Poles look to rural idylls
By : Juliet D. Golden
It's summer and people are on the move. A decade after the fall of communism, more Poles are being bitten by the wanderlust bug and heading off to some of the world's more exotic holiday spots.
But while many people like to get away to foreign climes, others are looking closer to home to more unusual vacation destinations and for Poles the latest byword for rural retreats is agrotourism.
During the past decade, farmers across the country have been refitting their farms into swank guesthouses. It's a move that many Poles are already sold on. But these new rural idylls are also attracting tourists from further afield from Germany, for example.
"Agrotourism is developing dynamically," said Elzbieta Ulatowska, an adviser at the regional agricultural advisory center in Klodzko in southwest Poland. "Today there are more than 100 agrotourism farms in the Klodzko region." Nine years ago only 10 agrotourism lodges were functioning in the former Walbrzych voivodship, she said.
These changes in the southwest also mirror an explosion of agrotourism nationally. While in 1990, 590 guesthouses were operating on farms, today that number has increased to 7,600, according to the Agriculture Ministry.
This growth in the number of agrotourism destinations could also spur an even faster development of rural Poland into a recreation spot of choice for many Poles. By 2005, the Agriculture Ministry estimates that more 25,000 rural homes will offer some form of tourist services that will cater to about 1.6 million urban Poles.
But while agrotourism is helping Poles find free time closer to home, it's also improving the lot of farmers in the country's bloated agriculture sector, hard hit by a decade of free market reforms. With 25% of the workforce located in rural Poland, for many farmers agrotourism has made the difference between making ends meet or falling into the poverty trap.
"Today, agrotourism is the leading alternative (source of income) for farmers," said Ryszard Kalinski, a goat farmer from Nowy Gieraltow in the Klodzko valley. "If it weren't for agrotourism, me and my wife would have to take up two jobs in the commune." Kalinski's farm is in the Klodzko powiat (county) where unemployment is above 22%.
Rural tourism today offers about 15,000 jobs in the countryside and that number could increase four-fold over the next five years, according to the Agriculture Ministry.
But while agrotourism may prove a palliative for Polish farmers, agriculture specialists warn against overemphasizing the role the trade offers in bringing about deeper changes in rural areas. "Agrotourism is not a panacea," said Henryka Cygan, a rural specialist at the national advisory center for the development of agriculture and rural areas in Krakow.
Making ends meet
While agrotourism may not be a miracle elixir, it has been a key source of income for many homes. The added income not only helps pay the bills, it also keeps often isolated farming communities in touch with the outside world.
For Maria Jasnikowska, the money she brings in from her guests helps supplement her zl. 405 monthly retirement payments and keeps her connected with the world outside. "You can't say that this (brings in) enormous profit, but it allows contact with people and a better life," Jasnikowska said. "I also hear a lot of nice things about my cooking."
For full-time professional farmers, agrotourism has helped supplement income when the going gets rough. Such is the case for dairy farmer Tadeusz Harlukowicz, who runs an upscale agrotourism operation in Radkow, near the Czech border. For the past three months, he has received no payments for milk delivered to the dairy he supplies in Walbrzych. Income from agrotourism makes sure the bills get paid and the farm stays afloat. "With agrotourism you get cash and you have money on a daily basis," Harlukowicz said. "But I still hope that I will make money from agriculture."
Thanks to agrotourism, since 1991 Harlukowicz has been able to invest about DM 10,000 a year to improve his dairy production and tourist facilities. Part of the farmhouse is being converted into luxury holiday apartments equipped with private bathrooms, saunas, kitchens and bedrooms. The majority of Harlukowicz's guests are from Germany and they pay about DM 25 a night to stay.
For Kalinski, in Nowy Gieraltow, agrotourism has not only helped keep his farm afloat, it has also enabled him to reshape his farming business into a modern enterprise.
Unable to compete with high-quality, cheap wool imports from Australia, in 1988 Kalinski decided to get rid of his 200 head of sheep and move into the goat business. To supplement income at the same time, Kalinski opened his home to families looking to spend time on a farm in the mountains. Located near ski resorts, Kalinski's farm is especially popular in the winter.
But the attractiveness of the location has meant that the agrotourism business has eclipsed his farming activities.
"In mountain conditions, I can't have a large herd even though I have 22 hectares," Kalinski said. "I would have to invest in milk processing and such investments are too risky today in Poland."
