This report covers the market developments in 2014 and the data available as of April 2015.

The tourism industry continued upwards in 2014, for the third year in a row, which indicates a robust and stable growth of the sector. Poland benefited of the sports facilities and congress centres built prior the EURO 2012 championship and in 2014 hosted the Volleyball Men’s World Championship. In 2015, Krakow will host the World Hockey Championship for group A, as well as the WEC congress, while in 2016, Wroclaw will become the European Capital of Culture.

Considering the popularity already gained by Poland during the sports events during the past years and the planned events for 2015-2017, the number of foreign tourists will predictably continue growing, driving upwards tourism spending and overall market. However, one of the major possible deterrents is the situation in Ukraine, as the country has been an attractive destination for Polish tourists (approximately 1.2mn Polish tourists travel to Ukraine annually).

According to our QuERI forecasts, the real market demand for the selected tourism services (hotels, restaurants, travel arrangements, recreational services) increased by 2.2% y/y in 2014 and is projected to further rise by 2.9% y/y and 2.7% y/y in 2015 and 2016 (in mn 1995 $).

Key points:
• Tourism industry performance keeps improving for most indicators in 2014
• HoReCa market slightly up y/y in 2014, expected to grow at similar pace this year
• Domestic tourism maintains upward path, forecasted to rise 5.3% y/y in 2015
• Rise of tourism industry generates higher ad spending in 2014
• Demand for travel arrangement services starts picking up in 2014