Urban tourism and Covid-19 in Poland

Józefowicz, Karolina Article Urban tourism and Covid-19 in Poland REGION Provided in Cooperation with: European Regional Science Association (ERSA) Suggested Citation: Józefowicz, Karolina (2021) : Urban tourism and Covid-19 in Poland, REGION, ISSN 2409-5370, European Regional Science Association (ERSA), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, Vol. 8, Iss. 2, pp. 187-199, https://doi.org/10.18335/region.v8i2.364 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/312623 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Volume 8, Number 2, 2021, 187199 journal homepage: region.ersa.org DOI: 10.18335/region.v8i2.364 ISSN: 2409-5370 Urban tourism and Covid-19 in Poland Karolina Józefowicz 1 1 Pozna« University of Life Sciences, Pozna«, Poland Received: 11 April 2021/Accepted: 17 November 2021 Abstract. World Tourism Organisation estimates an 80% drop in tourist arrivals by the end of 2020. The Polish tourism industry is also dramatically aected by the ongoing pandemic, with a 30% drop in the number of tourists in July 2020 compared to July 2019. The global lockdown has limited the functioning of the tourism sector, therefore domestic tourism, including urban tourism, may rise in importance. Domestic urban tourism can become a useful response to the growing resilience of the tourism industry, for example in the context of reducing dependence between the tourism industry and mobility which favours the spread of coronavirus. The potential of urban tourism in Poland is clearly visible (in 2019, it was three times higher than rural tourism in terms of overnight stays provided). However, the COVID-19 pandemic is not conducive to urban tourism in Poland, for instance, because infections are much more frequent in cities than in rural areas. The aim of the research, in addition to checking destinations of Poles in the context of urban tourism in the era of the pandemic, was to learn about the behaviour of tourists during their holiday trips. To achieve the aim of the paper, the study was conducted from 16 to 31 August 2020, using CAWI survey method, among people who visited Polish cities starting from May 2020 through the end of August 2020 (following the partial lifting of restrictions). The research indicated, despite the threat, the popularity of the largest tourist destinations in Poland. It also indicated that the behaviour and decisions of tourists were not dierent from those before the pandemic. 1 Introduction The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is causing great havoc to the world economy. A broad range of consequences of the pandemic is also experienced by the tourism sector, which according to Fletcher et al. (2020) is considered to be the world's largest industry, generating 10% of global GDP (is closely linked to socio-economic progress) (Anand, Kim 2021,Kyrylov et al. 2020). For the European Union, tourism is the fourth largest export category, and for countries such as France, Spain and Italy it is one of the main economic segments (Komisja Europejska 2020). According to the World Tourism Organization (2020), the global tourist blockade may cause the estimated number of international tourist arrivals at the end of 2020 to be nearly 60-80% lower than last year. In the research carried out by Richards, Morrill (2020), almost all of the analyzed companies from the tourism industry have already experienced a decline in demand and expect this trend to last another year, which is tantamount to a deterioration of their business prospects 1 . 1 The study was conducted in the period from 3-9 March 2020, among the respondents who are representatives of the tourism industry and who have connections with WYSE Travel. The surveys were conducted in 73 countries and 421 questionnaires were retained for analysis (Richards, Morrill 2020, 187 188 K. Józefowicz Current statistics show that in Poland, in May 2020, the number of tourists decreased by nearly 90% compared to May 2019, in June 2020 by more than 60% compared to the previous year, and in July 2020, compared to the same month last year, by more than 30%, while the number of foreign tourists was lower by nearly 70% (Gªówny Urz¡d Statystyczny 2020b,c). The COVID-19 pandemic is not the rst crisis of the tourism sector (SARS epidemic in early 2000, economic downturn in 2009, terrorist attack of 11 September 2001, MERS in 2012), but the rst of such a wide scale that the industry is experiencing (Richards, Morrill 2020,Jamal, Budke 2020,Gössling et al. 2020,Richards 2020). The SARS outbreak caused tourists to avoid areas considered to be at risk (Napieraªa et al. 2020), and the same is true for geopolitical situations that result in a reduction in available tourism infrastructure (Wi¦ckowski, Saarinen 2019). Global