Instead of investing in his goat business, in 1995 Kalinski took out a zl. 30,000 loan to upgrade three separate tourist apartments that house about five people each. The work is netting results. This month his agrotourism lodge is running at full capacity. Also, two weeks ago, Kalinski's lodge was named the best agrotourism operation in the Klodzko valley at an agrotourism festival held in Szczytna. And Kalinski is looking to make further expansions. Once the first loan is paid off this year, Kalinski will take out a second loan of zl. 40,000 that will allow him to build a guest dining room. "Agrotourism is becoming my main source of income," Kalinski said.
Getting started
Agrotourism has also transformed the 20-hectare farm of Marian Gancarski, who runs the Skansen-Mini-Zoo agrotourism farm in Wambierzyce, also located in the Klodzko valley. Since opening to tourism in 1992, Gancarski has focused on tending to guests and expanding his lodging facilities. He is building an outdoor museum and zoo that features deer, ostriches, wild boar and Vietnamese pot bellied pigs.
"I am sort of a pseudo farmer, because I barely work in the fields anymore," Gancarski said. "But this is still a farm, but is focused on a different type of production."
Change has brought modest fame and fortune to Garncarski, something that could not have been achieved had he maintained his more traditional farming role. Two years ago, Gancarski's farm was named the best agrotourism outfit in the country. Since opening up eight years ago, he has been able to invest roughly zl. 100,000 to improve the standard of his hotel operations.
While Gancarski's tourism venture is a success, making it work was not always easy, especially at the beginning. One of the key obstacles for Gancarski was adapting his farm into a comfortable and clean lodging facility where even the most demanding guests feel at home.
"Rooms can be (decorated) in an old style with old furniture, but they have to be clean," Gancarski said. "At the beginning those were difficult things for me, but slowly you get used to them."
Gancarski received assistance in sprucing up his farm from local sanitation inspectors and with the help of advisers from the regional agriculture advisory center in Klodzko. It was advisers from the center who talked Gancarski into opening his agrotourist establishment.
The Klodzko agriculture advisory center trains about 200 farmers a year in agrotourism. Farmers learn everything about setting up and running a tourist operation. Farmers also receive special training related to specific legal and tax regulations governing agrotourism.
Agriculture advisers also help farmers promote their tourist ventures. Over the past eight years, the Bieszczady guest farms association, for example, has promoted agrotourism in the Bieszczady region at 35 tourism trade fairs around the country, according to Andrzej Gasiorowski, a member of the association and an adviser to one of the regional agriculture advisory centers. The Bieszczady guest farm association groups together 244 agrotourism farms in the regions. In addition, farmers can advertise their guest houses on the association's internet page (www.gapp.pl/ bieszczady), Gasiorowski said.
Renewing old contacts
The marketing effort seems to be paying off. In the former Walbrzych, Jelenia Gora and Legnica voivodships, 256 agrotourism farms pull in more than 100,000 tourists a year, according to Ulatowska from Klodzko's regional agricultural advisory center. Some 15% of the tourists come from outside Poland, Ulatowska said.
Some farmers have a devoted clientele who make return visits. This summer Diana and Janusz Szoltysek, from Czerwionka in Upper Silesia, have made their third trip back to Gancarski's farm. Along with their three-year-old daughter, Klaudia, the couple will spend two weeks with two other couples who have also become fans of Gancarski's rural retreat.
For Diana Szoltysek, two weeks on the farm is an ideal getaway from Upper Silesia, where she works in a bank and her husband is a miner.
"There is peace and quiet here," Szoltysek said. "Upper Silesia is so crowded and there aren't many places with so few people."
Staying on the farm also allows the family to benefit from fresh food. "The milk comes directly from the cow," Diana Szoltysek said. "We've probably gained three kilos from the milk alone. It's fattening, but for the child it's better."
While agrotourism po polsku might be taking hold as a viable vacation option for foreign and Polish travelers, the long-term success of the venture on a national scale depends largely on whether the government will maintain tax incentives for farmers who operate agrotourism lodges, farmers said.
Under present laws, farmers are exempt from income tax on their agrotourism operations if they have at least one hectare of land and if the number of guestrooms does not exceed five. Rumors of potential changes in the law have farmers up in arms." If this changes, that would be a blow for agrotourism and for the restructuring of rural Poland," Kalinski said.
The absence of income tax is important to give cash-strapped farmers a chance to use the inflow of money from tourism, to reinvest in their farm. "These are costly investments," Kalinski said.
He added that he's not against paying the taxes, but considers that farmers across Poland need more leeway to invest in their operations. "Let's focus on development right now," Kalinski said. "Maybe then, in five years, when I finish the investments I will be able to pay the taxes."
According to the Finance Ministry, there are no plans to undo tax benefits for agrotourist farmers.
