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Tourism in Poland to improve due to summer domestic travel, say analysts

Marcin Bielecki/PAP

Poland’s tourism sector can expect a much better summer season this year than last, mainly due to domestic tourism, according to the Polish Economic Institute (PIE).

PIE said that thanks to the growing number of vaccinated people and a good domestic financial situation “we can expect a growth in the number of tourists in comparison with a year earlier.”

“In 2021 – assuming a rebound in tourist traffic at the level of 90 percent in July and August and a slowdown of traffic in the autumn months – we can expect 20 million tourists,” PIE wrote.

In the PIE ‘PIE Economic Weekly’ analysts reported that in 2020, the number of overnight stays in Poland stood at 17.9 million, representing a fall of 50 percent on the previous year when 35.7 million visitors stayed overnight.

The forecast recovery will be based primarily on domestic tourism. PIE noted that in 2019, 79 percent of people staying overnight in Poland were Poles.

In 2020, 2.3 million foreign tourists stayed overnight – 70 percent fewer than a year earlier, and “represented only 13 percent of the people who stayed overnight in our country,” PIE wrote.

PIE analysts expect the low share of foreign visitors will be maintained not only in 2021 but also in 2022. “A return of international tourists to the pre-pandemic norm will occur no earlier than in 2023,” PIE predicted, citing forecast data from the International Tourism Organisation.

According to PIE, foreign guests were the most lucrative for the Polish tourism sector. In 2018, on average they spent PLN 1,760 (EUR 394.34) while the average spending by domestic tourists was PLN 996 (EUR 223.16).

“The loss of income in the tourist sector will be greater than the expected fall in tourist traffic,” PIE explained.

In the institute’s assessment, this year, like last, “the rebound in tourist traffic will be greatest in typical tourist destinations,” i.e. in the Warmia and Mazury lake district, and in the northern coastal Zachodniopomorskie and Pomorskie provinces.

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