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Although Czech politicians have made soothing sounds about the impact of stricter EU sanctions on Czech business, the risk of counter measure from Moscow are a source of concern.

While Czechs are among Europe’s most prodigious consumers of beer, the percentage sold in the country’s pubs has fallen to a historic low. This has led breweries to push their own branded restaurants, linking the pub experience to sport and quality dining and introducing other innovations, the newspaper Hospodářské noviny reported on Wednesday.

Prague’s Václav Havel International Airport will undergo a makeover of one of its key areas and terminals to be able to accommodate giant Airbus A380s. In the past the plane has landed three times at the airport but regular flights, to begin from Seoul next summer, would stretch the airport beyond its capacity and would threaten delays. The airport plans to see renovation at the cost of 154 million crowns to be complete ahead of next summer.

While the Czech Republic has made an enormous investment in tourism in recent years, the injection of funds has failed to yield positive results, according to a new report.

Stepping up refinery activity after just taking a massive hit from the struggling sector might at first glance seem a puzzling strategy. But the Polish overlords of most of the Czech refinery and petro-chemical sector believe they can turnaround the business as they prepare to take over full management control. But they say a little help from the Czech government would not go amiss.

The Czech Republic is set to get its first high-speed rail line, iHned.cz reported on Thursday. Under a Ministry of Transport plan, work on the line between Brno and the nearby town of Přerov will get underway at the end of this decade, the news site said.

The Chinese state-owned enterprise China Railway Signal & Communication Corporation has signed a deal to buy a majority stake in the Inekon Group from its founder Josef Hušek. Inekon, a Czech tram producer, will thus receive a marked financial boost and a strong foothold in the Chinese market. In addition to trams, it will provide know-how at a new production facility just built.

Czech Airlines shifted its strategy to concentrate on flights to Russia and former Soviet states as the West European market turned sour. For several years the switch paid off but now the market to former Soviet states is also depressed.

According to the daily Právo, Czechs most often take loans to buy home appliances, renovate their apartment, pay off earlier debts, or buy a car. But every spring and summer, there is a rise in a number of those willing to take loans to pay for upcoming vacations, by the sea, and sometimes more exotic locations. Experts warn taking loans for vacations is often not a good idea: some two percent of Czechs who do, often find themselves in financial difficulties afterwards, having trouble paying off their debts.

Czechs this week joined other central and eastern European countries in rolling out a new virtual currency called Czech Crown Coin (the CZC), a local alternative to other virtual currencies like the worldwide Bitcoin. The aim is to provide a Czech alternative for transactions and to boost support for online business.