PRAGUE, Oct 16 — Prague city councillors said on Monday they had banned night-time pub crawls organised by travel agencies because the city wanted to target "more cultured” tourists.

The Czech capital of 1.3 million people has for a long time been a popular destination for noisy stag parties and pub crawlers, largely from Britain.

Prague deputy mayor Zdenek Hrib told reporters on Monday that organised night-time pub crawls would now be banned.

"It will not be possible to have guided tours between 10pm and 6am (2000-0400 GMT),” he added.

Jiri Pospisil, another deputy mayor, said Prague city hall was "seeking a more cultured, wealthier tourist... not one who comes for a short time only to get drunk”.

Foreign beer lovers have for years helped the Czech Republic keep its position as the world’s thirstiest nation.

In 2023, the average Czech—all citizens, including newborns—drank a world-leading 128 litres of beer despite a steady decline since the Covid pandemic hit in 2020.

Beer is still cheaper than water in some restaurants and many pubs in the Unesco-listed historic centre offer the acclaimed local lager for fewer than three dollars (RM12.40) a pint.

Vaclav Starek, head of the Czech Association of Hotels and Restaurants, hailed the city hall’s decision.

"Trips to the centre in search of beer have been a problem for local people and for other tourists too,” he told AFP.

"I don’t think this will hurt our sales. Nobody will be banned from going to a pub but these nightly organised pub crawls... are nothing we would need.” — AFP