Tourism in Poland
Poland recorded a total of 20 million tourists in 2018, ranking 19th in the world in absolute terms.Without including the size of a country, such a ranking list may not be very meaningful. By putting the tourist numbers in relation to the population of Poland, the result is much more comparable picture: With 0.52 tourists per resident, Poland ranked 90th in the world. In Eastern Europe, it ranked 6th.
Poland generated around 15.75 billion US Dollar in the tourism sector alone. This corresponds to 2.6 percent of its the gross domestic product and approximately 23 percent of all international tourism receipts in Eastern Europe.
A global comparison can be found here › International tourism
Back to overview: Poland
The most popular cities in Poland for international travelers are Warschau and Krakau. In 2018, Warschau ranked 74th among the world's most popular cities with 2.85 million tourists. Krakau was in 83rd place with 2.73 million tourists.
On average, each of the tourists arriving in 2018 spent about 717 US Dollars. Conversely, the inhabitants of Poland spend as much as 740 dollars a year when they themselves spend vacations abroad.
Development of the tourism sector in Poland from 1995 to 2018
The following chart shows the number of tourist arrivals registered in Poland each year. Anyone who spends at least one night in the country but does not live there for more than 12 months is considered a tourist. Insofar as the survey included the purpose of the trip, business trips and other non-tourism travel purposes have already been excluded. The number of people passing through within the same day, and e.g. crew members of ships or flights are also not considered as tourists in most countries. If the same person travels in and out more than once within the same year, each visit counts again.Data in the chart are given in millions of tourists. The red line represents the average of all 10 countries in Eastern Europe.
Revenues in tourism
In 1995, tourism revenues amounted to 6.93 billion USD, or about 4.9 percent of the gross national product. This corresponded to about 19.22 million tourists at that time and roughly 360 USD per person. Within 23 years, the country's dependence on tourism has decreased substantially. In the last year of the survey, the revenue now amounts to 15.75 billion USD, accounting for 2.7 percent of the gross national product. Each visitor now spends an average of 803 USD for his holiday in Poland.
All data for Poland in detail
| Year | Number of tourists | Receipts | % of GNP | Receipts per tourist |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 19.22 m | 6.93 bn $ | 4.9 % | 360 $ |
| 1996 | 19.41 m | 8.76 bn $ | 5.5 % | 452 $ |
| 1997 | 19.52 m | 9.05 bn $ | 5.7 % | 464 $ |
| 1998 | 18.78 m | 8.32 bn $ | 4.8 % | 443 $ |
| 1999 | 17.95 m | 6.50 bn $ | 3.8 % | 362 $ |
| 2000 | 17.40 m | 6.13 bn $ | 3.6 % | 352 $ |
| 2001 | 15.00 m | 5.12 bn $ | 2.7 % | 341 $ |
| 2002 | 13.98 m | 4.97 bn $ | 2.5 % | 356 $ |
| 2003 | 13.72 m | 4.73 bn $ | 2.2 % | 345 $ |
| 2004 | 14.29 m | 6.50 bn $ | 2.5 % | 455 $ |
| 2005 | 15.20 m | 7.16 bn $ | 2.3 % | 471 $ |
| 2006 | 15.67 m | 8.15 bn $ | 2.4 % | 520 $ |
| 2007 | 14.98 m | 11.73 bn $ | 2.7 % | 783 $ |
| 2008 | 12.96 m | 12.90 bn $ | 2.4 % | 995 $ |
| 2009 | 11.89 m | 9.89 bn $ | 2.2 % | 832 $ |
| 2010 | 12.47 m | 10.04 bn $ | 2.1 % | 805 $ |
| 2011 | 13.35 m | 11.65 bn $ | 2.2 % | 873 $ |
| 2012 | 14.84 m | 11.89 bn $ | 2.4 % | 801 $ |
| 2013 | 15.80 m | 12.43 bn $ | 2.4 % | 787 $ |
| 2014 | 16.00 m | 12.93 bn $ | 2.4 % | 808 $ |
| 2015 | 16.73 m | 11.36 bn $ | 2.4 % | 679 $ |
| 2016 | 17.47 m | 12.05 bn $ | 2.6 % | 690 $ |
| 2017 | 18.26 m | 14.08 bn $ | 2.7 % | 771 $ |
| 2018 | 19.62 m | 15.75 bn $ | 2.7 % | 803 $ |
All data correspond to the information of the World Tourism Organization.
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