Budějovice Exhibition Center will rebuild the pavilions, investing 200 million CZK

České Budějovice – The exhibition grounds in České Budějovice will convert pavilion Z into an exhibition and congress center. The capacity will be 1,200 people. The pavilion's facilities are intended to be used during the Czech presidency of the EU in 2022. The work is expected to be completed by the summer of 2021, and pavilion Z will be opened by the company at the next edition of the agricultural fair Země živitelka. The exhibition grounds will also build two restaurants and renovate pavilions R1, R2, and R3. The costs will be 200 million CZK. This was stated to journalists today by Minister of Agriculture Miroslav Toman (for the ČSSD) and representatives of the exhibition grounds.

"We are interested in developing the exhibition grounds. We want to take advantage of the fact that this year, unfortunately (due to the coronavirus), Země živitelka is not taking place, to modernize, improve the engineering networks, and the pavilions," said Toman. The long-term plan includes a new exhibition hall on the footprint of the former amphitheater.

The management of the exhibition grounds is preparing ten investment projects. The renovation of pavilion Z is the main one. "We want to hold precision conferences there, while preserving the original architecture," said the chairman of the board of the exhibition grounds, Mojmír Severin.

New restaurants Rybářská bašta and Klas will also be built, along with new outdoor areas and renovations of pavilions R1, R2, and R3. According to last year's information, the exhibition grounds plans to build a new entrance gate and driveway within eight years, demolish some pavilions, and construct a parking lot for up to 800 cars. The investment will not exceed 300 million CZK, with about 30 percent of the costs intended to be covered by the company's own resources, and the rest through bank loans, Severin stated earlier. Last year, the company invested 7.5 million. The company already demolished pavilions E and F last year.

The Exhibition Grounds in České Budějovice will also introduce entry turnstiles that can count visitors. "Not only will this allow a significant portion of the tickets to be shifted to the online space, but it will also enable counting visitors in individual sectors within the current epidemiological measures," said Severin.

Last year, the exhibition grounds recovered from a loss of 3.3 million after tax in 2019 to a profit of 1.2 million CZK. Its revenues increased by four percent last year to 78.9 million CZK, according to the annual report.

The exhibition area covers 25 hectares, with an exhibition space of 6,000 m². The largest event is the agricultural fair Země živitelka, which attracted 123,017 paying visitors, experts, and guests last year. This year's event has been canceled due to the coronavirus, with losses in revenue expected to exceed 50 million, Severin told ČTK earlier. Accommodation providers in the region have thus lost about 80,000 overnight stays, said Jaromír Polášek, director of the South Bohemian Tourism Board, to ČTK today.

The founder of the exhibition grounds, which employs about 40 people, is the Czech Land Fund. The sole shareholder is the Agricultural and Forestry Support and Guarantee Fund.