Following its weekly cabinet session on 21 September 2026, the Czech government approved the long-rumoured merger of national tourist-board CzechTourism with investment agency CzechBusiness. The combined body, whose working title is “Czechia Mobility & Investment Agency,” will assume responsibility for marketing the country abroad, managing incentive schemes for conventions, and acting as a one-stop shop for international investors relocating staff. Officials argue that splitting promotion across two agencies created overlap and confusion, particularly for multinational companies planning site visits or short-term assignments. By pooling a CZK 1.4 billion annual budget and integrating data platforms, the new entity promises faster visa-support letters, harmonised MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) grants and unified country branding. The agency will report jointly to the Ministry for Industry & Trade and the Ministry for Regional Development, with a dual KPI structure covering both tourist arrivals and high-value job creation. For corporate mobility teams the practical upside is a “single window” for securing endorsement letters often required when applying for employee cards, intra-company transfer permits or digital-nomad visas. The agency will also inherit CzechTourism’s online accommodation-statistics portal, which is to be expanded to include anonymised data on business-traveller length of stay and spending – information HR departments can use for cost-of-living and per-diem benchmarking. However, the decision also triggers a complex HR integration affecting 420 employees across Prague, Brno and foreign representative offices in 14 countries. Trade unions have already requested guarantees that regional visitor centres will not be closed. From a governance perspective, the new body must align two different procurement frameworks and IT systems before the legal merger date of 1 April 2027 – a tight timeline reminiscent of the 2012 creation of CzechInvest. In the medium term, observers expect the agency to lobby for fast-track Schengen visa issuance for event delegates, and to co-finance digital-entry-gate infrastructure at Prague and Brno airports. Mobility managers should therefore monitor implementing decrees, as these could simplify paperwork – or, if delayed, create a temporary processing backlog.
