Polskie koleje wobec turystyki w okresie międzywojennym
Polish railways and tourism in the interwar period

Author(s): Dawid Keller
Subject(s): Historical Geography, Local History / Microhistory
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: railway; tourism; popular trains;
Summary/Abstract: Tourism would not have been popularized in the interwar period but for the Polish railways. It happened because popular trains were started; and individual rides to mass events were promoted (e.g. special convention or racing trains). Some railway action was partly replaced with the action taken by League Promoting Tourism (since 1935). It should be remembered that the assessment; made from the perspective of the PKP finances; was ambiguous. The mass character of the rate concessions; in the opinion of the contemporaries; could deepen the enterprise’s problems and limit its investment and renovation possibilities. From the beginning of the 1930s; there was considerable pressure put by the central administration on tourist development – in the situation of incomplete commercialization and when PKP remained subordinated to the Ministry of Transport; the railways simply became a contractor of the following orders. The above‑mentioned mass using of the railway won new customers – efficiently organized action transporting numerous passengers; tourists and participants of a convention or a pilgrimage certainly influenced the image of PKP. Perhaps the same tourists retained and repeated the idea of the perfect interwar railways.

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