11 4 TOURISM LAW IN EUROPE India, as well as smaller Asian and Arab markets. This sector was also influenced by further developments in information technologies, digitalisation and more affordable forms of travel, including shared accommodation and social changes. Accordingly, individual destinations and tourist businesses had to adapt to these trends in order to stay competitive. According to the Czech National Bank’s (CNB) balance of payments, revenues from tourism equalled 167.5 billion korunas (Kč) in 2019, a 3.6% increase compared to the previous year. These revenues grew steadily on a yearon-year basis, but the positive trend has been interrupted by the current crisis4. The SARS-CoV-2 (i.e. COVID-19) pandemic has paralysed the world. So far, 2020 has been one of the worst years in modern history, not only in terms of tourism, but also in many other sectors. Consequently, security and preventive measures aimed to counter the spread of the disease and specific actions were taken to support the economy in almost every country worldwide, including the Czech Republic. Several measures were put in place to back up Czech entrepreneurs, with the primary aim to boost liquidity and preserve jobs. General measures have been adopted to help all businesses across the board (such as the COVID guarantee programmes, the Antivirus scheme and tax-liberalisation packages), along with specific support for tourism (reduction of VAT on selected tourist services, COVID-Spas, COVID-Accommodation, COVID- -Tourism, COVID-Schools in Nature, COVID-Travel Agency Guarantees, COVID-Travel Agencies II, among others). Businesses engaged in tourism can also make use of related support programmes, such as COVID-Rent, COVID- -Bus, COVID-Culture and so on. II. PUBLIC LAW REGULATION OF TOURISM Activities in the tourism sector are usually regarded as “trade” within the meaning of Act No. 455/1991 Coll., on business in trade (hereinafter the “Trade Act”). The Trade Act divides trades into vocational, professional, licenced (concession) and unqualified trades. The individual annexes to the Act give together an exhaustive list of these trades. In exceptional cases, certain spa procedures may also constitute healthcare services, falling outside the mentioned Act. 4 Revenues from tourism – in terms of methodology, this figure refers rather to income from international tourism, available in: https://www.cnb.cz/cs/statistika/platebni_bilance_stat/platebni_bilance_q/index. html.
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