BACK THROUGH THE MEETINGS MIST
P rague ’ s late autumnal weather may not have changed from three years ago when CMW last flew in for a familiarisation trip organised by the Prague Convention Bureau ( PCB ) but , inevitably , a global pandemic , war in Ukraine , concerns over recession and and rampant inflation have left their mark on Prague ’ s MICE market . So , too , structurally in terms of transport and tourism , the number of international flight arrivals , especially from the US , is down from pre-pandemic levels . And , crucially , booking visibility for conference / event organisers , not surprisingly , is still very low and last minute although there are signs of improvement .
Right-sizing and refurbishing Despite the global headwinds , Prague ’ s event organisers made good use of the pandemic downturn by refurbishing , restructuring and right-sizing their businesses – and to find out how the key players are adjusting to the ‘ new normal ’, to quote Dana Prejkova , operations manager at events organiser Aim Group , CMW spoke to Roman Muška , the PCB ’ s
Above : Travel buyers in Prague managing director ; as well as to the sales managers from some of the big hotel chains . The whistle stop tour allowed time to drop in at key venue O2 universum and hear from Marek Chmatal , business development director , who noted the venue had a busy event schedule for 2023 but was having to cope with a 250 % increase in power prices . Professional conference organiser ( PCO ), Dana Prejkova also shared a meeting planner ’ s take on the developing Prague international MICE scene .
A meetings team marches on its stomach , however , and first stop was a lunch hosted by Kunsthalle Praha , a recently opened , non-profit art foundation with event space that used to be a transformer station powering the city ’ s tram network .
Recovery was likely at least two years off , Roman Muška told me over lunch . Three years ago , the PCB ’ s managing director had been understandably more upbeat about local MICE developments but , nevertheless , cited incremental progress being made and confirmed his view that Prague was in a good place . The number of meetings in Prague is still recovering and meetings are smaller in terms of the number of physical attendees due to certain limitations and some attendees remaining online attendees within the hybrid context .
As for how long Prague , whose three main source MICE markets are the US , UK and Germany , would take to recover , Muška forecast that it would be at least two years : “ My expectation is to get back to pre-Covid numbers ( in terms of the
Above : Prague Castle
number of meetings and attendees ) at the end of 2024 or 2025 ,” he said .
Prague ’ s local MICE market took up some of the slack from the shrinking international market during the pandemic , and will continue to grow this year . “ We need to focus more on the international market , to bring people back ,” Muška added , and said he believed one key to this was an increase in direct flight connections to Prague from the US ( Delta and American Airlines flew in pre-pandemic ). A general perception of Prague and the Czech Republic as being close to the war in Ukraine , he said , was another challenge when talking to international MICE players looking to reassure their delegates .
Tough climate Site inspections of the Prague Marriott , newly renovated in October 2021 , and the Hilton , provided an opportunity to hear what each hotel ’ s management had to say about the MICE market . Echoing Muška ’ s comments , Štepán Malý , director of sales and marketing at the
32 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / ISSUE 122