changes, such as increase in population and its mobility, population concentration, urbanisation trends or the development of global transport networks are the causes of the growing threat of a pandemic and the spread of infectious diseases (tourism also indirectly contributes to the development of pandemic) (Labonte et al. 2011). In order to reduce the number of infections, restrictions were introduced that directly aected tourism: suspension of domestic and international ights, cancellation of events (Napieraªa et al. 2020) or limiting the number of hotel stays or closing them completely for a certain period of time. According to Orîndaru et al. (2021), hygiene and health conditions at the destination have become important for tourists' travel decisions. This has forced hotel companies to change their operating strategies (Rodríguez-Anton, del Mar Alonso-Almeida 2020). The COVID-19 crisis, according to Gössling et al. (2020), provides an opportunity to take a slightly more critical look at the tourism industry and, at the same time, to search for bigger benets, focusing on sustainable development issues, among other things, which means rejecting the classical growth which is based on bringing prots only to the selective sectors (e.g. airlines, hotels; more extensively on this topic Polukhina et al. 2021,Lerario, Di Turi 2018,Grah et al. 2020). Covid-19 also prompted discussion of sustainable tourism (Lama, Rai 2021,Vrzaru et al. 2021,Purcell et al. 2021) dened as minimizing the negative and maximizing the positive social, economic, and environmental impacts of tourism (Wi¦ckowski 2021). The coronavirus has transformed part of social and economic life, reducing transport and making videoconferences more popular. Both provide a good solution both in education and oce work because they allow avoiding unnecessary travel, thus reducing mobility. The observed changes can represent the beginning of the tourism system transformation and thus the process of building resilience, which is currently at a marginal level. The current changes are a sort of precursor for the modications that will take place in the future. The motivation for their consolidation and development should be based on the fact that in the era of globalization and ongoing transformations, even assuming that the COVID-19 pandemic will end (or return to normality will be allowed), it should be noted that this will not be the last infectious disease threatening society and the entire economy. 2 Tourism of a place against the pandemic Cities have always been tourist destinations, from those of a cognitive (cultural-historical) (Lerario, Di Turi 2018,Barrera-Fernandez et al. 2016) nature to more modern forms of individual tourism, such as business tourism (e.g. conferences, exhibitions) 2 . As a result of the transformations in the area of creating new forms of tourism, a new concept appeared, i.e. urban tourism, which has become an element of the socio-economic development of the city (abi«ska 2013) and one of the fastest-growing forms of tourism in the world (Królikowska-Tomczak, Machnik 2019). Urban tourism is one of the key factors in the development of European cities (Popescu, Corbos 2010). WYSE Travel Confederation 2020). 2 This study focuses on cognitive tourism trips, or leisure tourism. REGION : Volume 8, Number 2, 2021 K. Józefowicz 189 The majority of foreign tourists coming to Poland, but also the domestic tourist trips of Poles, are aimed at cities (Sala 2012). In 2019, the number of nights spent by tourists in cities was three times higher than the number of nights spent in the countryside (Gªówny Urz¡d Statystyczny 2020a). Urban agglomerations are the leading destination for urban tourism. Moreover, among the most visited cities in the world there are examples where, per year, the number of tourists exceeds the number of inhabitants (e.g. Venice) (Królikowska-Tomczak, Machnik 2019). The COVID-19 pandemic, therefore, aects urban tourism in a special way because most cases of infections (Roman et al. 2020) and deaths are accumulated in cities 3 , which negatively aects the city's attractiveness score (Szoªtysek, Otr¦ba 2020). However, due to the restrictions introduced, but also due to people's fear of foreign trips, in the short term, domestic trips will prevail (Komisja Europejska 2020). Therefore, domestic tourism is particularly relevant and an opportunity to revive the tourism industry in the era of pandemic. It can also be said that the situation has stimulated a creative approach to tourism by taking advantage of the diversity, culture and nature oered by the home country. According to a survey commissioned by the Polish Tourist Organisation (2020) in June 2020 on Poles' holiday plans, 64% of the respondents indicated that the pandemic aected