The Czech capital has banned nighttime bar crawls organized by travel agencies in a bid to attract “more cultured” tourists. Municipal councilors took this decision on October 14 to keep noisy travelers, mainly British, away from the capital.

Prague Deputy Mayor Zdenek Hrib told reporters on Monday that nighttime pub crawls would now be banned.

“It will not be possible to have guided tours between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.,” he added.

Jiri Pospisil, another deputy mayor, said Prague City Hall was “looking for a more cultured and wealthier tourist… not a tourist who only comes for a short time to get drunk.”

Prague, a city of 1.3 million, has long been popular for its raucous stag parties and pub crawls, attracting foreign beer lovers each year. These tourists helped the Czech Republic maintain its position as the thirstiest country in the world.

According to 2023 data, 128 liters of beer were drunk per capita in the country, despite a steady decline in attendance since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

In the Czech Republic, beer is even cheaper than water in some restaurants, and many pubs in the UNESCO-listed historic center offer the famous local lager for less than €3 a pint.

Vaclav Starek, president of the Czech Association of Hotels and Restaurants, 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. “I don’t think it will hurt our sales. No one will be banned from going to a pub, but these organized nightly pub crawls… are nothing we need.

Prague is not the first European capital to discourage a certain type of tourist from going there. Last year, Amsterdam launched a “stay away” campaign specifically aimed at young British men. The campaign is triggered when Brits type terms into search engines such as “stag party in Amsterdam”, “cheap hotel in Amsterdam” and “pub crawl in Amsterdam”.

The advertisements describe the risks and consequences of excessive alcohol and drug consumption: fines, criminal records, hospitalization and permanent damage to health.

Other European cities have also introduced such measures to discourage mass tourism. Like Venice, which limited the size of tourist groups and banned loudspeakers, and Barcelona, ​​which announced it would ban apartment rentals to tourists by 2028.

(With contribution from agencies)