Positive news but improvements can be achieved

Positive news has reached us during this winter break. Fewer students – only 900 compared to 8,000 the previous years – have chosen to go to Prague. The in general xenophobic population down there did send a message to tourists stating that they were not welcome in their town.

Still – 900 are too many. This number needs to be dropped so the students can party in Denmark where the taxation and the revenue from the sale of alcohol will benefit the Danish citizens and the industry which produce it. It is really a question about maintaining the employment rate.

Hopefully 2016 would be the year no Danish student will go abroad. There never was any cultural or internationally benefit from these trips. The marketing material provided from the Hotels showed a country without nothing other but pubs, bars and disco parties too offer. It was that culture which sold the Czech Republic and it proved to be false marketing.

It is kind of sad that the 900 students will experience a bad week but it is with these trips like Nigerian scam letters. There will always be some victims. It is question about informing the consumers hoping to make them aware of the dangers but you will never reach them all.

These years with many students abroad will result in a political reaction later this year where the Danish voters will be asked to enter a closer relationship with the European Union regarding police work and extradition processes. The shameful process where some students were sentenced to pay for damages despite the fact that they had escaped the Czech Republic has resulted in a massive outrage against any closer co-corporation with the European Union. It seems that something good would come from the ordeal the Danish students have been put through down there.

But for now we will just enjoy the fact that the Danish students will buy Danish when it comes to spending money on their winter break.

Prague cheats tourists

We have learned that several teenagers have been asked to leave various night clubs despite the fact that they have purchased party packages.

It seems that the police works in the spirit of Ludmila Brožová-Polednová who was the icon for law and order shortly after World War II.

It leaves the tourist no reason for choosing Prague and the Czech Republic as destination for holidays. We urge all Danes not to purchase trips to the Czech Republic in the future.

A contract is a contract. A deal is a deal. Will they not deliver what they promised to sell then the only answer but be to sue both the traveling agencies, the hotel.

We also urge all Danes who is in Prague right now to make videos and document the arrest procedure and publish the abuse on the Internet to warn tourists from other countries to stay away from the Czech republic also.


Sources:

• 17-årig i Prag: De tjekker os i hoved og r.. (Metroxpress - in Danish)
• Danskere i Prag: Politiet går helt over gevind (Metroxpress - in Danish)

New legislation will curb binge drinking holidays

Fact is that countries with less developed alcohol culture have difficulties housing Danish tourists - mostly youth tourists - who have been educated in partying by reality series like "Paradise Hotel" and "The Kings". Our parliament has been concerned by the lack of responsibility from Travel Agencies, foreign Hotels and authorities who by use of aggressive marketing has sold various destinations as the perfect destination for a binge drinking holiday.

The new marketing laws will ban use of photos with partying or happy youth if the expected target group is below 18 because smiles and joy is considered equal binge drinking.

The cost of these changes in legislation will be loss of estimated 500-1,000 jobs within the travel industry, but if Denmark keeps 10,000 youth from leaving the country for an entire week jobs is expected to be created in other businesses. Secondly the risk of ethnical polluting will also be lowered. Ethnical polluting has caused a rise in crime in Denmark for the last 20-30 years so the outcome of the laws could be positive.

For some of the travel destinations youths have used the laws means that re-branding is necessary. Countries like Bulgaria and the Czech Republic which have sold themselves as binge drinking destinations will lose their business entirely and will have to start over with their marketing.

The laws brings Denmark a unique chance for our country to raise a generation who are less influences by foreign cultures leaving them to be influenced by our superior culture only. While 10,000 students will lose out of traveling abroad starting year 2014 the long-term consequences look bright.

Sources:

• Nyt lovforslag om skærpelse af forbuddet mod alkoholrelateret markedsføring rettet mod børn og unge under 18 år (In Danish)
• Kongerne af Marielyst (In Danish)
• Paradise Hotel - Wikipedia (In Danish)

Update on a previous post from February

In February we warned parents against sending their children on trips to the Czech Republic. They had very little understanding of our advanced and superior culture.

Now it went wrong again because people did ignore our warning. Due to verbal misunderstandings negotiations in a shop turned out to be a robbery in the mindset of the local police. Several websites warn against doing such a normal thing like taking a cab to a destination. Interaction with local cab drivers should be avoided. When taking the experiences the two Danish boys had, all interaction with the local people should be avoided.

It was not only the two students who were arrested. Also a third boy who witnesses a police action looking like something from the times before the wall fell protested the violent nature of the arrest so he was arrested too. With help from our Embassy he was able to escape this country without charges.

The two boys were released on bail and were able to return to Denmark. Back home their chance of an education is now lost. Not only do they have to fight the rest of their life with post traumatic stress disorder as result of the arrest. The school had no other choice but to expel them based on their confession obtained under indescribable conditions in Prague.

The school is under pressure in this matter. The Danish public is still in shock over a recent death in Los Angeles and the beer case in Berlin. Never before has the concept of sending students on trips abroad been under such a pressure. According to the website Exchange Student Information the death in California was a direct result of a failed policy on alcohol where students have to be bussed around the town in order to socialize.

It is time for parents to stand up and demand a total stop for letting minors participate in trips abroad arranged by schools. One family has already lost their son abroad. We don't need more of these tragedies.

References:
Elever begik væbnet røveri på studietur (Nordjyske Tidende, November 8, 2010)
Uddannelseschef: En rigtig træls sag (Nordjyske Tidende, November 8, 2010)
Er Prag Sikker? Word Escape
Update on the tragedy in California (Exchange Student Info, November 1, 2010)