their travel plans. Moreover, among the respondents who declared that they are not planning any vacations in 2020, for nearly 80% the reason is the COVID-19 pandemic. Among those who intended to go on vacation in summer 2020, 82% of Poles plan to take advantage of domestic tourism. The ongoing pandemic gives a possibility to analyze tourist's behaviour during the epidemic, thus nding opportunities to maintain the future sustainability of the tourism industry (Wachyuni, Kusumaningrum 2020). Before the pandemic, the choice of holiday destination was determined by specic features including age, marital status, income, and education. An additional group of factors were the features that can be attributed to the place of departure (tourist attractions, services, facilities) (Wachyuni, Kusumaningrum 2020), i.e. tourist resources that the place oers. That group of factors should also include determinants related to the availability of a given area, transport connections, or factors including, among others, security or political stability issues. It can therefore be concluded, as Keller (2020) rightly points out that tourism is a good weather sector. A certain breakdown in cross-sectoral characteristics, especially in the areas related to epidemics or political issues, disturbs the tourism industry causing crises. As a result, the factors related to the destination's tourist resources are somewhat secondary in nature. The pandemic has tourists face a limited choice, combined with their own concerns about safety during the rest time. Therefore, tourists aware of the limitations are looking for holiday attractions that are within their reach.There are many benets of such solutions, from support of the national tourism industry to more indirect ones, connected with education, discovering local attractions or culture, normally lost to foreign vacations. 3 Polish tourist voucher as support for the weakened tourism industry One of the possibilities to support the reviving tourism industry is to subsidize tourism consumption (Yang et al. 2020). Such a solution was applied, among others, in China after the global economic crisis. In Poland, the collapse of the tourism industry, conrmed by the statistics and forecasts conducted in the country, has led to the government to introduce a tool that will indirectly support the Polish tourism sector, weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic. This tool is the Polish Tourist Voucher, which was introduced on 1 August 2020. It is a form of support that can be used by Polish families with children to pay for a stay in a hotel, an agritourism farm, a sports camp or a colony, as well as to nance a tourist event organized by a tourist entrepreneur or public benet organization in the country 4 . This kind of element of subsidizing tourism consumption in Poland, although mainly supposed to benet the tourism industry, also indirectly supports Polish families during the crisis caused by the pandemic. As an incentive for domestic tourism, it can also contribute to the popularization of urban tourism. 3 According to estimates, 90% of the reported COVID-19 cases concern cities (UN Habitat 2020). 4 https://www.gov.pl/web/rozwoj/bonturystyczny (Date of access: 14.09.2020). REGION : Volume 8, Number 2, 2021 190 K. Józefowicz Source : Own study based on surveys, n= 543 . Figure 1: Number of tourists surveyed by urban destination in Poland 4 Material and test methods In the Holiday Plans of Poles report, half of Polish tourists declared that they will realize their holiday trips in the second half of July and the rst half of August (Polish Tourist Organisation 2020). Taking into account the information contained in the report, CAWI surveys were conducted in the period from mid to late August. The survey was addressed to Polish tourists who, after the lockdown and the restart of the tourist industry 5 , chose Polish cities as their holiday destination. The questionnaire was supposed to reveal the behaviour of tourists during the pandemic, showing, among other things, whether urban tourism was an alternative to cancelled trips abroad, or whether it allowed seeing the advantages of domestic tourism. The specication of the survey, due to the pandemic and the group of respondents to whom the questionnaire was addressed, did not make it easier to obtain a satisfactory number of questionnaires. As a result of the research, conducted between the 16 th and 31 st of August 6 , 2020, 559 questionnaires were collected, with 456 taken into account for the nal analysis of the results 7 . 