Insights 
Polish Travel Trade 2005 

Tour operators

• There are approx. 600 tour operators (incoming and outgoing) in the Polish market. Tour operators and tour agents must be holders of special licences. Standard requirements for establishing and running a travel business are stipulated in the new bill on tourist services, valid from August 1997. The majority of tour operators are rather small companies with up to five employees and operate in the incoming sector. In fact only about 200 tour operators are able to prepare their own catalogues and Internet sites.
  
• Poland’s largest tour operator PBP Orbis Travel has maintained the leading position on the tour operators market, mainly thanks to the fact that its domestic operations are increasingly significant.
  
• The next largest are foreign wholesalers of tours: Scan Holiday, TUI Polska, Neckerman Polska, My Travel, Ecco Holiday. Some Polish operators such as Triada, Itaka, Sindbad and Sigma Travel, have a secure position on the market, but they have had to significantly lower their margins.
  
• Today approx. 30 Polish tour operators offer British products. The list of Polish tour operators offering travel to the UK can be ordered by VisitBritain. For further information about specific operators please contact:
  Piotr Hlawiczka

Travel agencies

• There are approximately 3,000 agencies in Poland. The majority are either franchises of or wholly owned by the major chains (TUI Polska, Neckermann Polska, PBP ORBIS). The remainder are privately owned. The trend is for the smaller, privately owned agencies either to become franchises of the major chains, or to be bought by the chains as wholly owned agencies. 

Insights 
Polish Market 2005

The Polish economy was expanding in 2004. The macroeconomic data published by the Polish Central Statistical Office in recent months confirmed that the Polish economy is on a path towards a strong recovery. In 2004 the Polish GDP grew at 5.4 % and for 2005 the government estimates growth at 4.7 %. The prospering economy has a positive effect on tourism.

On 1st May 2004 Poland entered the European Union. On the first day of its EU membership important changes took place on the borders with other EU states, as goods and services not subject to excise tax will now be freely transported within the EU. It is also expected that the travel industry in the British and Polish markets will take a giant leap forward and visitor numbers from Poland to the UK will grow substantially this year.

Poland will join the Euro zone as soon as possible. If the Maastricht criteria are met in 2007, Poland could join the Euro zone in 2008 or no later than 2009. This should make it easier to sell Britain. 

Polish residents are great travellers. In 2004 there were 37.2 million departures abroad (including tourist travel) from Poland, of which 6.3 million trips were tourist trips (i.e. with overnight stays). Top travel destinations for Poles are: 1. Germany (over one third of departures) 2. Italy 3. Czech Republic 4. Slovakia 5. Austria 6. France. Although many tourist trips to Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are included in the statistics for people travelling further on their way to other countries located in Western and Southern Europe. 

According to IPS data, the number of visitors from Poland to Britain increased by 62% in 2004 compared to 2003. Their spend equates to £230 million (increase of 77%). It is expected that Poland’s EU membership will increase the flow of tourists to Britain.

Also according to IPS data, the number of visits by business travellers from Poland to Britain increased by 29% (153,000 visits) in 2004 compared to 2003. Business travellers are usually well educated with a well-above average disposable income. 

The English language has an extremely high status in Poland. Interest in EFL and the educational sector offer a huge potential over the next few years. There are several language school operators in the market. The majority of students travel to Britain by coach. There is therefore the opportunity to develop a specific campaign working with the British Council in Warsaw.

In 2004 and 2005 we have been experiencing the biggest boom in the Polish air traffic: more and more low-cost airlines are flying to and from Poland. In February 2005 Centralwings (www.centralwings.com) started their services from Poland, serving Warsaw (7 flights a week) and Krakow (7 flights a week) to London Gatwick. From June 2004, SkyEurope started new daily flights from Warsaw to London, Paris and Amsterdam. SkyEurope is entering the Polish market through its first base in Warsaw. Also 2004 WIZZ Air started flying from Katowice to London Luton Airport. There are also increasing and excellent connections with the national carriers: British Airways with 23 flights per week and Polish Airline LOT with 35 flights per week. With several new budget airlines and new connections to Britain we can definitely expect growth from the Polish market this year.

Internet: 18% of the population of Poland are Internet users (2003). Among these are 5.95 million people aged between 15 and 75. This represents around 20% of this age group. This was up from 5.2 million in 2002 and 3.6 million in 2001. Most of those users (42%) access the Internet at home, while 33% at school and around 28% at Internet cafes.