Czechs welcome visa-free travel, some with reserve (Roundup)

By Katerina Zachovalova Oct 17, 2008, 18:53 GMT

Prague - Czech officials and travel agents welcomed Washington's decision, announced Friday by US President George W Bush, to allow Czechs to travel to the United States without visas.

But some citizens said the new policy, set to go into effect within a month, came too late.

'It is virtually the largest success we could have achieved. It lifts the last relic of communism and the Cold War. I am thus very happy,' Czech Prime Minister Topolanek said in a statement.

Some Czechs pointed out that the relic held out for a long 19 years.

'I would say: finally,' said 32-year-old Prague-based writer Barbora Drevikovska.

'Many people will not be impressed. The era of the hurrah travel to America is over. It should have come earlier.'

Czech officials have earlier signaled that the visas could be lifted on November 17, the anniversary of a student march that led to the peaceful fall of communism in then Czechoslovakia, known as the Velvet Revolution.

Despite such grumbling, Czech travel agencies expect a boom in US tourism next year.

'We expect a significant double-digit growth in Czech tourists' interest in US travel,' the Association of Czech Travel Agencies said in a statement.

Earlier this year, the Czech Republic, tired of waiting for European Union's help with lifting the US visa requirement, broke ranks with Brussels and signed a bilateral deal with Washington that paved way for Bush's announcement.

The step angered EU officials, who called for a common visa policy.

The Czechs then agreed to stricter rules for visa-free travel to the United States than those already in place for the EU's western European members.

US security requirements put off Drevikovska, who has undergone the bureaucratic procedure to obtain a US tourist visa.

'You don't need to stand in lines but you still must hand over your biometric data. I don't like that,' she said.