The Prague Post Online: News: Solo sightseeing goes high-tech

November 22nd, 2008

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Solo sightseeing goes high-tech

A GPS unit for tourists features maps, history, daily culture listings

By Kimberly Ashton
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
January 9th, 2008 issue

VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST

The hand-held device will let individual visitors find what they want to see — and not get lost doing so. enlarge

As travel moves away from group tours to individual adventurers, a city agency and private travel company have teamed up to take advantage of the trend.

Prague Information Service (PIS) and Walks of Prague are introducing a new Global Positioning System (GPS) device that will guide tourists around the city for 600 Kč ($33.75).

“The advantage is that [individuals] are able to plan a route based on their own choice and needs … and they can learn about it without a guide,” says Dagmar Houbová, a spokeswoman for PIS, which works with City Hall to support tourism. Individual tourists make up 80 percent of all visitors to Prague, she says. Last year, more than 4 million tourists came to the Czech Republic, according to her estimates.

“We consider the introduction of the GPS system important, mainly because the tourism industry is changing from groups to individuals, and the number of tourists interested in this service is logically going to rise,” Houbová says.

Tomio Okamura, the spokesman for the Association of Tour Operators and Travel Agencies of the Czech Republic and owner of MIKI Travel, feels the device will suit the lone traveler well. “Individual clients want their own schedules,” he says, adding that such visitors aren’t willing “to wait at 9 in the morning someplace” for a tour to start.

Houbová says the GPS systems do not pose a threat to tour guides’ jobs, as the devices are not intended for group use.

“In this day and age, when you can plan and organize your trip over the Internet, it makes sense that more and more people prefer individual travel,” she says. “This is why travel agencies have experienced a decline in interest in their services — at least, this is the case in Europe.”

How it works

The hand-held GPS unit uses satellite technology to allow a tourist to pinpoint his or her location on a map, and in relation to various landmarks. The size of the map can be adjusted.

It features three-minute audio descriptions and histories of many of the city’s landmarks, full-screen photos, and information on cultural events — museum offerings, theater shows and club events or concerts — with daily updates, start times and prices. The recordings also include information on city restaurants, with descriptions of cuisine and overviews of service, and hotels. There is also information on where to find ATMs, banks, post offices and shopping centers. The device can tell a user how far he or she is from these destinations.

Users “cannot get lost in Prague with this device. They can always locate their position in the street plan and can get safely to the desired destination,” Houbová says.

Another plus, according to the Walks of Prague Web site, is that “those on a tight travel schedule can even use the Top 10 Menu, which conveniently directs a user to the ‘10 Must Sees’ of Prague.” Expected walking times are also listed. The information can be read on the display or listened to. So far it is only in English but may be available in other languages if demand is sufficient.

The system is now being used in Dresden and Weimar, Germany, and in Graz, Austria, Houbová says.

A traveler can pick up the device at the Prague Tourism Information Center at Rytířská 31 between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily. The cost is 600 Kč for 24 hours and includes an overnight battery charger.

The program is in the testing phase, and so far feedback has been positive — but there have been glitches. Sometimes tourists complain that the device runs out of power too quickly or that the information provided is too brief.

Wrong priorities?
Okamura, while appreciating the new system’s value, says the city is focusing on the wrong way to improve tourism by spending energy on a GPS without tackling the bigger problems.

While the device “is a step in the right direction,” other issues — top among them the bad reputation he says Prague has for thievery, shady taxi drivers, underhanded exchange offices and rude customer service — need to be tackled first. Another problem, he says, is the lack of infrastructure outside of Prague that inhibits exploration of the country. He would also like to see landmark signs in English as well as Czech.

These problems are showing up in industry numbers. While tourism continues to grow, it’s only increasing here at half the rate in Europe as a whole. A particular problem is that many West Europeans have been to Prague and see no reason to return, he says.

Houbová takes issue with this characterization and says the Prague tourism industry is among Europe’s healthiest. In fact, she says, Prague has had one of Europe’s fastest growth rates in city tourism.

“Only Paris and Vienna are better off,” Houbová says in regard to the percentage of travelers who return for second visits to European cities. Furthermore, she says, surveys show that satisfaction rates run as high as 90 percent.

As for the signs, Czech law regulates their design and says they can only be in Czech, she says.

— Naďa Černá contributed to this report.

Kimberly Ashton can be reached at kashton@praguepost.com

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