5 Urban tourism in the era of pandemic in Poland In the period from May to August, 2020, as a part of the urban tourism, the respondents visited a total of 232 cities 8 (Figure 1), i.e. almost 25% of urban centres in Poland (these cities comprised more than 60 percent of the country's urban population.). Additionally, more than 70% of respondents indicated that they are planning further tourist trips to Polish cities by the end of 2020. Taking into consideration the number of tourists visiting, large cities (over 100 thousand residents) were the most popular destination. Most respondents chose Gda«sk (112 5 In Poland, the period of the so called defrosting of the economy began on May 4, 2020, when hotels and other accommodation, as well as some tourist attractions were reopened. Since June 13, border trac within the internal borders of the European Union has been restored. 6 Due to the ongoing pandemic, the survey was conducted remotely using a google questionnaire sheet. The prepared form has been made available on facebook social network, more precisely on a private account, groups dedicated to tourism and the Linkedin website. 7 In the analysis of the results (except for the elements from Figure 1and Table 1) 103 surveys were not included, due to the fact that respondents in their questionnaire forms, apart from cities, also indicated villages as tourist destinations, which was contrary to the test assumptions. 8 When presenting the results involving cities indicated and visited by the respondents, it was decided to include also those questionnaires in which the participants pointed several cities and villages they visited. In those cases, only the cities were taken into account from their answers. As a result, the analyze of 543 questionnaires was presented. REGION : Volume 8, Number 2, 2021 K. Józefowicz 191 Table 1: Cities visited as part of urban tourism according to the size of the city center Number of tourists Number Cities of cities 0-4 5-24 25-49 50-99 100-120 Large cities (<100 thousand residents) 34 11 15 2 5 1 Medium cities (20100 thousand residents) 79 61 15 1 2 0 Small towns (>20 thousand residents) 119 101 18 0 0 0 Total 232 173 48 3 7 1 Source : Own study based on surveys, n= 543 . respondents), Kraków, Wrocªaw and Pozna« (more than 80 respondents) as their holiday destinations (Table 1). The smallest number of people decided to opt for urban tourism in small towns (cities with population below 20 thousand) residents)  71 small towns in Poland were visited by one respondent. Although the largest urban centres in Poland were more attractive to the respondents, small and medium-sized centres dominated in the general structure of cities indicated by the respondents. This is due to the fact that a signicant part of small towns is located in areas with high environmental values (in the vicinity of seas, mountains, forests, lakes), which strengthens their interest among tourists. On the other hand, small and mediumsized cities, located in the vicinity of bigger ones could complement tourist trips to the largest cities (as can be seen in the case of the city of Pozna«, which belongs to large urban centres, and small towns located in its surroundings) (see Figure 1). The respondents diered signicantly when it comes to the list of indicated cities and later, when that number was summed up. As a result, it was observed that nearly 40% of the respondents visited only one city, while less than half of that visited two cities. Their choices included the largest urban centres (among others Warszawa, Kraków, Wrocªaw, Pozna«). Tourists who visited more than three cities opted for the directions of urban tourism destinations concentrated in the area of a certain region (primarily located in the northern Poland, coastal cities: Gda«sk, Gdynia, Sopot, Hel, eba, Koªobrzeg, Ustro«, Ustka, Mielno). Among the respondents some people declared that during the pandemic they visited seven or even more cities (2 people indicated that they visited 10 cities, 1 person  11 cities, 1 person  13 cities). In this group, there were no certain choices among the cities given by tourists which would indicate one specic tourist region. This may result from the adopted form of recreation, focusing on touring urban tourism in previously selected Polish cities. Urban tourism trips during the pandemic were associated with longer periods. Nearly half of the trips lasted 4 days and more (Figure 2). At that time, the respondents most often pointed to numerous seaside towns and much less frequently to urban centres located in the southern part of Poland. Before the pandemic, tourists used an average of 2.5 nights in cities in 2019. It can be concluded that the trend of those surveyed during the pandemic was close to similar to the nationwide statistics before Covid-19 (Gªówny Urz¡d Statystyczny 2020a). In the case of one-day trips, the choice of cities was clearly linked to the place of residence. The respondents decided to opt for urban tourism in the area of the same or