{"id":246839,"date":"2026-01-19T20:53:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T20:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/246839\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T20:53:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T20:53:23","slug":"poland-saw-eus-second-fastest-growth-in-tourism-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/246839\/","title":{"rendered":"Poland saw EU\u2019s second-fastest growth in tourism in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\tKeep our news free from ads and paywalls by making a donation to support our work!<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-57162 lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/support.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"275\" height=\"97\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 275px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 275\/97;\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Notes from Poland is run by a <a href=\"https:\/\/notesfrompoland.com\/about-us\/#editor-team\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">small editorial team<\/a> and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.<\/p>\n<p>Poland saw the European Union\u2019s second-fastest growth in tourism in 2025, behind only the Mediterranean island state of Malta. The figures come amid efforts by the Polish government to boost the role of tourism in the economy.<\/p>\n<p>New <a href=\"https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/eurostat\/web\/products-eurostat-news\/w\/ddn-20260116-1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">data<\/a> from Eurostat, the EU\u2019s statistical agency, show that the estimated number of nights spent in tourist accommodation rose by 7% in Poland in 2025 compared to a year earlier. That placed it behind Malta (+9.9%) and ahead of Latvia (+6.2%), Lithuania and Luxembourg (both +6.1%).<\/p>\n<p>Tourism in traditional powerhouses France (+3%), Italy (+2.1%) and Spain (+1.6%) rose modestly, while two countries experienced a decline: Romania (-1.4%) and Ireland (-1.8%).<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-88152\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/aa.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>In absolute terms, however, Poland remains well behind other destinations. It had an estimated total of 104.5 million nights spent in tourist accommodation in 2025, well below leaders Spain (513.1 million), Italy (476.0 million) and France (471.3 million).<\/p>\n<p>Poland also found itself behind the smaller countries of Greece (156.2 million), the Netherlands (148.0 million) and Austria (133.6 million).<\/p>\n<p>Eurostat notes that Poland had one of the lowest proportions of international visitors. Just 19.2% of its tourist accommodation nights were accounted for by foreign guests. Only Germany (18.9%) and Romania (17.6%) had lower figures.<\/p>\n<p>Malta (94.1%) had the highest proportion of foreign visitors, followed by Cyprus (92.7%), Croatia (90.3%) and Luxembourg (88.1%). Spain (64.2%) and Italy (55.5%) both had a majority of international guests, while in France (31.9%) they were a minority.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With its combination of <a href=\"https:\/\/notesfrompoland.com\/2024\/11\/28\/gdansk-christmas-market-voted-best-in-europe\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">historic cities<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/notesfrompoland.com\/2020\/07\/08\/poland-from-top-to-bottom-ten-of-its-best-holiday-destinations-in-pictures\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">natural landscapes<\/a> \u2013 including sandy <a href=\"https:\/\/notesfrompoland.com\/2023\/07\/12\/poland-becoming-new-top-destination-for-czech-summer-tourists\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">beaches in the north<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/notesfrompoland.com\/2024\/06\/03\/arabic-signs-appear-in-polish-resort-town-amid-surge-in-tourists-from-middle-east\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">mountains in the south<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/notesfrompoland.com\/2019\/12\/09\/the-stunning-wildlife-of-polands-bialowieza-forest-in-pictures\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ancient forests<\/a>, and a lake district \u2013 Poland has many of the raw materials needed to attract tourists.<\/p>\n<p>However, last year, the tourism sector accounted for only around 4% of GDP, well below the EU-wide figure of 10%. The current government is hoping to change that, <a href=\"https:\/\/notesfrompoland.com\/2025\/12\/02\/poland-bets-on-tourism-to-add-extra-dimension-to-booming-economy\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">launching plans in September<\/a> for tourism to contribute 9% of GDP by 2030.<\/p>\n<p>That same month, Krak\u00f3w, Poland\u2019s most popular tourist destination, was <a href=\"https:\/\/notesfrompoland.com\/2025\/09\/19\/krakow-again-named-europes-best-city-break-destination\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">named as the best city break location in Europe<\/a> for the fifth time by British consumer association and magazine Which?<\/p>\n<p>Two major tourist destinations near Krak\u00f3w \u2013 the UNESCO-listed <a href=\"https:\/\/notesfrompoland.com\/2026\/01\/17\/polands-historic-wieliczka-salt-mine-received-record-1-9-million-visitors-in-2025-3\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wieliczka Salt Mine<\/a> and the former <a href=\"https:\/\/notesfrompoland.com\/2025\/04\/28\/auschwitz-museum-restricts-entry-rules-amid-surge-in-visitors-without-bookings\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nazi-German death camp of Auschwitz<\/a> \u2013 both saw record visitor numbers last year.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">With its historic cities, natural landscapes and growing culinary scene, Poland is hoping to boost the role of tourism in its booming economy, writes Olivier Sorgho<\/p>\n<p>The government wants tourism to contribute 9% of GDP within a decade, up from 4% now <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3wfyIkZMHm\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/3wfyIkZMHm<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Notes from Poland \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf1 (@notesfrompoland) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/notesfrompoland\/status\/1995793476508590287?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">December 2, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-57162 lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/support.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"275\" height=\"97\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 275px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 275\/97;\"\/><br \/>Notes from Poland is run by a <a href=\"https:\/\/notesfrompoland.com\/about-us\/#editor-team\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">small editorial team<\/a> and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.<\/p>\n<p>Main image credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/old-town-in-warsaw-17741460\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Egor Komarov\/Pexels<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/6s83J95K_400x400.jpg\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" alt=\"\" itemprop=\"image\" class=\"lazyload\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 100px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 100\/100;\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of\u00a0Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including\u00a0Foreign Policy,\u00a0POLITICO Europe,\u00a0EUobserver\u00a0and\u00a0Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keep our news free from ads and paywalls by making a donation to support our work! Notes from&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,184,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-246839","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}