Abstract
Why buy this report
- Get insight into trends in market performance
- Pinpoint growth sectors and identify factors driving change
- Identify market and brand leaders and understand the competitive
environment
Product coverage
Car rental; Demand factors; Health & wellness tourism; Tourism flows domestic;
Tourism flows inbound; Tourism flows outbound; Tourism receipts and
expenditure; Tourist attractions; Transportation; Travel accommodation; Travel
retail
Executive summary
Tourism suffers from economic slow down
The Polish economy was impacted by the international financial crisis, which
led to some difficulties in the Polish travel and tourism market. In
particular, it caused a volume decrease in incoming tourism, and limited
previously high growth in outgoing tourism and air transportation. Due to a
less stable economic environment and reduced consumer confidence, some
customers cancelled their previously planned holidays, while others changed
their plans, moving from foreign holidays to shorter domestic trips.
Schengen Agreement hampers tourist flow on eastern borders
Entering into the Schengen Agreement from 1 January 2008 largely impacted the
incoming tourism situation to Poland. The introduction of expensive visas for
citizens of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia led to a dramatic fall in the number
of tourist arrivals from these countries. It is worth stressing that a major
part of such tourists were driven by trading purposes, and thus since the
implementation of the Schengen Agreement Poland has become too expensive for
them. The Polish Government intends to revive cross-border traffic by means of
multi-crossing visas for inhabitants of border regions. However, these
initiatives are not likely to lead to a surge in incoming tourist flows.
Air transportation development slows
Uncertainty in the air transportation environment led to increase
competitiveness among operators active in the Polish market. Some carriers
were forced to withdraw from Poland, such as SkyEurope and Centralwings, which
suspended all regular connections. The remaining competitors decided to cut
costs by means of liquidation of unprofitable connections, and reducing the
number of flights. High prices of fuel also impacted Polish national air
carrier PLL LOT, which registered a high financial loss in 2008.
Internet bookings become increasingly popular in Poland
Utilisation of the Internet has become widely used in major tourism and travel
sectors. Some customers use the Internet to become acquainted with the
products and services on offer, while others make bookings via the Internet.
This is especially the case with regard to air transportation, accommodation
and travel retail or car rentals. The increasing importance of the Internet
offers an opportunity for development of Internet operators such as wakacje.pl
or travelplanet.pl. On the other hand, traditional operators are forced to
utilise the Internet in order to remain competitive. As a consequence, the
majority of the leading companies in the Polish travel and tourism market use
attractive and interactive websites which are useful as promotional and
communication tool.
Tourist branch is predicted to slow down over the forecast period
Following economic crisis it is possible to predict that the entire tourism
industry will develop over the forecast period at a slower pace than in
previous years. This will directly result from a hampering of the labour
market, which previously fuelled tourism by maintaining employment and
contributing to rising salaries and other personal revenue. Polish consumers
are expected to make purchasing decisions more carefully, especially regarding
products and services which are non-essential, such as tourist products. On
the other hand positive development is expected for incoming tourism and
accommodation related to the Euro 2012 which is football tournament. In
particular, major hotel operators are likely to undertake investments, with
more new hotels emerging over the period to 2012.
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