neighbouring province (see Table A.1). Decisions on the length of trips are justied, among others, by the indicated factors of the place (Figure 3) which determined the direction of the tourist destination. Nearly 22% of the respondents indicated that the short arrival time to the destination was an important factor in choosing the direction of the trip. However, it is tourist attractions that have become the most relevant decision factor for the largest number of respondents. Issues related to the pandemic, namely the possibility to distance oneself in cities (10,85%), or the information placed on websites REGION : Volume 8, Number 2, 2021 192 K. Józefowicz More than 4 days 31% Four days 17% Three days 17% Two days 13% One day 22% Source : Own study based on surveys, n= 456 . Figure 2: Length of the holiday trips as a part of urban tourism 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% Tourist attractions Short arrival time at the destination Travel cost Regional and local gastronomy Possibility of distancing oneself in the visited places Information on websites of the cities providing declaration of safety during trips Other 34.88 % 21.83 % 16.1 % 10.85 % 8.29 % 3.29 % 4.76 % Source : Own study based on surveys, n= 456 . Figure 3: Factors inuencing the choice of the city as a tourist destination with the declaration of safety guarantee during the departure (3,29%), did not have such a signicant impact on the decision made. Nearly 5% of the respondents also indicated other factors: slightly more than 4% of people related their decision to private issues, namely meeting family, relatives or friends, who live in or near the chosen city, 0,4% (3 people) of the respondents chose a given city because of the sporting events in which they participated, 0,2% (2 people) of the tourists considered attachment and certain family traditions as a factor, as these cities are places of regular, annual holiday trips. In May, after the restrictions were partially lifted, 8% of respondents decided to go on holiday. However, almost 50% of this group consisted of people from single and double households. In the following month the number of respondents who decided to travel to Polish cities tripled. The peak of holiday trips fell in July and August, when 70% of the participants chose domestic urban tourism as their destination. Thus, it can be concluded that the pandemic did not change the behaviour of tourists as to the date of tourist travel. This is also conrmed by the previously indicated fact that over 70% of the respondents were not afraid of being infected with coronavirus during their travels. However, even in cases when people declared themselves afraid of the possibility of infection during the trip, in the end, visited on average as many cities as those who did not feel any fear. More than 80% of respondents chose cities as their holiday trips, while for the rest, urban tourism was a complement to rural tourism. It would seem that, during the travels targeted at rural areas, the respondents would decide to complement their visits with smaller, less popular tourist destinations. However, the opposite happened, the list was dominated by the most attractive Polish cities such as Zakopane, Wrocªaw, Kraków and Gda«sk. REGION : Volume 8, Number 2, 2021 K. Józefowicz 193 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% Yes, I will certainly choose urban tourism No, I always liked going to Polish cities It is dicult to say No, I prefer rural tourism No, I prefer to travel abroad 6 % 66 % 17 % 5 % 7 % 12 % 29 % 12 % 18 % 31 % I have chosen urban tourism in 2019 I have not chosen urban tourism in 2019 Source : Own study based on surveys, n= 456 . Figure 4: Preferences after a tourist trip during a pandemic Urban tourism was not a new destination during the pandemic. Almost 90% of the respondents indicated that a year prior, they also used the tourist attractions oered by Polish city centres. For 70% of the participants, cities visited in the period from May to August were urban centres that they had already visited before (the indicated places were the most popular tourist cities in Poland, including Zakopane, Gda«sk, Gdynia, Mielno, Kraków, or Wrocªaw. 