Studia Periegetica (Dec 2016)
Demand for a Polish Health Tourism Product : an Analysis of Tour Operator Offers and the Interest in Polish Health Tourism Based on Tourists from Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and Hungary
Abstract
In Europe, Poland is regarded as a country where health services are cheap and highly professional. Further development of this sector, however, requires building cooperation and networking among institutions interested in sending and hosting tourists. The main objective of this study is to analyze the activities of tour operators regarding the organization of health tourism in Poland, with particular emphasis on the interest in this type of opportunity among customers from selected European countries and on the possibilities of its wider promotion. The analysis of secondary sources points to the fact that the further development of health tourism in Poland on the Belgian, Dutch, Italian, Spanish and Hungarian markets requires consistent implementation of coordination and promotion policies. It is necessary to build contacts and a network of partners (e.g. in Spain). Creating online platforms and using search engines in English or French, as the most reliable source of information and a database for foreign tourists, is essential (e.g. in Belgium and Hungary). Promotion based on facts and analysis ought to be addressed to two different target groups: individual customers (e.g. in Hungary) and payers making decisions about group trips (in Italy and Spain). Constant enhancement of the image of Poland as a European destination with an increasing number of motorways, unspoiled nature, and regional organic foods is also important (particularly among the Dutch and the Belgian). A lot of emphasis should be put on the offered forms of active recreation and on the promotion of modern facilities, a variety of treatments, high hotel standards, infrastructure, as well as, information and booking systems (e.g. in Belgium and the Netherlands).(original abstract)
