The Polish Market for Holidays on Bornholm – By Sea and Air itel Carl Henrik Marcussen Acknowledgement: Includes contributions by Jagna Noren, Anna Pallikaras and Lene Feldthus Andersen 1 October 2007 Foreword The project was initiated by Bornholm Airport, Destination Bornholm, the Regional Municipality of Bornholm and Danvifo and funded by Bornholm’s Growth Forum, the Regional Municipality of Bornholm and Bornholm Airport. The objective was twofold: On the one hand, to address the question of how to improve accessibility to Bornholm for visitors from Poland; On the other hand, to address the question of how to encourage the visitors from Poland to stay longer once on Bornholm. In 2006 there were 72% one day visitors among the Polish arrivals from Poland via Nexø and 38% one day visitors from Poland via Rønne. Altogether there were 47.000 passengers (23.500 arrivals) from Poland via Nexø in 2006, and about 12.000 passengers (6.000 arrivals) via Rønne. Of these 59.000 passengers (29.500 arrivals) 35% or 10.300 stayed overnight. Close to 90% or about 9.200 were Poles of which 6.100 came via Nexø and 3.100 via Rønne. The Polish visitors who came via Nexø stayed on average 2.5 nights. Those who came via Rønne stayed at least 5 nights, resulting in just over 30.000 bed nights in total, corresponding to just about one night on average per Polish arrival to Bornholm. There were just below 20.000 registered polish bed nights in 2006, distributed as follows: 71% in official camping sites (71%), 28% in hotels/holiday centres and 1% in youth hostels (1%). The remaining 10.000 Polish bed nights were in holiday cottages, other types of camping sites and other alternative types of accommodations (B & B, farm holidays etc.). Bornholm had about 18% of all Polish registered bed nights in Denmark in 2006 and as much as 35% of all the ferry passengers on routes between Poland and Denmark. Thus Bornholm has a prominent position on the Polish market compared to other destinations in Denmark. Even so, we believe that Bornholm’s position on the Polish market can be improved. When it comes to making the Polish visitors stay on Bornholm for a holiday and not just one day excursions, there are development opportunities by both sea and air. These development opportunities are investigated in this report. In 2006, Bornholm succeed in attracting two new scheduled summer routes from Hamburg and Oslo which supplemented the seasonal route from Billund, established in 2005. With Bornholm Airport as one of the initiators of the project, naturally the possibility for air-based trips to Bornholm is illuminated in the report. Expanding the ferry service is however also discussed. Currently there are a handful of ships by five different ferry lines, offering Poles the opportunity to travel directly to Bornholm: Jantar, Lady Assa and Pomerania all based in Poland plus BornholmExpress making a few tours mainly for Bornholm residents and finally Bornholmstrafikken with its ferry route to Sassnitz and connecting bus service from Stettin. Particularly the plans which have been underway for some time for building a medium-sized car ferry that would sail all year will be discussed. Mikkel Jensen Peter Hviid Destination Bornholm Bornholm Airport 2 Overview of contents 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 8 2. Economy and demographics, Poland ............................................................................ 9 3. Tourism on Bornholm – from Poland and in general ..................................................... 12 4. Ferry travel – to/from Poland and Bornholm-Poland ..................................................... 17 5. Air travel – from/to Poland, to/from Bornholm ............................................................. 23 6. Possibilities of increased tourism from Poland to Bornholm – by sea ............................... 52 7. Possibilities of establishing summer route between Poland and Bornholm – by air ............ 59 8. Conclusion -- Summary ............................................................................................ 86 References ................................................................................................................. 88 Enclosures .................................................................................................................. 89 The project is partly supported by the EU: 3 Table of contents 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 8 2. Economy and demographics, Poland ............................................................................ 9 3. Tourism on Bornholm – from Poland and in general ..................................................... 12 Accommodation ....................................................................................................... 12 Attractions and activities ........................................................................................... 15 4. Ferry travel – to/from Poland and to/from Bornholm .................................................... 17 Overview of ferry travel ............................................................................................ 17 Poland – Nexø ......................................................................................................... 19 Jantar – of KZP ..................................................................................................... 19 Lady Assa – of Zegluga.......................................................................................... 19 Bornholm Express – of Christiansøfarten .................................................................. 20 Neko Seaways - A new car ferry? ............................................................................ 20 Poland - Rønne ........................................................................................................ 20 Pomerania – of Polferries ....................................................................................... 20 Bornholmstrafikken – bus service from Stettin via Sassnitz ........................................ 22 5. Air travel – from/to Poland, to/from Bornholm ............................................................. 23 Airports in Poland ..................................................................................................... 23 Warsaw ............................................................................................................... 27 Krakow ................................................................................................................ 29 Katowice .............................................................................................................. 31 Gdansk ................................................................................................................ 33 Poznan ................................................................................................................ 33 Stettin / Szcecin ................................................................................................... 34 Wroclaw .............................................................................................................. 35 Airlines ................................................................................................................... 35 Norwegian ........................................................................................................... 36 Centralwings – low cost subsidiary of LOT ................................................................ 38 LOT – and EuroLOT ............................................................................................... 39 WEA - White Eagle Aviation .................................................................................... 41 Jet Air ................................................................................................................. 43 Blekingeflyg – of Sverigeflyg .................................................................................. 44 Wideroe ............................................................................................................... 45 Cimber Air ........................................................................................................... 47 SAS – Scandinavia Airlines ..................................................................................... 50 6. Possibilities of increased tourism from Poland to Bornholm – by sea ............................... 52 Tourism trade fairs in Poland ..................................................................................... 53 All year sailing – should it be from Germany or Poland (or both) during the winter? ......... 54 7. Possibilities of establishing summer route between Poland and Bornholm – by air ............ 59 LOT / EuroLOT ......................................................................................................... 59 Price examples ........................................................................................................ 62 Ferry prices, Kolobrzeg-Nexø - KZP ......................................................................... 62 LOT – price example ............................................................................................. 62 Norwegian – price example .................................................................................... 62 Wizzair – price example ........................................................................................