Tourism in Poland Following EU Entry
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Bulletin of Geography. Socio–economic Series No. 22 (2013): 55–63 Bulletin of GeoGraphy. Socio–economic SerieS journal homepages: http://www.bulletinofgeography.umk.pl http://versita.com/bgss ISSN 1732–4254 quarterly tourism in poland following EU entry izabela KaperacDFMR University School of Physical Education in Cracow, Department of Tourism and Leisure, Jana Pawła II 78, 31-571 Kraków, Poland, phone: +48 600 630 159; e-mail: [email protected] Kapera, I., 2013: Tourism in Poland following EU entry. In: Szymańska, D. and Biegańska, J. editors, Bulletin of Geography. Socio- economic Series, No. 22, Toruń: Nicolaus Copernicus University Press, pp. 55–63, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/bog-2013-0031 abstract. The aim of this study was to examine how tourism developed in Poland article details: following EU entry. A particularly large increase in local government spending on Received: 21 February 2013 tourism and foreign tourist expenditures have been observed for the study period Revised: 11 May 2013 in Poland. An increase in passenger volume at Polish airports has also been ob- Accepted: 29 May 2013 served. Among the many factors influencing the situation in the domestic tour- ism market, regulations relating to EU entry and the inflow of grants from the EU were of leading importance. At the same time, Poland’s entry into the EU may ac- celerate some change processes, the effects of which may be observed in the future. Key words: © 2013 Nicolaus Copernicus University Press. All rights reserved. EU, Poland, tourism. contents: 1. Introduction . 55 2. Materials and methods . 56 3. Research results . 57 4. Discussion and conclusion . 61 References . 61 effect on commerce and social development in Po- 1. Introduction land and its neighbors. These influences arise from the specificities of the geographic location of Po- Poland has been a part of the EU since May 1, 2004. land and its historically multiethnic, multilingual Tourism in Poland and in other post-communist and multicultural character. On the other hand, the countries has been a key contributor to the countries’ evolution of socio-economic structures has also in- economies thanks to EU integration (Šabić, Pavlović, fluenced the characteristics of Poland’s geographic 2007; Hołowiecka, Grzelak-Kostulska, 2013). location. The politically complicated geographic lo- The geography of Poland is determined by its lo- cation of Poland has been a fundamental factor in cation in Central Europe and that fact has a strong its social development (Šabić, Pavlović, 2006). © 2013 Nicolaus Copernicus University Press. All rights reserved. 56 Izabela Kapera / Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series 22 (2013): 55–63 Research on tourism and the integration of proc- interpreted and conclusions presented. At the same esses within EU countries, in addition to outlining time, studies prepared by the Polish Ministry of the role that tourism plays in the European econo- Sport and Tourism and the Ministry of Regional my, often pays attention to systems created for tour- Development proved to be useful. The documen- ists in connection with EU entry including a single tary test method was supplemented by the anal- currency and the expansion of low-cost airlines ysis and logical design method, which was based (Åkerhielm et.al., 2003). It also raises the issue of on the separation of the different parts of the re- influx of EU funds, which often go to the tourism search problem, and then the examination of each industry. Detailed analysis of programs realized in part. Therefore, three main issues were separated. 1994–1999 and 2000–2006 via Structural Funds has First, each part was characterized based on select- shown that many member states’ tourism invest- ed changes that have taken place in the country ment seems to be more intensive than their tour- following EU entry, taking into account data asso- ism potential or the role that tourism has played in ciated with tourist traffic and landscape tourism. their economies (Butowski, 2010). In the case of Po- Second, local government expenditures on tour- land, the importance of EU funds is also a key issue ism were considered. Third, the inflow of EU funds (Batyk, Smoczyński, 2010). The authors point to the and their importance for the development of tour- role of tourism projects co-financed by the Europe- ism were analysed. Fourth, other issues related to an Social Fund and the Polish government, where EU integration were analysed including legal con- one of the objectives was to increase the competi- siderations, inclusion of Poland in the Schengen un- tiveness of the tourism industry in Poland and to restricted travel zone, and the expansion of low-cost create regional tourist offerings