Top attraction
Between May 2005 and May 2006 the number of passengers flying to and from Gdańsk doubled. Last year the Gdańsk airport noted some eight percent of passengers had a foreign passport. Now the figure is at 15 percent and is systematically rising. Despite being an off-peak season, the spring of 2006 saw a rise of some two percent month on month.
Previously unattractive destinations seem now to be in fashion. "The connection with Stockholm is quite surprising. Only a couple of years ago a small airline wanted to launch this connection but it didn't pay off. Now there are two carriers flying there almost at the same time and have around 70 percent occupancy," says Włodzimierz Machczyński, president of Lech Wałęsa Airport in Gdańsk.
Currently the Gdańsk airport offers regular connections with 16 destinations across Europe. According to Sławomir Spasik, director of the Pomeranian Regional Tourist Organization (PROT), the number of tourists from the British Isles, Scandinavia and other EU countries is catching up with the number of German visitors, traditionally the largest group. "If you walk along Długi Targ street you can hear Italians, Spanish or even Asians," he adds.
Apart from Warsaw and Kraków, Gdańsk has always been among the most frequently visited cities in Poland. Now hotels, restaurants and travel agencies have begun working together and are coming up with an increasing number of initiatives and attractive tourist products. Ferry lines have also intensified their connections.
According to the Institute of Tourism (IT), the number of foreign visitors reached 900,000 in 2005. "Pomorskie voivodship is one of the few regions where standard tourism is much more common than business tourism," says IT's Witold Bartoszewicz.
Marzena Wanagos, director of the Culture, Sport and Tourism Department at the Marshal's Office of Pomorskie Voivodship says that Germans comprise about 50-percent of the total number of tourists, other EU countries 20-percent, new EU member states about 10 percent and Russia also about 10 percent. "In terms of growth dynamics Pomorskie voivoidship is the leader [of all voivodships] with a 20-percent increase from Germany and a 60-percent increase from other EU countries," says Wanagos.
The tourists are getting younger. "Sentimental tourism is coming to an end and now more young people are interested in visiting the city," says PROT's Spasik. "About 60 percent of all visitors are under 35 and around 35 percent under 25 years old," adds Wanagos.
