PROBLEMS OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN GDYNIA
GDYNİA’DA TURİZMİN GELİŞİMİYLE İLGİLİ SORUNLAR

Author : Emin ATASOY -- Kuat T.SAPAROV - Alexandru ILIEŞ - Jan A.WENDT
Number of pages : 1-14

Abstract

Gdynia is a city which has been fascinating Poles and the whole Poland since the very first day the ambitious plan to construct a new seaport in the Republic of Poland there was announced. However, some tourists had been visiting Orlowo and resting at the foot of the cliff before the act on Gdynia Seaport construction was adopted. Although Gdynia was neighbouring with much larger Gdansk, it soon became the biggest repair base for Polish fleet. Along with maritime economy, tourism started to develop again. The number of tourists visiting Gdynia was also increasing. Gdynia’s modernist architecture, the sea port, large cruisers, museums, the cliff in Orlowo and beaches situated in the city centre fascinated many tourists. Regaining of full independence in 1989, gradual abandonment of the military function and some problems connected with maritime economy restructuring have only strengthened the tourist function of the city. Tourism has become a vital source of income for some companies and citizens of Gdynia. Obviously, it generates some tax revenues, so the city is also the beneficiary of the tourist industry. In 2014 116,8 thousand people stayed in accommodation establishments in Gdynia. They were 0,5% of all visitors using accommodation establishments in Poland and 21% of them were foreigners. It is considered a significant proportion but still it is clearly lower than in major Polish cities. This inflow of such a significant number of tourist’s results from attractiveness of Gdynia and the development level of tourist infrastructure. In 2015 there were 30 accommodation establishments in Gdynia. They had in all 2778 bed places, so Gdynia cannot be considered a significant tourist destination when compared with Kraków, Gdansk, Wroclaw or Poznan. However, the analysis of the number of bed places per 1000 citizens has shown its weakness in this category. While having much more bed places than Lublin and Bialystok, the fluctuations in their number per 1000 citizens place the city at the very end of the ranking. During the above-mentioned period, the number of tourists visiting Gdynia per 1000 citizens increased by 24%, from 379 in 2004 to 471 in 2014. Thus, it becomes obvious that the popularity of Gdynia as a tourist destination may be simply exaggerated and it is clear that the pace of tourist industry development in Gdynia is slower than in other Polish cities.

Keywords

Gdynia, tourism, hotels, tourism attractions,

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