The traditional Travel & Vacation Show has celebrated its 24^th anniversary this year. More than 20,000 visitors come to the fair every year and over 200 exhibitors from all over the world present their destinations. Many Embassies and Canadian organizations from the tourism industry were also represented at the show.

A large number of Canadian travelers, who are increasingly interested in the Czech Republic, were reached during the event. The high interest is reflected also in the statistical increase of Canadian tourists visiting the Czech Republic, whose number reached around 100 thousand last year.

Outside the Czech capital, there was considerable interest in tourism e.g. to Český Krumlov, Kutná Hora, but also to the region of Moravia and Silesia. The inquiries were also aimed at planning a trip across Central Europe, this type of tourism is very popular in Canada and thanks to its strategic location, the Czech Republic is able to offer such traveling.

The presentation called "Traveling to the Czech Republic 30 Years after the Velvet Revolution" given by the Deputy Director of CzechTourism took place at the fair show on Sunday, March 31, and was met with a success.

On March 29^th a gastronomic social event, which was attended by over 40 Canadian tourist operators, representatives of tourist agencies and bloggers, was traditionally held at the Czech Embassy. The event was organized in cooperation with the Hungarian Embassy, the New York branch of the Czech agency CzechTourism and the Hungarian Tourist Agency. The destinations of the Czech Republic and Hungary were presented to the audience, as well as the Czech start-up Travel a la carte a.s. (www.t-alacarte.com), which at the event also officially launched the distribution of its mobile app to the Canadian customers.

Josef Dvořáček, Economic Diplomat of the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Ottawa