Good news for Czech spa and fertility tourism

325,581 guests visited Czech spas in the first half of 2010, which is a rise of 5 percent against 2009, according to CzechTourism. CzechTourism, a subsidised organisation of the Local Development Ministry, focuses on promoting the Czech Republic abroad. Czechs accounted for 175,000 visits and foreigners over 150,000-the exact split is not available.

Germans made 60 percent of the total number of foreign guests, with nearly 86,000 of them visiting Czech spas between January and June. Russians, Austrians and Ukrainians came next. Over 9,000 Asian clients visited Czech spas in the first six months of this year.

The biggest increase in the number of foreign guests on the year was recorded for Israel, Austria, Slovakia, the USA and Russia. By contrast, CzechTourism registered the biggest decrease of visitors from Poland and Ukraine.

The average length of stay was 10.8 days. Czech guests spent an average of 11.8 days and foreign guests an average of 9.6 days in Czech spas. On average, Russian guests spent 13.7 days in Czech spas; Ukrainian guests 13.4 days and guests from Israel 10.4 days. By contrast, visitors from Poland spent 4.4 days on average and visitors from Slovakia 4.5 days on average. Spas in Karlovarsky region attracted 57 percent of all guests. Zlinsky region came second with nearly 10 percent of guests and Olomoucky region scored third with 7 percent of visitors.

One of the leading destinations for assisted reproductive technologies is the Czech Republic. Many European patients travel to other countries, both because they think that they will receive better quality care abroad and in order to undergo procedures that are banned in their home country. The Czech Republic is one of the popular destinations for the cross border reproductive care due to high standards of medical care in the country, a wide network of IVF centres, easy accessibility of the country by air (low cost airlines), road (motorway network linked to Western Europe) and rail, liberal legislation which enables to employ gametes and embryo donation programmes, genetic diagnostic testing and micromanipulations. Low prices are on offer so affordable treatment packages are another attraction for many couples.

IVF Europe unites 7 IVF clinics in various towns of the Czech Republic offering a full range of fertility services to clients worldwide. Partner centres are operated only by Czech proprietors. IVF Europe accounts for about one quarter of all IVF cycles in the country. All member clinics of the group are ready, with the assistance of multilingual coordinators, to tailor the treatment programme to individual requirements.