Annual surveys issued by the City of Brno’s Office of Marketing and Tourism have been studying tourism in the city since 2017 – except the years affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The main goal of these surveys is to verify the fulfilment of Brno’s Tourist Development Program. which aims at making Brno more attractive for visitors.
Each year the surveys analyse the visitors’ composition, their place of origin – whether national or international – their reasons for visiting, how they travel, and their overall satisfaction, including their willingness to come back.
The last annual survey was carried out in October 2023 and was divided into three sections, with a total of approximately 2,800 respondents. The first part aimed at highlighting tourist demand in Brno, the second focused on the perception of Brno abroad, and the last took into account also the tourist demand in the South Moravian areas surrounding Brno.
The first study, based on a poll of 1,016 respondents, revealed a great appreciation of the city by visitors – around 91% liked the city, similar to the results from previous years. Around 46% of them visited the city regularly (at least once a year, with 30% having visited it more than once) while the remainder had not visited the city in the last year. 34% had never visited the city before.
A large proportion of tourists arrived in Brno by car or motorbike (46%); the other most used means of transport were train (33%) and bus (15%), with only a small share flying to the city (4%) or using other means (2%).
In general, visitors are workers (71%) between 25 and 54 years old (64%). There are however some clear differences between Czech visitors and overseas tourists. Domestic visitors are more often women (58%), staying just for one day (59%), and often visiting with partners and their children (39%). Compared to 2019, more of them come from Moravia (60%), particularly from the South Moravian region (39%, an increases of 11%) and fewer from Bohemia (33%, a 6% decrease).
Foreigners are on the other hand more likely to be young people without children (50%), staying overnight (72%), and male (56%). A large share of them come from the neighboring Slovakia (26%), though there has been a significant decrease compared to 2019 (- 7%), in favor of other European nations like Germany (10%, up 3%). The Czech Republic’s neighbours account for 49% of the visitors, while other European countries represent 41% of the total. 10% of the visitors come from another continent, half of those coming from the United States.
The main attractions for tourists are the history of the city, its architecture, and the city center in general; 50% of respondents mentioned one of these as their main reason. Other significant draws are the city’s atmosphere (10%), its restaurants and bars (7%) and its events and lively cultural life (7%). The planned destinations for visitors often include Špilberk (37%), Petrov (29%), the city center in general (29%), and specific bars or restaurants (19%). The majority of visitors (83%) also showed interest in returning to Brno as a tourist in the future.
The second survey found that foreign tourists usually combine the visit to the city with a trip to the nature surrounding it (65%) and are especially interested in relaxing (the main reason for 55% of the 1,280 respondents) and cultural enrichment (26%). However, the city does not have a clear association for tourists, attracting different groups for various reasons.
Brno is the second most famous and visited city in the Czech Republic – though a clear distance behind the far better-known capital – and is mostly renowned in neighbouring Austria and Slovakia. In the case of Slovaks, many visitors come to visit friends or relatives working here, while many of the Austrian and German tourists are interested in Brno’s MotoGP Circuit.
Finally, the third and last part of the annual survey, focused on Brno’s surroundings, showed a great majority of one-day visitors (84%), coming mainly from South Moravia and the neighboring areas (71%, with 23% from Brno), while only 8% of them are foreigners, including 5% who are Slovaks. The number of women is higher (54%) and most of the tourists belong to the 25-54 years old group (60%).
Around 50% of the 507 respondents showed interest either in travelling, having an excursion, or visiting a specific monument (20% of those interviewed were intending to visit one particular site), while gastronomy and restaurants interested 43% of those surveyed. The most appreciated historical sites were the castles of Pernštejn and Slavkov.
A great majority of the visitors were travelling by car (72%) and accompanied by other people (92%), either partner (39%), family (35%), or friends/organized tourist groups (18%).
