Tourism in Poland

I've read this article not long ago and I must say that this surprised me - tourists from Arab countries (Dubai, Kuwait, etc.) apparently replaced RuSSian tourists in Zakopane:

turystyka.wp.pl/na-krupowkach-hidzab-przy-hidzabie-sa-w-stanie-zaplacic-kazda-cene-6923337650793440a

I thought that the border crisis with Belarus and PiS' anti-immigration and anti-relocation stance would give Poland a bad reputation in Arab/Muslim countries as a "racist country" or sth and that they would be avoiding visiting our country.

It turns out that not only they don't avoid visiting Poland, but they're loving it here and they feel... safe o_O

Two young female tourists from Kuwait said:

"We're doing a round trip. Before coming to Zakopane we were in Prague in the Czech Republic, but we like Poland the most - they admitted. I got curious, so I asked where did they get the idea of coming to Poland. - We heard that Poles are very hospitable and tolerant. Noone is pointing fingers at us, we can feel safe. Besides, it's simply beautiful here - they've concluded.

Another Arab woman that I talked to comes from Dubai. She came to Poland with her whole family and apart from Zakopane she plans to also visit Kraków. - It's safe for us here - she said, when I asked why she came to Poland."

Amazing o_O

Katarzyna Kuziemska from Polish Tourist Organisation also added in this article that in the past there was no infrastracture that would fit the needs of those tourists, luxurious apartments, etc. but that changed in recent years.

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How racist is that.. :D

@Ironside, what is racist? lol

Not at all. Tourism crosses borders and Zakopane is as exotic to those tourists as Oman would be to you.

geez, It was a joke...see """""""D''''' this?

Yes, a D is what I'd give it too.

@Paulina
The second lady from the right in the middle photo reminds me very much of Polish nuns.

I see them all over in Warsaw now.One I talked to wanted to settle in Poland.
Very bad news for Poland in future for sure.

Not necessarily so, Islam are the most effective recruitment tool for the RCC the world has ever known. Had you have told me 5 years ago that come 2023 I would be praying the rosary daily out of sheer necessity, I would have asked you, 'what is a rosary?'.

Interesting that people are fixating on their religious faith.

Not that Poles ever go to Egypt on holiday, do they now,

And how many have settled In Egypt or plan to?

Thousands around Sharm and Hurghada.

How many of the ladies paying to visit Zakopane intend to move there?

I know from well-informed sources that recently many Arabs and Jews invested in real estate in Poland. I suspect they don't want to move, just rent and then sell at a profit.

Lots of people invest in real estate in different countries. Right now there's a boom in Polish citizens investing in property around Malaga.


Maybe some are also Poles, not that there should be any restrictions about who can buy what except in specific situations like Guernsey.

It turns out that other media wrote about this phenomenon in Zakopane too:

tvn24.pl/krakow/zakopane-popularne-wsrod-turystow-z-krajow-arabskich-7275177

Apparently there are also other reasons for tourists from Arab countries to visit Zakopane, besides nature, weather and safety (a quote from the article):

"- Guests from Arab countries fell in love with the culture of Zakopane. They're saying that it's alive and genuine, which can't be said anymore about many resorts in Western Europe. They like our music, folk costumes and hospitality - described Wagner."


Really? Interesting...


Did you ask from what country?

Sometimes foreign tourists, guided by various misconceptions, expose themselves to great dangers.
Especially in the mountains:

In sneakers on his feet and with a phone in his hand, he was hiking along the most difficult trail in the Tatras, i.e. Orla Perć. A tourist from China wanted to reach Morskie Oko. GPS, however, led him in a completely different direction. "It was a shock for us," says one of the witnesses of the event.

Crossing Orla Perć , they suddenly heard a call. Last Thursday (August 24) Polish tourists met a tourist from China in the area of ​​Zmarzła Przełęcz, who was climbing with a large backpack on his back, sneakers on his feet and a phone in his hand, he was almost "glued to the rock" outside the trail. After a short conversation, it turned out that the young man did not know which way he should go.

However, communication was not easy, as the tourist did not understand anything in Polish and little in English.
When we asked him where he was going, he showed on his phone that it was to Morskie Oko and that Google Maps had led him that way . It was a shock and disbelief for us ... A Chinese man with a large backpack, wearing sneakers, was climbing the wall off the trail to Orla Perć, wanting to reach Morskie Oko.

Polish tourists decided to help the lost man. However, the chains and ladders on the route were a big challenge for him. " He stood like a brick and did not want to go on. He had to be persuaded for quite a long time, at first to the chains, and then to the ladder, " the witness quotes Tatromaniak.pl.

Orla Perć aka Eagle Path stretches between two passes: Zawrat and Krzyżne. This trail is considered the most difficult and dangerous in the Polish mountains.

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Leave ya scyzoryki town and come to some civilized towns in Poland


Lebanon.

Very nice people, I owe a lot especially to one professor from Lebanon.

A good number of Lebanese are Catholics, those Lebanese would meld well into Polish culture.

If the Lebanese women I've met are representative of the general female population of Lebanon, the young men of Poland will not protest them settling in Poland.

There are many Christians of that denomination and others there, as well as of other religions.

Not many are taking holidays abroad right now, given the crisis, however we can certainly expect more people from the Middle East in Poland for tourism, study and to live.

An internet add of a Polish hotel became a hit thanks to the way one of their employees, Barbara, advertised it (very "enthusiastically" ;D):

Apparently this is based on a commercial by some company, but I don't know which (does anyone know?)

