The National Tourism Policy of the Czech Republic for the period 2014–2020 Pursuant to resolution No. 220 of 27 March, 2013 the Government approved a new National Tourism Policy of the Czech Republic for the period 2014–2020. This step was preceded by more than a year’s intensive efforts on the part of the Ministry for Regional Development which drafted the Tourism policy. The resulting document was then discussed with all stakeholders from the tourism sector, particularly with ministerial and regional officials, municipalities, tourism regions, professional associations and expert and professional public. The Tourism policy presents a fundamental strategic mid‑term direction for tourism policy for the upcoming period of 2014–2020. Its main goal is to increase general competitiveness of the tourism sector at national and regional levels, to maintain its economic performance and positive impacts on the social, cultural and environmental development of the Czech Republic. Concept priorities Priority 1 – Improving the quality of the tourism supply Priority 2 – Tourism management Priority 3 – Destination marketing Priority 4 – Tourism policy and economic development The following cross‑cutting elements are present in all individual priorities – Quality, Knowledge, Innovation and Sustainability, whose aim is to accelerate fulfilment of the Tourism policy objectives while making it more efficient. For several years, the existing tourism policy lacked a functioning system of organisation including a system of funding which would create stable conditions for individual entities active in tourism and at the same time allow for exploiting the potential of the Czech Republic. This often resulted in contradictory measures leading to reduced performance of the tourism sector and far‑from‑efficient use of funds. The aim of the currently prepared act on tourism support, a tool for the Tourism policy implementation, is to support and stabilise regional co‑operation among public, private and non‑profit sectors on the principles of destination management.a stabilizovat regionální spolupráci mezi veřejným, privátním a neziskovým sektorem na principech destinačního managementu. Výsledkem aplikace nové strategie bude vytvoření chybějícího TOURISM IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC IN 2012 sector and far‑from‑efficient use of funds. The aim of the currently prepared act on tourism support, a tool for the Tourism policy implementation, is to support and stabilise regional co‑operation among public, private and non‑profit sectors on the principles of destination management. The new strategy application should help create the missing system of tourism organisation including better defined positions and tasks of the Ministry, CzechTourism and other stakeholders such as regions, while ensuring its long‑term funding. Well‑functioning destination management organisations should become an information and marketing basis for a quality presentation of the Czech Republic abroad while supporting Czech destinations marketing within the framework of domestic tourism. The Tourism policy introduces changes to the grant policy system implemented with the use of EU funds. The policy will be newly focused on the use of integrated approaches at the regional level and the use of new financial instruments, in particular preferential loans. Direct grant policy supporting commercial infrastructure and tourism services led in the past to distortion of the market environment. Such support was criticised not only by the European Commission, but also business owners themselves. The Tourism policy is closely connected to implementation of the CzechTourism – Destination Marketing Strategy 2013–2020. Both materials were prepared simultaneously and they are mutually interlinked. Approval of the Tourism policy represents just a first step to successful implementation of the strategic goals. By the end of 2013, the Ministry for Regional Development plans to prepare and circulate for comments related implementation documents, particularly an action plan, quantification analysis and other methodological documents. At the same time, preparations related to the new programming period will take place which will give us a chance to obtain funds for the implementation of individual Tourism policy objectives and measures. Act on Support to Tourism Development – Implementation Progress in 2012 Draft legislation on support to tourism development represents a tool to implement the Concept of National Tourism Policy, to ensure cohesion between national and regional tourism policies and uniform promotion of the Czech Republic, to increase their efficiency, and to sustain positive impacts of tourism on national economy and regional development. Among major obstacles to tourism development in the Czech Republic belong uncoordinated implementation of tourism policy and inconsistent economic diplomacy and promotion of the Czech Republic (tourism marketing). Uncoordinated implementation of tourism policy results in reduced effectiveness of implemented measures (duplicated activities, fragmented benefits, sometimes even contradicting outcomes), wasteful use of resources (financial, organisational, human), and reduced performance and competitiveness of the Czech tourism industry. A major obstacle to destination management and cohesion of implemented activities is the position of destination entities, their complex organisational structure, vague positioning of destinations at different levels of tourism organisation, and inadequate specification of tasks/powers of the destination entities on different levels. There are missing mechanisms for communication and co‑operation among different destination management organisations within a certain level and between the levels, activities are uncoordinated which reduces their efficiency as well as efficiency of the resources expended. Introduction of the Tourism Act was a measure resulting from the first National Tourism Policy from 1999. The current substance of the Act on Support of Tourism Development was first drafted in 2009 and submitted for an external round of consultations in late 2010. In the course of years 2011 and 2012, discussions were held to accommodate the comments. TOURISM IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC IN 2012 In early 2012 (9 March), the draft substance of the Act on Support to Tourism Development was discussed by the regulation impact assessment working committee at the Government Legislative Council. As a result, it was recommended that the draft substance of the Act be extended and reworked. The committee particularly demanded that the draft better describe the linking‑up of the proposed legislation with the tourism development issues and quantify the impact of the Act implementation on businesses. Between March and August 