“We promote Poland as a safe tourist destination. This is the direction of our foreign policy.”
“Our goal is to make tourism constitute 5% of GDP. Baltic seaside resorts have nothing to be ashamed of. Świnoujście, Kołobrzeg or Międzyzdroje are seaside towns at a European level,” says Hanna Mojsiuk, President of the Northern Chamber of Commerce in Szczecin. On Friday, a conference entitled “Re-start in the approach to tourism – new projects and perspectives” was held. “For the first time, we managed to include in the state’s foreign policy guidelines for 2024 the promotion of Poland as a safe tourist destination,” says Sławomir Nitras, Minister of Sport and Tourism.
“Tourism is an economic sector that has best utilised European Union funds”
The conference organised by the Northern Chamber of Commerce brought together more than 300 participants in Świnoujście. The majority of the guests were entrepreneurs involved in the hospitality, tourism and gastronomy sectors. There were also many representatives of local governments and the science community.
“Our presence here shows that we are available to entrepreneurs from the tourism sector. The fact that we are here as a ministerial delegation proves how seriously we think about the development of tourism. Świnoujście can be an example of how tourism in Poland has changed over the last decade. The whole coast, offers, infrastructure, people, everything has expanded and developed and is currently at the highest level. The Polish tourism offer has undergone a development that could take 30-40, or even 50 years. Tourism is a sector of the Polish economy that has best utilised European funds. This shows that it’s not only about improving infrastructure but also creating jobs and generating the development of our entire economy. This is a good starting point for the future,” says Sławomir Nitras, Minister of Sport and Tourism.
Minister Nitras proposed to organise a major congress of Polish tourism in Świnoujście.
“This congress should take place in Świnoujście. I would like Poland to get to know Świnoujście better because I get the impression that this resort is more known in Europe than in Poland. We need to change this,” added Minister Nitras. “We are launching the KPO and a programme that will support tourism. The agreements have been signed. This mechanism was supposed to support entrepreneurs after the pandemic. I hope that this mechanism will help entrepreneurs, although we are aware of how much the KPO is delayed,” continued the Minister of Sport and Tourism. The KPO funds for tourism are set at 1.2 billion złoty.
3 million Tourists in Świnoujście in 2023. Polish tourism has prospects, but entrepreneurs also point out needs.
Entrepreneurs had the opportunity to ask questions to representatives of the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, Polish Tourist Organisation and the Northern Chamber of Commerce in Szczecin. Among the demands were support for health tourism in Poland, construction of parking infrastructure in seaside resorts and issues related to competition in short-term rentals in the context of the conditions of the HoReCa sector. One of the topics also concerned the creation of tourism products that will attract tourists from Poland and Europe all year round.
“We live in times when we can finally say with a clear conscience that West Pomerania has all-year-round, seaside resorts that are full of life. It has always been a dream of entrepreneurs and local governments for our seaside towns to be lively not only from the start of May until the end of September, but also in autumn, winter and early spring. The development of tourism in West Pomerania is dynamic, and we know how serious a problem the coronavirus pandemic was and what a blow it dealt to us. We are preparing for record interest this summer. We know that tourists from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Scandinavia are considering more and more seriously and intensively whether to spend their holidays with us,” says Hanna Mojsiuk, President of the Northern Chamber of Commerce in Szczecin.
“We are delighted that the Minister has visited Świnoujście. We want to lobby for places like Świnoujście. Warsaw sees us as a municipality that has 40,000 people, but it should be remembered that 3 million people booked accommodation in our city in 2023. Tourists leave hundreds of millions of złoty in our city. At any one time, tens of thousands of people stay in Świnoujście, and in the season even over 100,000 people. These people have the right to feel safe and to receive appropriate care. We need lobbying to think about us differently than a passive municipality,” says Piotr Kośmider, President of the Northern Chamber of Commerce in Świnoujście.
