According to a new survey, 40 percent of Poles plan to go on holiday within six months of the end of the pandemic and 66 percent of them want to spend their holiday in Poland.
According to IMAS International Research, Poles want to spend their holidays in smaller self-catering accommodations and to spend on between €120 and €700 per person on such a holiday, representing a cautious financial approach for Poles during the crisis.
Other studies on Polish travel plans have featured more positive results, with a survey from Profitroom showing that 80 percent of Poles have summer vacation plans, and of those who plan to travel, 93 percent plan to do so in Poland.
Tour operators are desperate for some good news as debts begin piling up, however, according to the IMAS survey, most Poles do not want to partake in travel packages this year but instead want privately-booked accommodations.
The average indebtedness of Polish tour operators is now €8,000 and one of the firms in Warsaw has a debt of about €350,000 to clear. As of now, 616 Polish travel companies are in debt.
At the beginning of 2020, 64 percent of Poles planned to take a holiday according to CBOS opinion research.
The pandemic has reduced that number to 40 percent, according to IMAS. The majority of them 66 percent plan to spend their holiday in Poland, and only 20 percent envisage a holiday abroad.
Those who are wavering about holiday vacation plans are worried by a possible return of the pandemic (33%). Tour operators hope that these fears can be reduced as the summer holiday season approaches, but a fifth of those Poles surveyed who reported their personal finances are in a parlous state are unlikely to change their minds.
Travel operators are putting on a brave face and hoping for a recovery in the autumn, but no one knows how long the pandemic and its effects will last.
IMAS International Research was conducted in April 2020 within a group of 522 people aged 18-74 years old at the request of the National Debt Register.
