Spa Town Now Looks to the West, Not Russia
KARLOVY VARY, Czech Republic — Some hotels in the Czech spa town of Karlovy Vary have complained that widespread hostility to Russia and its people engendered by the carnage in Ukraine is crippling their business, built up over centuries of serving visitors from Russia.
But the Grandhotel Pupp, whose picturesque exterior showed up in the James Bond movie “Casino Royale,” is doing well with a different approach.
“Our focus now is fully on the West, not the East,” said the hotel’s general manager, Jindrich Krausz. “Russia for us is the past, and it was not pleasant.”
A favorite playground for wealthy Russians since Peter the Great visited in the early 18th century, Karlovy Vary is studded with grandiose hotels and luxury boutiques with Russian-speaking staff, along with plaques honoring famous Russian visitors like the 19th-century novelist Ivan Turgenev. It has a Russian Orthodox cathedral, whose priests report to Patriarch Kirill in Moscow, and a bust of the famous czar atop a hill called Peter’s Height.
The only thing missing these days is Russians.
Outraged by the war in Ukraine, the Czech government has barred them from visiting as tourists, though a few are still admitted for humanitarian reasons. Russian diplomats who staffed a now-shuttered consulate next to the cathedral have also gone, banished as part of the Czech Republic’s drive to curb Russian influence.
Fabled for its healing waters, Karlovy Vary has become a microcosm of the turbulent forces tugging at Europe as anger over Russia’s assault on Ukraine struggles with economic self-interest and lingering pockets of pro-Russian sentiment.
“Karlovy Vary was a mecca for Russians,” said the Reverend
As Moscow’s war continues, a Czech tourist haven pivots.
Andrij Penjuk, a priest and longtime resident from Ukraine. “Nobody here shouted, ‘Russians go home,’ but I don’t miss them.”
Many, however, do miss them, particularly hotel and spa owners who used to make much of their money pampering Russians.
“Maybe I’m a bad person, but I don’t want to suffer for Ukraine,” said Ali Mirzayev, a Russian-speaking hotelier and tour operator from Azerbaijan.
Eager to lure back visitors, the municipal authorities recently came up with an advertising campaign that they said would target Russian speakers who live in Germany. But the slogan, “Karlovy Vary understands you,” caused dismay. Opposition members of the
City Council wrote a letter of protest to the mayor, saying, “We firmly believe that Karlovy Vary does not want to build its future on such guests.” The slogan was quickly dropped.
Many Russians spend weeks at a spa undergoing elaborate
health treatments involving doctors. German guests, however, stay 3.4 nights on average and Americans 2.5 nights, according to official data. Russians stay for around 11 nights.
“Westerners like so-called wellness for a few hours, but Russians go for real treatment that lasts many days,” said Mr. Mirzayev, the hotelier. “We would love to have English guests, but they just go to Prague to drink beer.”