using a network for- airlines. The final stage was a synthesis of all rel- mula (Batyk, Smoczyński, 2010). Quite a lot of at- evant issues, which allowed survey respondents to tention has been paid to the harmonization of EU combine different elements together. The analysis of law with Polish law in the field of tourism (Jarmul changes taking place in Polish tourism following EU et.al., 2003). Other tourist concepts from the 1990s integration was carried out on the basis of select- and 2000s are also illustrated including stag tour ed issues. Therefore, it is not possible to describe groups, which were drawn to Central and East- all aspects of this subject, as tourism is interdisci- ern European cities by the promise of cheap alco- plinary in nature and exhibits a number of linkag- hol, restaurants and entertainment (Thurnell-Read, es with other areas of study. In addition, it should 2012) However, there are only a few publications in be noted that the changes that have occurred since the literature that comprehensively describe the is- EU integration did not take place in isolation from sue from the perspective of the changes that have other social and economic processes. occurred in the Polish tourism industry after Euro- Data on the size of the Polish tourism industry pean integration. for the year preceding EU entry and the year fol- lowing EU entry are derived from estimates pro- vided by the Tourism Institute, which conducts 2. Materials and methods research on behalf of Poland’s Department of Tour- ism of the Ministry of Sports and Tourism Research as part of the Statistical Research on Public Statis- The main objective was to investigate how tourism tics program. Data from Poland’s Central Statistical developed in Poland following EU integration. In Office were used to analyse changes in the number the test procedure, documentary research, analy- of overnight stays at collective accommodation fa- sis and logical design, and the statistical and mon- cilities for the year prior to and following EU entry. ographic method were used. Statistical data from Issues concerning foreign tourists and their expen- Poland’s Central Statistical Office were analysed in ditures in Poland were also analysed. order to select the most useful information. The se- Data obtained from the Ministry of Sports and lected data were analysed in detail in terms of the Tourism, based on research pursued by the Central rate of change for different years from the time of Statistical Office, were used to analyse local govern- EU integration. On this basis, research results were ment expenditures on tourism. In this study, refer- Izabela Kapera / Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series 22 (2013): 55–63 57 ence is made to the issue of the inflow of EU funds the year prior to EU entry (Bartoszewicz, Skalska, and readily observable effects on tourism. Data 2004). In the first two years following EU inte- from the Ministry of Regional Development was gration, the number of tourists increased, reach- especially useful. The data obtained were analysed ing a maximum in 2006. Another increase was for two time intervals: 2004–2006 and 2007–2013. recorded in 2010. Most foreign visitors in Poland Another factor that influenced the development come from neighboring Germany (Table 1). How- of tourism in Poland was the need to harmonize ever, the number of German visitors has remained Polish law with EU law. This part of the study in- virtually unchanged. The number of tourists com- cluded a review of both scientific publications and ing from ‘old’ EU member countries (pre-2004) research results carried out by various institutions and selected overseas destinations has increased. on public opinion in Poland upon its entry into the On the other hand, the number of tourists from Schengen zone. Airline passenger traffic is also ana- Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus has decreased since lysed using data from the Central Statistical Office. 2003. The three countries do not belong to the EU. Passenger volume at airports in the Polish market The number of Polish citizens traveling abroad has is analysed for 2003 and 2011. The examination of also decreased. Poles still prefer to visit Germa- these data is related to the emergence of low-cost ny, but the share of Polish travelers to Germany airlines in the Polish market. has decreased. The number of Poles leaving for the United Kingdom has increased substantially since 2004. Given the number of overnight stays pro- 3. Research results vided by collective tourist accommodation facili- ties during the studied period, there is a noticeable increase over the year prior to EU entry, includ- According to estimates from the Institute of Tour- ing the number of nights stayed by foreign tourists ism, 13.7 million tourists had visited Poland in (Table 2).