PRAGUE, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Prague Airport said on Monday that it handled 10.9 million passengers during this year's summer season from April to October, an increase of 14.5 percent year-on-year.
"This brings us closer to our record performance in 2019, when we handled over 12 million passengers over the summer. We expect to reach this level in the next summer season," Jiri Vyskoc, executive director of air business development at the airport said in a statement.
Foreign visitors increasingly choosing the Czech Republic as their destination. During the summer season, the majority of arriving passengers, or 2.8 million, were foreign travelers, accounting for 53 percent of inbound tourists.
Meanwhile, the share of foreign travelers in arrivals rose by four percentage points year-on-year during the period. The most frequent travelers flying into the Czech Republic are from the UK, Italy and France.
"The growing share of foreign inbound travelers is playing a significant role in the Czech Republic's tourism recovery after the coronavirus pandemic," Vyskoc said, adding that the airport aims to expand existing range of air services, especially direct flights from long-haul destinations.
Direct flights between the capital cities of China and the Czech Republic officially resumed at end of June this year, with China's Hainan Airlines providing three weekly flights between Beijing and Prague.
According to the Czech Tourism Authority (CzechTourism), it recorded the highest year-on-year increase among travelers from China (121 percent), Israel (40 percent), Turkey (25 percent), Saudi Arabia (23 percent) and Canada (20 percent) during the third quarter of this year, thanks to the direct flights from these distant destinations. ■