Tomio Okamura of the Association of Czech Travel Companies and Agencies (AČCKA) says regional towns have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to infrastructure. Better hotels, multilingual tourist signs and more transportation options are just some of the basic improvements that could help bolster the tourist trade outside of Prague.

"There is interest out there in regional towns," he says. "It's just a matter of making it worth people's while to travel farther afield."

Last year, the Czech Republic invested some 12 million Kč ($540,784) into regional tourism, according to CzechTourism's Karin Šeligová. Much of that money went into promoting regional destinations abroad, and some went into advertising domestic destinations to Czechs.

The most recent AČCKA statistics show there was an 11.4 percent increase in domestic tourism in the first quarter of 2006 from the same time period last year, with Czech travelers a big part of the uptick. A total of 2,403,912 guests stayed in Czech hotels in the first three months of the year — 1,139,407 of whom were Czech tourists.

It's up to individual regions how much they want to invest into improving infrastructure and appeal to tourists, industry insiders say.

So far, the Pardubice region has had the most success in attracting new tourists, with a nearly 62 percent increase last year in the number of visitors, according to AČCKA statistics. More than anything else, this was the result of the recent expansion of the Pardubice airport, notes Okamura.

The Hradec Králové region has become the second most visited part of the country after Prague, thanks in part to the skiing facilities in the region's mountains.

What about Moravia, with its rolling hills, vineyards, hearty food and plum brandy?

According to Milan Mazanec of the Czech Tour Guides Association, Moravia, particularly the north, continues to be overlooked by most tourists — foreigners and Czechs alike.

"The region has so much to offer," says Mazance, adding that it's a myth that this region's industrial past has made the landscape unattractive. "Even old disused mines could become an interesting tourist attraction," he says.

The country's numerous spa towns are yet another untapped resource, according to CzechTourism. Karlovy Vary and Mariánské Lázně are perhaps the best known spas, but the Czech Republic has dozens of other spa facilities — like Bechyně, Bělohrad, Poděbrady or Kynžvart — that most foreigners don't know about.

CzechTourism is preparing to launch a special spa town promotion week in October, with the intent of generating interest among tourist agencies abroad. Spas could do a lot for bringing tourism to smaller towns, say the organizers.

This April Regional Development Minister Radko Martínek approved 97 different programs totaling 260,530,000 Kč, aimed at promoting domestic tourism and expanding infrastructure in the country's regional towns, with a special emphasis on spa towns.