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[Above: Stuffed toys placed on a pontoon in front of the Charles Bridge in Prague.]

PRAGUE - The Czech tourist trade has been given an oddball boost by a new travel agency offering trips to Prague for teddy bears and other stuffed toys.

The “Toy Traveling” agency says it will take pictures of the toy tourists at Prague’s major sights and then send them on a CD to the owner who can “boast to friends or on Facebook”.

All this for 90 euros (S$172), it said in a statement.

For 150 euros, the toys can even have massages and aromatherapy in front of the Prague skyline.

“All packages comprise daily e-mail communication with the owners to make them feel safe and let them know which sights their toys have seen on that day,” it said.

Targeting clients in rich Western countries, the agency was born from the investment show “Den D” (D-Day), the Czech version of the Japanese programme “Money no Tora” (Money Tiger) and Britain’s “Dragon’s Den”.

The owners – including two investors from the show who agreed to put money into the project – said they also wanted to offer toys trips to other European cities such as Budapest, Berlin, Bratislava and Munich this year.

But Jaromir Beranek, an analyst with the Mag Consulting agency which focuses on tourism, did not share their optimism.

“It looks like a whim and I am not convinced it will have a broader economic impact,” he told AFP.

Send your soft toys for a vacation

AFP | Fri, Feb 19 2010

Czech travel agency lures teddy bears to Prague.

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europe
czech republic
getaways

tourism

[Above: Stuffed toys placed on a pontoon in front of the Charles Bridge in Prague.]

PRAGUE - The Czech tourist trade has been given an oddball boost by a new travel agency offering trips to Prague for teddy bears and other stuffed toys.

The “Toy Traveling” agency says it will take pictures of the toy tourists at Prague’s major sights and then send them on a CD to the owner who can “boast to friends or on Facebook”.

All this for 90 euros (S$172), it said in a statement.

For 150 euros, the toys can even have massages and aromatherapy in front of the Prague skyline.

“All packages comprise daily e-mail communication with the owners to make them feel safe and let them know which sights their toys have seen on that day,” it said.

But Jaromir Beranek, an analyst with the Mag Consulting agency which focuses on tourism, did not share their optimism.

“It looks like a whim and I am not convinced it will have a broader economic impact,” he told AFP.

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