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Self-guided city tour still hopes to catch on Posted
July 27, 2004
By DEBORAH BLOCK PRAGUE— Local legend has it that the silver plaques scattered around the city center advertising, “Silver Line through Golden Prague” are merely just remnants of a failed attempt by a now-defunct company to dupe the city into creating the ultimate walking tour. The local press has railed against the plaques and residents have scratched their heads at the site of the Silver Line. As it turns out the company that created the Silver Line does in fact exist. The creators of the Silver Line, a five-person company called Admen, operates out of an office on Štěpánská Street, selling books for 160 Kc ($4.16) at information centers, bookstores hotels and two street carts during the summer.
Yet walk around Prague, and there is a good chance you will see more Silver Line plaques on the ground than booklets in hand. Over the past five years, Admen has sold just 7,000 of the tourist booklet, 4,000 in English and 3,000 in German. Still, the company remains convinced it can succeed with its concept, which was created in 2001 with permission from the city to install the plaques on public property, including the Charles Bridge. Follow the Silver Line The Silver Line system is set up to be a self-guided tour of the city’s historical center. Tourists can purchase a guidebook and start anywhere on the eight kilometers (five miles) track. They can then follow the silver arrows on the pavement to find the numbered plaques that correspond to numbered descriptions in the book. The book gives historical information about the landmarks, as well as visitor information, such as hours of operation. The idea is that tourists can explore the monuments at their own pace, skipping any they do not wish to visit. In other words, the ideal tour. “We came up with the idea of Silver Line because Prague has an extraordinary position of monuments,” said Jifií Ettler, a representative from Admen. “If you compare it with other cities, their monuments are farther apart. Prague’s nicest monuments are all concentrated on a small trail that is easy to go through on foot.” Limited success While business for Admen is generally slow, Ettler claims that sales are beginning to boom now that the company has solved a problem with the glue on the signs. “All of the signs are glued on the pavement and there was a problem with the cleaning machines destroying the signs,” said Ettler. “Now we have a higher quality glue and the signs are staying glued on. We check the trail every month to make sure the signs are all still there.”
But weak glue is likely not the only problem preventing Silver Line from having more success selling its guide books to the nearly four million tourists the Czech Tourism Authority reports visited Prague this past year alone. And not everyone in the tour guide business thinks it is a good idea. Michael Kroueil, manager of Prague Travel ltd., a travel agency that has specialized in walking tours for the past seven years— giving 11 tours to approximately 100 clients per day— does not think that Silver Line is a good idea. "Our clients prefer the personal contact with someone who knows about the city," he said. "You get a lot of questions and on the Silver Line tour you go around a lot of houses and buildings and you can't ask anyone about them. You only get what is in the book." Kroueil also cites technical reasons for Silver Line's lack of success. "The signs are not [very] visible, especially in the winter,” he said. “And the routes go around extended stops."
But Ranata Trostová, an employee of Athos Travel, which has been in business since 2001 and offers accommodations, sight-seeing tours, theater and concert tickets and concerts and rental cars, believes self-guided tours are a good idea if they are done right. "I think it is really useful for tourists," she said. "But I think it must contain all the information necessary about Prague, such as public transportation, accommodation, theaters and all the possible things that tourists have to know about sightseeing, bars, entertainment and that sort of thing." Based on the figures, tourists seem to prefer to spend from 250 to 1,000 kc for a personalized tour with a licensed guide rather than be limited to the information in a book. However, advertising is also a factor. "We have free maps at information points and flyers in hotels," Kroueil said. "Flyers are the most important." Silver Line has flyers as well, but without the high distribution levels that the successful guided tour companies have. Ettler refused to comment further on Admen's financial situation. “Our company has survived for five years, and I believe our company will continue to survive,” he said.
Ettler said his optimism is based on feedback from customers in the form of a short survey the company includes in the back of the Silver Line booklet. “We get a lot of positive feedback from our English speaking customers,” Ettler said. “They visit a lot of nice places that they didn’t know about from other tours." Admen also hopes to do better by transitioning into an incoming travel agency in the next few months. The company said Silver Line would be a major focus of the agency. “We are currently making connections with partners abroad to see what they would like to offer clients,” Ettler said.
About Silver Line What is it: A self-guided tour around Prague that follows silver plaques on the sidewalk When was it created: 2001 How many books have been sold: 7,000 Target market: English and German speaking tourists
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