Bratislava tourist board expresses welcome to Chinese tourists

BRATISLAVA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Responding to China's decision to optimize its COVID-19 response and international travel policies, a spokesperson for the Bratislava Tourist Board (BTB) said his city welcomes the return of Chinese tourists.

"After two years of the (COVID) pandemic, we are ready for Chinese tourists and I hope Chinese tourists will arrive at least in the same numbers as before," Julius Buday told Xinhua.

"When we walked the streets of Bratislava's Old Town in 2019, we met throngs of Chinese tourists," he said. Back then, China was the sixth largest source of tourists to Slovakia.

Just like their peers from other countries, tourists from China tend to spend two nights on average in the capital of Slovakia, "which is why we are trying to promote Bratislava as a 72-hour city," he said.

On average, Chinese tourists spend about 200 euros (218 U.S. dollars) per day in Slovakia. Their recent absence has had a substantial negative impact on the country's economy, Buday said.

Renata Michalikova, a city guide in Bratislava, told Xinhua that most of the Chinese tourists were young people or families on a tour of Europe.

"They liked the city for being small and compact with everything close at hand. Vienna is only 60 km away and Budapest is just 200 km away, therefore they were able to visit three major capital cities in just a couple of days," she said.