2012, the Tourism Department of the Czech Ministry for Regional Development prepared an updated and expanded draft to be subsequently discussed by the newly established working group for the Tourism Act, which joined representatives of the Ministry with professional and expert public. In December 2012, another round of talks with the Ministry of Finance took place concerning the accommodation of external comments. The draft substance of the Act was amended upon the Ministry of Finance’s request. In line with the Government Legislative Work Plan for 2012, the amended version was submitted to the Government (7 January, 2013). It is anticipated that the Act on Support to Tourism Development become effective in the course of 2014. Consumer Protection One of the activities of the Ministry for Regional Development (Tourism Department) is to supervise the establishment and foundation of travel agencies and tour operators. Act No. 159/1999 Coll., on certain conditions of businesses and on the performance of some activities in the field of tourism and on the change of to Act No. 40/1964 Coll., Civil Code, as amended, and to Act No. 455/1991 Coll., on Trade Business activities (“Trade Licensing Act”), as amended, (hereinafter “Act No. 159/1999 Coll.”), has been in force already since 1999. Act No. 159/1999 Coll. is often mistakenly coined as the “Tourism Act”. This simplified title is misleading as the Act regulates just part of tourism. The Act could be characterised as follows: it is an act transposing relevant EU legislation and it sets forth conditions under which tour operators and travel agencies may provide their services to the public, their obligations, and conditions for issuing trade licences and for obligatory insurance in the event of travel agency insolvency. The Act also regulates activities of the Mountain Rescue and its performance. The main purpose of Act No. 159/1999 Coll. is to protect customers of travel agencies in the event of travel agency bankruptcy in line with the requirements of the Council Directive 90/314/EEC of 13 June, 1990, on package travel, package holiday and package tours. These requirements are transposed by this Act into the Czech legal regulations. Therefore, the Act is limited only to regulation of those matters which are related to the basic purpose of the Act. In particular, these are definitionsof basic terms, two types of trade licences (tour operators and travel agencies), rights and obligations related to provision of tours, the scope of obligatory insurance, travel contracts in the Civil Code, and some other matters. We will see in the future what changes will be brought by the revision of Directive 90/314/EEC which is under way. The original intention of the European Commission was to submit the first legislative draft of the revised Directive in early 2011. However, this has not happened. A proper legislative procedure will then follow – approval by the Council and the European Parliament. Individual EU Member States may comment on the draft during the reading in the EU Council. The final wording of the revision must be then implemented in the national legislation of the EU Member States. Amendment to Act No. 159/1999 Coll. Act No. 159/1999 Coll., on certain conditions of businesses and on the performance of some activities in the field of tourism and on the change of to Act No. 40/1964 Coll., Civil Code, as amended, and to Act No. 455/1991 Coll., on Trade Business activities (“Trade Licensing Act”), as amended, (hereinafter “Act No. 159/1999 Coll.”), has been in force already since 1999. Main reasons for starting work on the amendment were evaluation of the current situation in the tourism sector, initiatives from and consultations with the expert public and last but not least delay in the revision of Directive 90/314/EEC on package travel, package holiday and package tours on the part of the European Commission. deset pracovních dní a byl omezen okruh připomínkových míst. Termín k uplatnění připomínek byl stanoven na 31. října 2012. K předloženému návrhu bylo celkem uplatněno 59 připomínek, z toho 11 zásadních. Vypořádání připomínek je přílohou materiálu. Všechny uplatněné připomínky byly vypořádány, návrh zákona je předkládán bez rozporu. Návrh zákona byl v roce 2012 projednán pracovními komisemi Legislativní rady vlády pro právo správní, pro právo finanční a pro soukromé právo. Návrh zákona byl rovněž projednán pracovní komisí Legislativní rady vlády pro hodnocení dopadů regulace (RIA). Statistika správní agendy Níže uvedená data dále ukazují počty podniků a podnikatelské struktury cestovních kanceláří a agentur (včetně jiných rezervačních a souvisejících činností) podle nové klasifikace CZ NACE N 79 k poslednímu dni v měsíci červnu 2012. V meziročním srovnání se ukazuje mírné snižování počtu firem a jejich zaměstnanců. TOURISM IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC IN 2012 tours on the part of the European Commission. The Ministry for Regional Development started preparation of the amendment based on the Government Legislative Work Plan for 2012. The main purpose of the draft amendment is to ensure increased protection of travel agencies’ customers. One of the major objectives of the amendment is to introduce measures to increase consumer protection mainly with respect to the insurance of travel agencies in the event of insolvency. On 17 October, 2012 the draft amendment was sent out to the interministerial consultation process in line with S. 76 of the Government Legislative Rules. The deadline for sending comments was set at 10 business days and the number of consultation bodies was limited. The deadline for comments was set to be 31 October, 2012. A total of 59 comments were received, of which 11 were of a fundamental nature. Settlement of the comments is shown in the appendix hereto. All comments were settled, the draft amendment is being submitted without conflict. The draft amendment was discussed by the Government Legislative Council working commissions for administrative law, financial law, and private law. The draft was also discussed by the Government Legislative Council working commission for regulation impact assessment (RIA). Statistika správní agendy The data below show numbers of establishments and business structures of tour operators and travel agencies (including other reservation service and related activities) according to the new CZ NACE N 79 classification as at the end of June 2012. The year‑on‑year comparison shows a slight decrease in the number of establishments and their employees. kanceláří a agentur (včetně jiných rezervačních a souvisejících činností) podle nové klasifikace CZ NACE N 79 k poslednímu dni v měsíci červnu 2012. V meziročním srovnání se ukazuje mírné snižování počtu firem a jejich zaměstnanců. TOURISM IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC IN 2012