More than 2 million viewers in France and Germany watched travel reports from Czechia on ARTE television at the end of last year. Culturally oriented programs prepared in cooperation with the foreign representation of CzechTourism in France introduced the audience to the phenomenon of cubism in Prague architecture and functionalism in Moravia. They took them to places where Václav Havel and Leoš Janáček drew inspiration. Four fifteen-minute videos will be available to watch for two years on the French-German public television website.
Hilly landscape of Hukvald immersed in fog, perfect simplicity and timelessness of the functionalist architecture of Brno and Zlín or cubist gems of Prague. Footage like this saw an audience of more than 1.5 million in France last autumn on the program Invitation au voyage. It was broadcasted by the most significant public television cultural channel ARTE. As the name indicates, a viewer goes on a journey through different countries of the world through the reports. The show broadcasts in France every weekday in the early evening. It allows getting to know foreign countries through culture. All reports can be viewed freely after the TV premiere on the website of the given media. In addition to France, where the session watches on average 350,000 viewers, it also broadcasts parallelly in Germany.
"Last November, according to the latest figures from our Institute of Tourism, which are based on Czech Statistical Office data, 15,861 French people visited hotels in Czechia. That is still significantly less than before the covid pandemic in 2019, when there were 20,648 guests from France. It is therefore necessary to work not only on attracting people from the country of the Gallic Rooster to Czechia, but also foreign tourists as such. The tourist industry forms a significant part of the domestic GDP and thousands of people work in it," says Jan Herget, Director of the Czech Tourism Authority – CzechTourism and adds: "The French, as emerged from our workshop, have a desire to discover and experience other cultures and customs, languages, music, festivals, etc. Local guides at the destination are very important for them. French tourists are looking for tailored activities, they expect a warm and friendly approach, they need humanity. Slow-tourism, experiences and individualism appeal to them. They want to enjoy their vacation, they are spontaneous and like to improvise. Travelling is literally a life necessity for 56% of French people."
During the 14-day shooting of Invitation au voyage in May, the film crew went, based on the recommendation of the CzechTourism agency in France, to Prague, Hradec Králové, South Moravia, Zlín and Moravian-Silesian regions. It focused on processing four subjects: Moravian functionalism, Prague by the dissident Václav Havel, Cubist Prague and Moravia by Leoš Janáček. "Cultural tourism plays an indispensable role in our efforts to attract foreign travellers to Czech regions, and cultural topics hit the bull’s eye with the French," says PR Manager Jana Trojanová, who is in charge of directing the foreign representation of CzechTourism France and adds: "For that reason, we greatly appreciate our excellently set up collaboration with ARTE television, which has been going on for several years. If we shoot, for instance, a report in the footsteps of Leoš Janáček, we cannot miss a visit of Hukvald, the Starobrno Abbey, the Leoš Janáček Memorial or the Meeting House in Brno. Through the composer's work, the audience will learn about places they can normally visit if they come to Brno. In the French media world, where the destination Czech Republic is often reduced only to the capital Prague, similar media outputs are really valuable."
The four reports were seen by 1.5 million French and 550,000 Germans. The media value of outputs, based on the price of TV advertising on the mentioned channel, is 3 million CZK. Reports filmed last year will be enriched by earlier produced videos focused on Franz Kafka, Milan Kundera, Bedřich Smetana or Antonín Dvořák, as well as on the tradition of Czech glass or the history of Jewish or alchemical Prague. Photographs from the shootings are available at https://bit.ly/3vGFwSc.
"Last November, according to the latest figures from our Institute of Tourism, which are based on Czech Statistical Office data, 15,861 French people visited hotels in Czechia. That is still significantly less than before the covid pandemic in 2019, when there were 20,648 guests from France. It is therefore necessary to work not only on attracting people from the country of the Gallic Rooster to Czechia, but also foreign tourists as such. The tourist industry forms a significant part of the domestic GDP and thousands of people work in it," says Jan Herget, Director of the Czech Tourism Authority – CzechTourism and adds: "The French, as emerged from our workshop, have a desire to discover and experience other cultures and customs, languages, music, festivals, etc. Local guides at the destination are very important for them. French tourists are looking for tailored activities, they expect a warm and friendly approach, they need humanity. Slow-tourism, experiences and individualism appeal to them. They want to enjoy their vacation, they are spontaneous and like to improvise. Travelling is literally a life necessity for 56% of French people."
During the 14-day shooting of Invitation au voyage in May, the film crew went, based on the recommendation of the CzechTourism agency in France, to Prague, Hradec Králové, South Moravia, Zlín and Moravian-Silesian regions. It focused on processing four subjects: Moravian functionalism, Prague by the dissident Václav Havel, Cubist Prague and Moravia by Leoš Janáček. "Cultural tourism plays an indispensable role in our efforts to attract foreign travellers to Czech regions, and cultural topics hit the bull’s eye with the French," says PR Manager Jana Trojanová, who is in charge of directing the foreign representation of CzechTourism France and adds: "For that reason, we greatly appreciate our excellently set up collaboration with ARTE television, which has been going on for several years. If we shoot, for instance, a report in the footsteps of Leoš Janáček, we cannot miss a visit of Hukvald, the Starobrno Abbey, the Leoš Janáček Memorial or the Meeting House in Brno. Through the composer's work, the audience will learn about places they can normally visit if they come to Brno. In the French media world, where the destination Czech Republic is often reduced only to the capital Prague, similar media outputs are really valuable."
The four reports were seen by 1.5 million French and 550,000 Germans. The media value of outputs, based on the price of TV advertising on the mentioned channel, is 3 million CZK. Reports filmed last year will be enriched by earlier produced videos focused on Franz Kafka, Milan Kundera, Bedřich Smetana or Antonín Dvořák, as well as on the tradition of Czech glass or the history of Jewish or alchemical Prague. Photographs from the shootings are available at https://bit.ly/3vGFwSc.