The opening of a new airline route between Prague and Shanghai is expected to increase the number of Chinese tourists visiting the Czech capital by 120,000 annually, the deputy chairman of the Association of Czech Travel Agencies, Jan Papež, told the daily Hospodářské noviny. The influx of Chinese tourist will compensate for the drop in the number of Russians and West Europeans visiting the Czech Republic and increase revenues for the Czech hotel sector. One of the largest players on the Czech tourist market, Exim Tours, hopes to finalize agreements with Chinese travel agencies soon. Official figures show that 79,000 Chinese tourists visited the Czech Republic last year, spending CZK 3,300 a day on average.