24% of the respondents stated that not in all cases it was a re-visit  in these cases, among the indicated, well-known cities were medium and small places (e.g. Bydgoszcz, Opole, Zamo±¢, Toru«, Kudowa Zdrój, Supra±l, Ciechanowiec, and Drawsko Pomorskie). Only 16% of the participants visited the given cities for the rst time, while almost half of the declared cities consisted of large urban centres. However, these choices may be due to the young age of the respondents who gave such an answer (18-35 years). Their choice was then focused on the most popular tourist cities. Tourist preferences of the respondents after their trip varied, depending on whether they also beneted from urban tourism in the previous year. The surveyed tourists, who visited Polish cities in 2019, also took advantage of urban tourism during the coronavirus, due to the fact that they always preferred to go to urban centres in the country (66%). Only 6% declared a greater inclination for urban tourism in the future. However, this should be justied by the fact that this group of respondents clearly indicated that they willingly choose cities as their destination. Therefore, the opinions of people who did not opt for urban tourism a year prior can be positively assessed  such an answer was given by 12% of respondents. On the other hand, 31% of people (28 respondents), who did not choose urban tourism a year before, despite the fact that during the pandemic they decided on the trip, still prefer to go abroad more (Figure 4), supporting it with a fact that 15 of them travelled abroad in 2019, while 7 of them have also taken part in a trip outgoing since June 2020. This group is therefore made up of people who, with a certain degree of regularity, decide on resting places located outside the country. If we focus on the respondents in a general way, less than 60% of Polish tourists in the previous year took advantage of outgoing tourism. Moreover, during the pandemic, since June 2020, 20% of them have used the opportunity to go to another country as a holiday destination. More than 4% of the respondents who did not choose outgoing tourism in 2019, did so in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The interest in foreign trips among Poles decreased by half due to the coronavirus. As a result, for 32% of the respondents, urban tourism was compensation for the planned outgoing tourism in the holiday period. Although more than 70% of the participants were not afraid of the coronavirus infection, they rate the level of safety relatively low  60% of the tourists who took REGION : Volume 8, Number 2, 2021 194 K. Józefowicz very high 14% high 27% average 37% low 15% very low 8% Source : Own study based on surveys, n= 456 . Figure 5: Assessment of the safety level in cities during coronavirus threat 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% Violation of social distance regulations Lack of separate areas in restaurants, cafes, and other catering establishments Crowded public transport Lack of disinfactants in restaurants, hotels, shops, etc. Other 44 % 25 % 21 % 5 % 5 % Source : Own study based on surveys, n= 195 . Figure 6: Reasons for negative assessment of urban safety levels part in the study gave an unfavourable (very bad, bad or average) assessment of the said level in cities (Figure 5). In this group, the most frequently indicated reason for the negative assessment of the level of security in cities (Figure 6) was a violation of the principles of social distance (44% of the respondents), 25% emphasized the lack of separate places in catering establishments. Among other reasons given (5%), there were repeated opinions about the lack of mask coverage in places, where such a rule applied for both other tourists and sta in cafes or restaurants. The respondents pointed out negative aspects, lying both on the side of tourists and facilities or sta. Thus, one can speak of a certain underestimation of the rules, even though there were nancial penalties for breaking them. During their trips, the respondents travelled mainly by their own or rented (borrowed) car (64% of the participants), 23% opted for rail transport, while 10% opted for bus transport. Only 1% of tourists reached the city by plane. However, such a small group results from the fact that air transport is not very popular in the country and that the airports are located only in a few cities in Poland. Among the respondents, there were also people (3 participants), who only travelled by bicycle during their trip, which suggests the form of tourist travel around the cities they chose. In connection with the introduction of the Polish tool to revive the tourism industry during the pandemic in the form of a tourist voucher, the respondents were asked whether they took advantage of such an opportunity. It was used by 2% of the respondents. However, a small percentage is due to the low number of households participating in the survey that could have used this type of tool (see Table A.1). The survey and analysis of its results made it possible to present the tourists' suggested behaviours during the pandemic. The research has allowed us to observe that the general directions or actions taken before and during the trip do not dier signicantly from those before the coronavirus outbreak, which are presented in public statistics (see the REGION : Volume 8, Number 2, 2021