The add is on the profile of the hotel on Instagram (the one with the lady in the blue suit standing in the lobby):

instagram.com/elements_swieradow?igsh=NWxkbHN4Mm93bXVp

"Tu nie wolno."
"Tu też nie wolno."
"Tu piciu."
"Tu rzeźba."
"Tu ciepło."
"Tu zimno."

;D

Someone in the comments wrote that it's a nice change after all those "overstimulating" adds :)
I've researched this hotel though and judging by the opinions it doesn't live up to those 5 stars. Pity.

The add did inspire some others to follow in the footsteps of that hotel however :)

The police in Wołów made their own "add" in this fashion and it went viral too :):

fakt.pl/wydarzenia/polska/wroclaw/internet-zakochal-sie-w-policji-z-wolowa-wszystko-przez-ten-filmik/xsyr421

And here an artist-Youtuber who mainly draws with coloured pencils talks about what he does and his work place in a similar way :):

youtube.com/shorts/Kk2DpJnflZM?si=8kDtvpA6Hpp2fpKp

Btw, what do you guys think about the hotels you've stayed in Poland so far? Do you have any interesting stories? Good/bad opinions? Any recommendations? Hotels to avoid? Any interesting/memorable interiors? Good food? Nice locations?

The ones I've been in have ranged from superb to comically dreadful. Most have been OK.


A few. I stayed in a hotel in Olkusz that turned out to also be a sort of brothel for lorry drivers. The client I was visiting couldn't believe that my employer had put me up there. My underwear was stolen from the room. The restaurant was actually OK with rather nice food however the main thing on the menu was "sztuk mięso" (jaki sztuk? jaki mięso). I also stayed in a hotel in Kołobrzeg (that was supposed to be 5 star but definitely wasn't a 5 star clientele) where there was a massive fight in the bar, vodka bottles and all, and the hotel receptionists had to sit on the perpetrator until the police arrived.

I stayed in a lovely one in Bialystok however it was next to the big Orthodox Cathedral in the centre and it was Easter Sunday for them. And my room was right next to the bell tower with the giant bell that they ring at various points during the liturgy. Not great when you've a hangover.

There's a few more stories though those three will do for now.

When looking for hotels in Poland, I tend to choose large ones, at least three stars, naturally with parking under the hotel. Last week it was Zielona Góra, 2 weeks ago Jelenia Góra. Breakfasts are good and plentiful. Often better than in German hotels. However, every hotel has some shortcomings, such as not having a refrigerator in the room or the card not working properly.

@jon357 & Alien, thanks for sharing :)


What... LOL


Sztuka mięsa :):

sjp.pwn.pl/sjp/sztuka-miesa;2483177.html

"A cooked cut of beef served as a dish."

doradcasmaku.pl/przepis-sztukamies-czyli-sztuka-miesa-297482

My mother would usually make it with sauce.


It would be interesting to read more, but I'll wait patiently :)))

This was with a hot horseradish sauce as I recall. It was nice.

There's another story. Not my own however I knew a couple of people there at the time.

There was a three day conference, organised I think by one of the big textbook publishers for Directors of Study and Senior Teachers at language schools. It was in the mid or late 90s in a hotel in I think the South West. On the final day, they had a farewell lunch.

The hotel was run by a rather stern woman of a particular type. Some of the participants at the conference were married and their wives were Polish. Their wives came to the lunch. The woman who ran the hotel walked into the dining room, saw the participants' Polish wives and shouted at the top of her voice "you have brought prostitutes into my hotel. This is a respectable hotel and these women must leave now".

So they did. With their husbands and all, very rightly, refused to pay the bills.

For the entire stay or just for lunch?

I'd guess the lunch since it was after a conference organised by a publisher. It would have been nice if the hotel had lost out for the whole stay for 30 rooms though.

The owner may well have been able to go to the police however the amount of money she'd have got in total would have been less than the individual money each woman there would have received had they sued for defamation.

The courts take it quite seriously if someone calls a married woman a prostitute in front of witnesses.

I'd agree with that since I've usually had pretty good experiences in Polish hotels, however the last one I stayed in in Germany a few weeks ago was exceptional. Better than one a couple of years ago in Neukolln near Hermanstrasse U-bahn where I was the only guest who wasn't ar*SSian streetwalker and where there were junkies passed out in the street outside. I was a bit worried about leaving belongings there.


I can live without that. Must have a kettle though which many don't. I have a folding travel kettle though for such eventualities.


In my experiences, that's not been a problem in Poland however it's normal in parts of the Arab world. Sometimes they reset automatically every day, no matter how long your stay is so you get locked out of your room every day, often at random times.

For morning coffee in bed. Kettles were available this time but the lack of a fridge in a 2-person room with an outside temperature of 31 degrees was inconvenient. It's good that there was a vending machine with cold mineral water on each floor free of charge. By the way, it turned out that the single rooms had refrigerators.

Fun fact - in Polish translation/dubbing of "How to Train Your Dragon" one of the dragons (Meatlug) is named after that dish - "Sztukamięs" :):

jakwytresowacsmoka.fandom.com/wiki/Sztukami%C4%99s


In Poland? I've got to say I've never heard about such case...

It was obviously an honest mistake on the part of the owner - it's not like it's unusual for men to bring prostitutes into hotels (and lie to the hotel staff that they're not prostitutes). Especially that it was happening in the 90s. I'm sure she has seen her fair share as a hotel owner and she has the right to not want her hotel to turn into a brothel like the one for lorry drivers where your underwear got stolen lol Her hotel - her rules. The problem was that she prejudged without making any inquiry and as result made a fool of herself. On the other hand, I can't blame her that much for thinking what she was thinking - how often does it happen that husbands invite their wives to conferences or delegations? Come on... :)))


Interesting... I wonder why? 🤔