The guide to Brno, which sparked discontent, has already sold 2000 copies

Brno - The tourist guide "This is Brno," which hit the market last Saturday and caused discontent among mayors of some surrounding municipalities, has already sold 2000 copies. This accounts for two-thirds of the print run. Starting Tuesday, it is sold with a bookmark that must be cut in order for the reader to access the ironic chapter about the surroundings of Brno. It informs readers that it is not an official guide, but rather authored texts that do not represent the official stance of the city towards surrounding municipalities, said ČTK spokesperson of the Brno Tourist Information Center (TIC), Gabriela Peringerová. This city contribution organization is the publisher of the successful guide.

The author of the chapter about the surroundings of Brno, Stanislav Biler, described a few towns and municipalities from his perspective in several sentences, which caused an uproar. He characterized Kuřim as a specific variation of a labor camp, with the dominant feature being the road passing through the town, Blansko is, according to him, a city where nothingness, depression, and emptiness fall upon a person, and Rousínov is, in his opinion, interesting only for being the seat of a manufacturer of slot machines.

The mayor of Brno, Petr Vokřál (ANO), and the director of TIC, Jana Janulíková, consider the only problem to be that the text is unbalanced compared to the texts about Brno and contains only negative aspects; otherwise, they rate it as excellent. However, according to Biler, mayors should not complain about the guide but rather do something with their city to make it genuinely interesting.

Janulíková admitted that TIC has somewhat pushed the marketing boundaries, which has paid off judging by the sales numbers. Sales of 2000 copies in a week, especially for a regionally-themed book, is rather exceptional. "Moreover, orders from the e-shop are still coming in. We are now considering a reprint," said Peringerová. They are also considering options for what to add in the reprint. One possibility is to expand the text about surrounding municipalities to make it more balanced. Both Vokřál and Janulíková rejected alterations to the original text.

The guide sells for 119 crowns. The costs of its creation amounted to 150,000 crowns excluding VAT and an additional 125,500 crowns for printing. "They are calculated in a way that they will be recouped through sales," noted Peringerová.

Vokřál said on Monday that he distances himself from the ironic descriptions of the surroundings of Brno, apologized to the affected mayors, and added that it was not the aim to discredit these towns. "We are targeting a specific group of tourists who do not visit typical sights, but the city can be interesting for them precisely because there is nothing interesting in it. They are the so-called travelers," said Janulíková.