Business Tourism in Poland
Rob Davidson on business tourism in Poland
Rob Davidson is a Senior Lecturer in Business Travel and Tourism at the University of Westminster in London. His main areas of expertise are conference and business travel, and over the last ten years he has written widely on these themes. His latest book was published in 2006: Marketing Destinations and Venues for Conferences, Conventions and Business Events, co-written with Tony Rogers of the British Association of Conference Destinations. In addition, he regularly writes articles for the professional business tourism press, including Conference News. Rob also runs his own consultancy business, and has carried out research for a number of conference organisations in the UK and overseas. In 2006, 2007 and 2008, he was included in Conference & Incentive Travel magazine's ‘Power 50' - the 50 most influential people in the UK conference industry.
Last year, for the Polish Tourism Organisation, Krzysztof Celuch of the PTO and I undertook research into the levels of satisfaction of over 100 German and UK meeting planners who had recently held their business events in Poland. Both countries are key incoming markets for business tourism in Polish cities, as German and UK companies have invested heavily in Poland, and there are fast-expanding transport links between these countries. The objectives were to identify these planners' perceptions of Poland's strengths and weaknesses as a meeting destination and to determine what Polish cities' Convention Bureaux should do in order to attract more meetings from these two countries.
The results of the survey (the Poland Conference Market Survey) were extremely encouraging for the Polish business tourism industry. Planners were asked about their three main reasons for choosing Poland as the destination for their meetings. Considerations of cost were clearly uppermost in the minds of many: 74% of respondents mentioned ‘Value-for-money' as one of their main reasons; while 58% claimed that a ‘Business connection with Poland' had been an important factor in their decision to hold business tourism events in Poland; and 58% said that Poland's ‘Heritage and history' was one of their deciding factors. Encouragingly, as many as 42% of the UK and German planners cited ‘Previous experience of using Poland as a destination' as one of their most important reasons for choosing Poland, suggesting relatively high levels of repeat business. Poland's central European location was also mentioned as a motivating factor. One German planner commented: ‘We hoped to attract more delegates from Sweden, and, being just across the Baltic, Gdansk therefore seemed a good choice'.
The ‘value-for money' factor will, undoubtedly, be a major advantage for Poland in these times of cost-consciousness. Companies will be attracted to destinations such as Poland, where they can give their staff a high-quality conference or incentive travel experience without being accused of profligacy. Poland is well-connected by budget airline routes to other European countries, and this is another factor in its favour right now.
There is no doubt in my mind that Poland is a quality destination for business tourism. Over 90% of the planners whom we surveyed for the Poland Conference Market Survey reported that they were either ‘Very Satisfied' or ‘Quite Satisfied' with the following elements of their meetings: the hotels they used, the appearance of the venues, the variety of restaurants and the opportunities for excursions. The highest satisfaction ratings (70% or more ‘Very satisfied') were achieved for: the service provided at the conference venues, in addition to tour guides and interpreter services. Very few elements were identified by planners as requiring major improvement. Only the levels of service at some Polish airports and certain technical services at a number of venues were considered to be in need of improvement.
Polish companies operating in the business tourism arena need to maintain this reputation for quality - not only their quality facilities, but also the quality of service for which Polish hospitality employees are now renowned, thanks to the large numbers of young Poles working in hotels, bars and restaurants in other European countries. At times like the present, all business tourism destinations are competing much harder, to fight for international conferences and win them for their countries. Polish companies operating in business tourism must do everything they can to collaborate with their Convention Bureaux - the organisations responsible for winning international conferences and bringing them to Polish cities - not only Warsaw, but, of course, the other cities which are proactively marketing themselves as business tourism destinations, through their excellent Convention Bureaux: Krakow, Gdansk, Poznan, Torun and Wroclaw.
Over the past 5 years, I have had the pleasure of getting to know the staff at all of these Convention Bureaux, and I know that they are all working extremely hard to win international conferences in an increasingly competitive market. There have been many high-profile successes - the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Poznan is a very good example of Poland winning and hosting a large and complex international business tourism event.
