Postcards from Poland
However, without the proper promotion or cooperation between governmental and non-governmental institutions, the Polish industry has lagged behind others in the region. New investment opportunities and institutional support are offering hope though, and tourism figures are on the rise
According to data from the Institute of Tourism in Poland, last year Poland was the 13th-most popular tourist destination in the world, while in 2005, the UN World Tourism Organization ranked it 15th. Kraków, the cultural capital of the country, was the fifth-most visited city in Europe last year, besting even Prague, the perennial favorite in the region.
Although the number of foreign tourists dropped around 2003, the figure is on the rise again, reaching around 17 million last year. According to the Ministry of Economy's draft "Strategy for Tourism Development in 2007-2013," between 2007-2013 the number of tourists should grow by 4.6 million, or 28 percent. In 2015, Poland is forecast to receive 21.8 million visitors and growth should continue from 2015-2020 at the rate of three percent annually.
Industry experts believe that this growth will be driven partly by global prosperity, but also by the growing attractiveness of Poland as a tourist destination. "We have everything that might interest a tourist: rich history and folklore, beautiful nature and a range of opportunities for active tourism," Jan Korsak, the president of the Polish Chamber of Tourism (PIT), told WBJ. He added that the whole branch accounts for almost nine percent of Polish GDP.
Catching up with the West
Attractive as these figures are, the question remains as to whether the state will make a large enough effort maximize the potential of tourism. Members of the industry complain that too few people - especially in the upper-levels of government administration - realize that tourism is a business like any other and that it needs a clear strategy, proper promotion and, above all, the will to compete for with other countries for tourists.
"We are aware of the distance between us and Western countries, especially in the area of promotion, because we did not treat it as business in the communist era," explains Jan Korsak. "The are many aspects of tourism we need to understand and invest in today." But it is not only Western countries that have a better developed tourist base, but other post-communist countries too, with the Czech Republic and Hungary as the most evident examples, says Korsak. "[Their authorities] know that every foreign tourist adds to the [country's] total export value," he concludes.
One of the biggest problems facing tourism is inefficient cooperation between national and local tourism institutions, experts note. "Everybody in this business functions on their own," complains Barbara Marchewka, the owner of Kraków-based Top Travel Service, an agency organizing trips for foreigners in Poland. "For example, it is practically impossible to obtain a calendar of events for the upcoming year or two, which is crucial in designing a trip schedule," she says.
One of most dire consequences of this disconnect is that potential visitors to Poland get little information on many remarkable places which are not as well known but have the potential to attract visitors in large numbers. Marian Matkowski of the Tourist Information Center in Leżajsk, in Podkarpackie voivodship, stresses that many of the foreign visitors who venture to the region, delighted as they are, admit that they arrived more or less accidentally, not having heard much about the region in advance.
Obstacles and optimism
The country's anaemic promotion of tourism is not just the result of poor coordination between administrative levels, however. In fact, much to the consternation of the industry, Poland as a whole lacks a coherent campaign to promote itself internationally, let alone a successful brand and image. However, any successful branding strategy needs to be preceded by careful research and specification of the target demographic. "We do not do not even know what type of foreign tourist comes here as no such research has been done on a national scale," Korsak remonstrates.
Another challenge to Polish tourism is the scarcity of properly qualified people. "We have plenty of tourism managers of various sorts, but lack people with sound knowledge of the area in which they could operate - competent guides, for example," explains Matkowski.
Despite these obstacles, Korsak believes the industry is heading in the right direction and, slowly but surely, changing for the better. Władysław Majka, the president of the Polish Tourist Organisation (POT), concurs. He says his organization has started working to make crucial improvements to Polish tourism, including the bettering of cooperation between institutions on various levels and preparation of an international promotional campaign.
"This year we launched the research project, and we will begin implementing reforms starting in 2008," says Majka.
Regional progress
In addition, although upper-level state institutions have much room for improvement, at the local level the picture is much brighter. "The regions are awake and they do have strategies for development which exist beyond a piece of paper," says Iwona Majewska, a project director with the Polish Tourism Development Agency (PART). She stresses that these areas are able to successfully brand and promote themselves at home and - by going to a whole range of foreign fairs - also abroad.
Regional efforts to promote local tourist resources are all the more important since most foreign tourists' knowledge of Poland is still limited to a few select areas of the country. According to Paweł Rytel, a sales director from Stay Poland, a travel agency specializing in bringing foreigners to Poland, the majority of the trips his office organizes includes Kraków, Warsaw, Częstochowa, Wrocław, and a few others. "Few people ask for more than that," admits Rytel.
But various regions are seeing more and more tourists too. For example, Leżajsk, one of the most important centers for Hasidism in the world, is attracting a growing number of Jewish visitors. In addition, Matkowski notes a significant amount of tourists from France, Germany, the US, Korea and Japan in the Podkarpackie region thanks to the Bernardine Order Monastery and Church Complex, as well as the International Organ and Chamber Music Festival held every year.
However, Matkowski notes that most tourists to small towns like Leżajsk stay for two to three hours only, which does not convert into impressive financial revenue for the region. Therefore a whole package of services needs to be developed to encourage tourists to spend more time in a given place.
Making Poland a viable brand
In fact, such integrated products are the top priority in Poland's tourism plans, says POT's Władysław Majka, especially given the huge potential for developing business and conference tourism. Package tours combining business with local cuisine, culture and history will give Poland a huge advantage in tourism, Majka suggests. Top Travel Service's Barbara Marchewka seconds that. "People are coming here to get to know something that they haven't seen yet," she explains. "The times when Poland was associated with storks only are over," she claims, adding that foreigners who come to Poland today are often surprised by the quality and innovativeness of conference tourism.
In order to flourish, Polish tourism requires investments in several areas. The most critical being transport infrastructure and accommodation. According to Krzysztof Łapiński, an expert from the Gdańsk Institute for Market Economics (IBnGR), the number of hotels in Poland is low, especially when it comes to low budget, one- and two-star hotels. The Ministry of Economy's "Strategy for Tourism Development in 2007-2013" calls for the number of hotels to increase by around 155,000 between now and 2013, and experts in the industry hope this target can be met.
There is also huge potential for investments in entertainment and culture. Industry insiders expect that this will be spurred by the changing profile of foreign tourists, and the Institute of Tourism claims that visitors will will be increasingly of the affluent variety.
According to predictions in "Strategy for Tourism Development in 2007-2013," the share of culture and entertainment in an average foreign tourist's expenditures will grow from 26.8 percent (in 2005) to 33.3 percent (in 2013). Moreover, the study reports that spending per foreign tourist is growing and will continue to do so. Between 2000 and 2006 the average expenditure per tourist grew from $137 (zł.378) to $167 (zł.461).
Forecasts indicate that tourism will continue to develop and attract more visitors each year, while, at the same time, a variety of secondary and tertiary industries are profiting. What remains is for the national, regional and local governments to make most of this prosperity.
