When your tour guide says, “Please make way so everyone can have a look at the IT department”, outside the Muncipal Corporation, you know this is no regular tour. Or even better, how about, “The Czech Republic is experiencing strong and stable growth in corruption, and that’s why it’s a good area for developing tourism” or “We hope Czech corruption will make it on the UNESCO cultural list like the Tango in Argentina.”

That pretty much sums up the spirit behind Corrupt Tour Travel Agency, the brainchild of Petr Šourek and Pavel Kotyza. “People are tired of stories about Charles IV,” said Petr Šourek. “I had a friend come visit not long ago, and he wanted to see the street where Reinhard Heydrich [Acting Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia], was shot more than the castle. People are more interested in the political culture of the countries they visit these days.”

They ‘started-up’ in Prague, and constantly update their offerings with the latest scandals. The tours include: “The Prague Crony Safari”, which is a ‘safari of the habitats of cronies in the wild’ and “Hospitals on the Edge of Low”, its medical corruption tour of ‘Three Prague hospitals notorious for graft and sleaze.’ The tours are now offered in three languages: Czech, German and English; and you can pick between a bus and walking tour.

With a background in theater and translation, Šourek’s satirical guides’ scripts spoofing Czech corruption is a real tourist draw not only as a fun, alternative tour experience, but also enlightens on the mechanics of corruption as a practice.

They can have plans of expanding. Can you think of places in your city that could be added to a Corrupt Tour itinerary?? Let us know in the comments section!