Factors influencing global tourism space of Polish tourists: age and gender

Abstract

After the political transformation in Poland new opportunities for discovering the world have been opened to Polish citizens. Regions unavailable before 1989 are now a new geographic and cultural space to explore for Polish tourists and are the goal of outbound sightseeing tourism. Trips to the farthest places on the earth organized by travel agencies have a large number of participant despite very high prices. Information about Polish tourists activity in outbound sightseeing tourism were obtained through data analysis from sales leader in Polish tourism market. Each time the source of information was a civil-law contract for the provision of tourism services signed between the tour operator and the client. Obtained data lead to conclusions not only about tourist destinations and its seasonality but also on the impact of social and demographic factors on destinations of travel, length thereof and seasonality of trips chosen by tourists. Results of studies showed significant changes in outbound sightseeing tourism trends in Poland since 90’s of XX century. Still the biggest group of the tourists taking part in exotic tourism are wealthy citizens of the age of over 40 years, however, with participation of younger tourists increasing. Also, older tourists who used to choose destinations with well organized tourist infrastructure and stable political are more and more willing to visit places where standard of travel remains still quite low. According to forecasts exotic tourism destinations of Polish citizens will change together with actual trends and intensity of influence of exogenous and endogenous factors. It is assumed that global character of tourist space will have the same attributes for Poles as it has for every tourist traveling around the world – it will be available.