Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on the Regulation to Tourism in the Czech Republic

The article deals with issues concerning the regulation of tourism during the Covid-19 crisis in the Czech Republic. Tourism is among the most affected economic sectors by the current pandemic. During the pandemic, the State compensated the financial losses of tourist guides, but such compensations were - according to the guides themselves - insufficient. The aim of the research was to find out how tourist guides see the Czech crisis legislation with regard to tourism and the legislative measures taken by the Czech Government and Ministry of Regional Development to support tourism. For such purpose, questionnaires were distributed to employees in tourism - guides, particularly. We examined their attitudes to the tourism legislation in the Czech Republic in connection with the pandemic situation as well as public administration. Next, in-depth interviews were conducted. On the one hand, the research revealed great interest of tourist guides in the legislation and the current situation in the Czech Republic. On the other hand, it showed a negative evaluation of the adopted legislative measures and crisis legislation. On the basis of the research, the most important aid factors were identified: financial aid, greater support from the State and municipalities, exemption of social security and health insurance payments, promotion of tourism and guide services, support in the form of upgrading skills and retraining. The empirical part of the research, which used the Chi-Square Test of Independence, pointed to a dependence between gender and the attitude related to the legislation knowledge, between gender and monitoring of the current situation in European legislation concerning tourism and tourist guides, and between gender and attitudes when evaluating the legislative measures adopted by the Czech Government and Ministry of Regional Development in relation to tourism support. At the end of the study, some recommendations are provided on how to improve the present situation.