Research and Markets: Poland Tourism Report 2010

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/d04f7d/poland_tourism_rep) has announced the addition of the "Poland Tourism Report 2010" report to their offering.

Poland Tourism Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, tourism associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Poland's tourism industry.

2009 to mark a low point? According to data from the Polish Institute of Tourism (Intur), there were 53.84mn visitor arrivals in 2009, of which 11.9mn were tourist arrivals, reflecting falls of 10% and 8% respectively. The performance of Poland's tourism industry during 2009 continued to be undermined by the global economic crisis, although there are some indications that 2010 may prove a slightly better year for the country's tourism sector, as demand returns to the sector, particularly from Germany. We believe that tourist arrivals can show a slight recovery (in the order of 2% per annum) over 2010 and 2011. However, it may not be until 2012 that the country's tourism can really show strong growth, when Poland is co-host of UEFA 2012 with Ukraine.

In the past, Poland has perhaps not given as much primacy to tourism promotion as some of its Central and Eastern European (CEE) rivals. This is one of the main reasons why the country is currently ranked towards the bottom of our newly-updated Business Environment Rankings for 2010.

However, there are indications that this attitude is changing, with a report in the UK's Independent newspaper during June 2010 stating that Poland will be the official partner country of the ITB Berlin tourism fair in 2011. This tie-up should do much to promote Poland's attractiveness as a tourism destination for 2012 and beyond.

Hotel sector well set for UEFA 2012

A May 2010 report from global real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield states that Poland will be able to meet UEFA's criteria for hotel accommodation for the UEFA European Championships in 2012, which it is co-hosting with Ukraine. For 2012, UEFA has relaxed some of the rules for accommodating VIPs, allowing three-star hotels to be used as well as four- and five-star establishments, and also extending the maximum time to get from a hotel to a stadium from one hour, to two hours, according to the report.

According to Cushman & Wakefield's research, the cities hosting games during UEFA 2010 (Warsaw, Poznan, Wroclaw and the Tri-city urban area of Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot) currently offer some 38,870 beds across 20,170 rooms. This will prove sufficient, in their view, to accommodate all of the footballers and dignitaries, however, it may not prove enough to accommodate all of the fans expected to come to the country to support their teams. The research takes the assumption that 65% of all beds will be used to accommodate footballers, UEFA dignitaries and other VIPs. In this regard, it is likely that other forms of accommodation (motels, private accommodation, bed and breakfasts etc) will all need to be harnessed, to ensure that all visitors to UEFA 2012 have a bed for the night.

LOT still in the red

Polish national carrier LOT Polish Airways recorded another loss in 2009. In 2009, LOT posted an operating loss of PLN335.3mn (EUR82mn). This was an improvement on the loss of PLN700mn recorded in 2008, but still represents a further year in the red for the debt-burdened national carrier. The company's CEO, Sebastian Mikosz, also stated that the ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano that closed European airspace for a significant period in April 2010 caused a loss in revenues of around PLN75mn and also increased costs by some PLN35-40mn.

In another development, media reports in May 2010 suggested that Turkish Airlines would be interested in making a bid for the airline. At present, no sale of a stake in LOT seems likely before 2011.

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