A Prague visitor attraction dedicated to Pilsner Urquell beer has been named Europe’s Leading Beer Tour Visitor Experience at the World Travel Awards for the second year running, and says British travellers make up a larger share of its guests than any other nationality.
Pilsner Urquell: The Original Beer Experience, known as TOBE, appears as the 2026 winner of the category on the World Travel Awards’ list of European winners. The awards were presented at the organisation’s Europe Gala Ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Kotor Bay Resort in Montenegro on 17 October, the first World Travel Awards ceremony held in the country in the programme’s 33-year history, Travel PR News reported.
The UK as lead market
According to TOBE, the UK remains its leading source market, accounting for almost 20 per cent of all guests, ahead of Germany, the United States and Italy.
The attraction said British visitors tend to decide on the spot: around 70 per cent book on the day, arriving directly at the ticket office. Among those who book in advance, four to fourteen days ahead is the most common window, it said.
While its main tour remains the most popular choice, TOBE said British visitors are increasingly combining it with the Tapster Academy, a session in which visitors learn to pour the beer themselves.
Those figures sit against a busy picture for Prague as a whole. The Czech capital received 8,271,962 visitors in 2025, up 3 per cent on 2024, according to Prague City Tourism, which cited figures from the Czech Statistical Office. The UK was the city’s third-largest source of international arrivals, with 500,645 visitors, behind Germany with 981,817 and the United States with 507,117. Visitors stayed an average of 2.3 nights.
František Cipro, chair of the Prague City Tourism board, said at the time: “We are seeing strong demand for high-quality accommodation, cuisine, and experiences.”
What the attraction is
TOBE occupies a building on Wenceslas Square in the centre of Prague and tells the story of Pilsner Urquell, which it describes as the world’s first golden lager. The beer was first brewed in the western Czech city of Plzeň in 1842.
According to the attraction’s operators, TOBE opened in May 2023 and has since welcomed visitors from more than 130 countries, becoming one of Prague’s five most visited attractions. Its standard tour lasts between 60 and 90 minutes and includes two beers or soft drinks, while the Tapster Academy adds about an hour and ends with a certificate.
The road to a world title
The European win qualifies TOBE for the World’s Leading Beer Tour Visitor Experience category, a global title it took in 2025, in only its second year since opening. In 2025 the global shortlist included attractions such as Amsterdam’s Heineken Experience and Dublin’s Guinness Storehouse, according to the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which reported on the attraction’s 2025 European win.
The World Travel Awards, established in 1993, run a series of regional ceremonies each year before a worldwide final. The Kotor gala was the last regional stop of the 2026 programme, which will conclude with a Grand Final in Tanzania, according to Travel PR News. Earlier ceremonies this year took place in Zanzibar, Dubai, the Maldives and Jamaica.
At the Kotor ceremony, Portugal was named Europe’s Leading Destination, while Kotor and Montenegro won awards as emerging and nature destinations, Travel PR News reported.
TOBE said the reliance on walk-up British visitors is the reason it focuses on delivering the same standard on every tour, from the first of the day to the last. The attraction added that the four-to-fourteen-day booking pattern among those who do plan ahead offers an opening for travel agents and tour operators to include the visit in pre-booked Prague itineraries.