Beer is still cheaper than water in some restaurants and the local lager will cost you less than three euros ($4.80) a pint.

There’s a reason the Czech Republic has long reigned as the world’s thirstiest nation.

In 2023, the average Czech – counting all citizens, including newborns – drank 128 liters of beer, a world record.

And its capital has long been a popular destination for foreign beer lovers looking for the perfect, largely British, stag parties and pub crawls.

But this week, Prague city councilors announced that nightly bar crawls organized by travel agencies would now be banned.

“It will not be possible to organize guided tours between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. (local time),” said an aide to the major.

But why would Prague, a city synonymous with “good times”, choose to make such a decision?

Is this (shudder) the end of the bachelor party?

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The Prague City Council said its councilors had approved an amendment limiting “organized movements of tourists from pub to pub, disrupting nighttime peace, especially in the center”, according to the BBC.

The decision was made for reasons of noise, safety and cleanliness.

Deputy Mayor Jiri Pospisil said Prague City Hall was “looking for a more cultured and wealthier tourist” and was trying to avoid the visitor “who comes for a short time just to get drunk.”

He said he wanted “refinement and respect for shared public space” to become a priority in the city.

The president of the Czech Association of Hotels and Restaurants, Vaclav Starek, welcomed the town hall’s decision.

“Traveling to the center in search of beer is a problem for the local population and for other tourists as well,” he told AFP.

He said he didn’t think the move would hurt their sales.

No one will be banned from going to a pub, but these organized nightly pub crawls… are nothing we need. »

It’s not the first European city to target tourists

Prague isn’t the only city in Europe that has long tried to curb noisy tourist behavior.

In March last year, Amsterdam launched a campaign to discourage tourists from throwing drug and alcohol-fueled parties, particularly young British men aged 18 to 35.

Called Stay Away, the program involves people searching online for certain Amsterdam getaways and receiving special warnings.

People searching for terms such as “Amsterdam bachelor party” or “Amsterdam pub crawl” will see warning ads, the city council said.

“This online deterrence campaign is aimed at nuisance tourists who wish to visit Amsterdam to ‘go wild’, with all the consequences that entail,” they added.

It would be extended to “potentially harmful visitors from the Netherlands and other EU countries”.

The adverts would show the “risks and consequences of anti-social behavior and excessive drug and alcohol abuse”, including fines, arrests, criminal records, hospitalizations and health problems.

ABC/son