Poland recorded a total of 89 million tourists in 2019, ranking 2nd 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 2.3 tourists per resident, Poland ranked 26th in the world. In Eastern Europe, it ranked 4th.
In 2020, Poland generated around 8.38 billion US dollars in the tourism sector alone. This corresponds to 1.2 percent of its the gross domestic product and approximately 30 percent of all international tourism receipts in Eastern Europe.
The most popular cities in Poland for international travelers are Krakow and Warsaw. In 2019, Krakow ranked 82nd among the world's most popular cities with 2.91 million tourists. Warsaw was in 86th place with 2.83 million tourists.
Development of the tourism sector in Poland from 1995 to 2019
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 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 from 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 82.24 million tourists at that time and roughly 84 USD per person. Within 25 years, the country's dependence on tourism has decreased substantially. Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, sales were $15.71 billion billion, 2.6 percent of gross national product. Thus, each visitor spent an average of $178 on their vacation in Poland.
In 2020, tourist receipts plummeted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the $15.71 billion billion (2019), only $8.38 billion billion remained. This is a 47 percent decrease in Poland.
All data for Poland in detail
Year
Number of tourists
Receipts
% of GNP
Receipts per tourist
2019
88.52 m
15.71 bn $
2.6 %
178 $
2018
85.95 m
15.57 bn $
2.6 %
181 $
2017
83.80 m
13.93 bn $
2.7 %
166 $
2016
80.48 m
11.92 bn $
2.5 %
148 $
2015
77.74 m
11.16 bn $
2.3 %
144 $
2014
73.75 m
12.69 bn $
2.3 %
172 $
2013
72.31 m
12.24 bn $
2.3 %
169 $
2012
67.39 m
11.70 bn $
2.3 %
174 $
2011
60.75 m
11.47 bn $
2.2 %
189 $
2010
58.34 m
9.88 bn $
2.1 %
169 $
2009
53.84 m
9.89 bn $
2.2 %
184 $
2008
59.94 m
12.90 bn $
2.4 %
215 $
2007
66.21 m
11.73 bn $
2.7 %
177 $
2006
65.12 m
8.15 bn $
2.4 %
125 $
2005
64.61 m
7.16 bn $
2.3 %
111 $
2004
61.92 m
6.52 bn $
2.6 %
105 $
2003
52.13 m
4.73 bn $
2.2 %
91 $
2002
50.74 m
4.97 bn $
2.5 %
98 $
2001
61.43 m
5.12 bn $
2.7 %
83 $
2000
84.52 m
6.13 bn $
3.6 %
73 $
1999
89.12 m
6.50 bn $
3.8 %
73 $
1998
88.59 m
8.32 bn $
4.8 %
94 $
1997
87.82 m
9.05 bn $
5.7 %
103 $
1996
87.44 m
8.76 bn $
5.5 %
100 $
1995
82.24 m
6.93 bn $
4.9 %
84 $
Our data on tourist numbers, revenues and expenditures are based on information from the World Tourism Organization. However, to ensure international comparability, the data for some years or countries were manually researched and corrected if they obviously included visitors without overnight stays. In these cases, the data were taken from the official communications of the respective national tourism authorities.
The World Tourism Organization additionally points out that in some countries, the number of tourists is only counted at airports, while in others they are also counted at border crossings or even hotels. A comprehensive and reliable indication is therefore hardly possible in any country.
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