Tourist mobility of Polish residents in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the tourism sector in Poland in terms of the tourist mobility of Poles, i.e., on the volume and nature of tourist trips of Polish residents. It is based on a comparison of the numbers and natures of tourist trips made during the pandemic (2020–21) against the preceding period (2018–19). This study is based on data from Statistics Poland collected from several hundred thousand participants (an average of over 136,000 people surveyed annually). The study discusses changes in: Polish residents’ level of participation in tourist trips; the number and breakdown of tourist trips; and the reasons/purposes for tourist trips. In addition, changes in the breakdown of transport used during tourist trips are shown. Changes observed in tourist travel expenses from 2018 to 2021 are also discussed. Another subject of our analysis is changes in tourist travel destinations and the seasonality of these trips.

The spatial structure of domestic tourist trips of Polish residents in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic

“…Within very little time, several reviews of the scientific research conducted to date on this issue were presented (Kumudumali, 2020;Zopiatis et al, 2020;Lin, 2021;Utkarsh & Sigala, 2021;Persson-Fischer & Liu 2021;Yang et al, 2021;Huang & Wang, 2022;Pahrudin et al, 2022, Viana-Lora & Nel-lo-Andreu, 2022. Many international organisations and institutions have also presented numerous reports containing analyses of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on tourist demand (Rogerson & Rogerson, 2021;Matczak & Szymańska, 2022).…”

“…The subject literature still shows two opposing assessments of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on tourist travel (Matczak & Szymańska, 2022), that: 1) there will be a transformation in participation in -and the nature of -tourist travel aimed at more sustainable tourism development (and this transformation has especially been presented in numerous academic publications: Higgins-Desbiolles, 2020a, 2020b; Niewiadomski, 2020;Sigala, 2020;Higgins-Desbiolles et al, 2021), and that 2) it will not cause a transformation in the participation in -or nature of -tourist trips but that, after a period of "shock", these will return to a slightly modification of their pre-pandemic state. The assessment promoted by the tourism industry and governments is based partly on the view that tourism is highly resistant to crises.…”

“…The indicated nature of the Covid-19 pandemic and the measures used to limit it resulted in changes in the number of trips, structure of tourism and other aspects of tourism behavior among Polish residents (Matczak & Szymańska, 2022). It seems that these changes are temporary, because after a significant decline in tourist trips in 2020, numbers began to rebound in 2021.…”

“…The study by Matczak and Szymańska (2022) indicates that the size and nature of demand for domestic tourist trips among Polish residents in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic has a significant regional dimension (at the voivodeship level). The present study addresses this very issue, i.e.…”

Economic convergence in the European Union at the regional level with particular attention to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic – a spatio-temporal approach

“…It is widely known that economic growth is prolonged in areas of long-time poverty. In particular, the COVID-19 pandemic, which started in 2019, significantly influenced the living standards of the population (Kuzmenko et al, 2020;Vasilyeva et al, 2021;Matczak & Szymańska, 2022;Senetra & Szczepańska, 2022). Most of the researchers pointed out the relevance of the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and economic growth.…”