Prague city councillors said on Monday they had banned night-time pub crawls organised by travel agencies because the city wanted to target “more cultured” tourists.
The Czech capital of 1.3 million people has for a long time been a popular destination for noisy stag parties and pub crawlers, largely from Britain.
Prague deputy mayor Zdenek Hrib told reporters on Monday that organised night-time pub crawls would now be banned.
“It will not be possible to have guided tours between 10:0à pm and 6:00 am (2000-0400 GMT),” he added.
Jiri Pospisil, another deputy mayor, said Prague city hall was “seeking a more cultured, wealthier tourist… not one who comes for a short time only to get drunk”.
Foreign beer lovers have for years helped the Czech Republic keep its position as the world’s thirstiest nation.
In 2023, the average Czech — all citizens, including newborns — drank a world-leading 128 litres of beer despite a steady decline since the Covid pandemic hit in 2020.
Beer is still cheaper than water in some restaurants and many pubs in the UNESCO-listed historic centre offer the acclaimed local lager for fewer than three dollars (euros) a pint.
Vaclav Starek, head of the Czech Association of Hotels and Restaurants, hailed the city hall’s decision.
“Trips to the centre in search of beer have been a problem for local people and for other tourists too,” he told AFP.
“I don’t think this will hurt our sales. Nobody will be banned from going to a pub but these nightly organised pub crawls… are nothing we would need.”
