Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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rural tourism and agri-tourism;
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transit tourism; and
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border-zone weekend tourism (Legienis,
2000; Ziolkowski, 2003).
Rural tourism, agri-tourism and active
tourism in particular were seen to be important
in assisting rural restructuring through the con-
solidation of economic back-linkages and stimu-
lating value-added quality produce. Although
tourism had existed in Polish rural areas since
the nineteenth century, its development was
considerably accelerated during the 1990s as a
result of the introduction of a market economy
and the restructuring of the Polish agricultural
sector.
The Polish Tourist Organization and the
Institute for Tourism have acknowledged an
increased interest in Poland since EU accession,
and especially from young people, schools and
students (Ziolkowski, 2003). There are implica-
tions here for developing educationally oriented
rural tourism packages targeted towards youn-
ger markets with group travellers. Rural tourism
entrepreneurs may not, however, wish to attract
such low budget visitors on relatively short stays
(Hegarty and Przezborska, 2005).
and means by which policy can be implemented
(Handszuch, 2005, p. 224).
State tourism policy in Poland is created by
the Ministry of the Economy (Department of
Tourism) and the Polish Tourism Organization
(Polska Organizacja Turystyczna) established in
2000. The main players at regional level are the
regional authorities and regional tourism orga-
nizations. The aim of this part of the chapter is
to analyse the perceived changing role of tour-
ism in the new economic system in Poland in
the context of state and regional tourism policy
in relation to a new approach to this branch of
the economy adopted in the process of Poland's
accession to the European Union.
The process of post-Communist change in
tourism policy began in the early 1990s, when
Poland was engaged in implementing three
stages of the PHARE Programme: Tourin I, II
and III, which were aimed at developing human
resources and tourism products. The work of
Tourin identified four paths for tourism devel-
opment in Poland: cultural, business, activity
(adventure) and agri-tourism. These four were
seen as the driving force of both the tourism sec-
tor and the economy as a whole. Their identifi-
cation was based on the tourism potential of the
country and their promotion and enhancement
was taken into account in most subsequent offi-
cial documents relating to international tourism
development. However, these forms of tourism
activity did not establish themselves in the real
world. The tourism sector was more interested
in working in conjunction with foreign tour
operators than in creating its own products.
Even newly qualified personnel were unable to
carry through the reorientation when collabora-
tion with tour operators appeared to be a more
efficient strategy. This short-term view ignored
the value of the country's tourist attractions and
their potential role in socio-economic develop-
ment. At the time the tourism policy at state
level was weak and unable to facilitate progress
in the tourism sector.
During the late 1990s and the onset of the
new millennium, the situation changed. Research-
ers began to focus in their publications on the
attractiveness of Poland and analysed the role
of this asset in the context of the dynamic
economic development of the country and its
component regions. The first regional tourism
strategies were accepted for implementation at
State Tourism Policy: the Changing
Role of Tourism
Any tourism body, whether public or private,
national or regional, has to base its activities on
policy, at least to some extent. Many factors
should be taken into account in order to prop-
erly design policies and to adopt effective
measures facilitating the implementation of
such policies and strategies which should pro-
vide both consumer satisfaction and sustainable
development of the country or region. Such a
purpose leads to the choice and design of tour-
ism policy which has to be built on existing
tourism resources, including comparative and
competitive advantages in the actual and poten-
tial tourist destinations (Handszuch, 2005, p.
223). Tourism policy should therefore identify
resources to be used and developed for
expected economic and social benefits. Policy
should describe goals and tools (Gaworecki,
1997, pp. 110-111) while strategy defines ways
