THE TOURISM ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE BALTIC SEA REGION AS A DESTINATION FOR POLISH TOURISTS
THE TOURISM ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE BALTIC SEA REGION AS A DESTINATION FOR POLISH TOURISTS

Author(s): Tomasz Studzieniecki, Marzena Wanagos
Subject(s): Business Economy / Management, Regional Geography, Tourism
Published by: Masarykova univerzita nakladatelství
Keywords: tourism; destination; Baltic; region; integration;
Summary/Abstract: Although tourism is one of the priorities in the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, tourism development faces some obstacles. This Region, with its unquestioned tourism assets, does not exploit its tourism potential in intra-regional tourism. The authors assumed that residents know little about their region and perceive it as not particularly attractive and are unwilling to explore it. The authors of this paper analysed the tourism image and attractiveness of this Region among Polish tourists. Students from the Gdynia Maritime University participated in this research. The research method was a diagnostic survey which was conducted using questionnaires. The questionnaire contained eight elements, including open and closed questions, allowing to select one or multiple answers from a defined list. The research shows that only 5% of respondents would choose a country in the Baltic Sea Region, if they could go anywhere. The main tourist barriers for this Region have been identified, namely "language problems" (18%) and "unfavourable climate" (17%) as well as "distance", "poor accessibility" and "lack of entertainment offers". The Baltic countries visited most often by respondents are Germany (60%) and Sweden (about 20%). But it is Sweden that is considered the most attractive country in this Region.

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