The article presents an issue of competitiveness of rural tourism product. From a tourist’s point of view the competitiveness is largely based on its attractiveness and determined by a number of financial and non-financial aspects. The article presents results of the research conducted among 520 tourists spending their holiday in 14 communes of the eastern borderland of Poland (Szypliszki, Giby, Płaska, Krynki, Dubicze Cerkiewne, Mielnik, Rokitno, Wola Uhruska, Dorohusk, Horodło, Lubycza Królewska, Hrubieszów, Horyniec Zdrój, Radymno). The factors presented in the paper were decisive in terms of high rankig of a tourist product competitiveness in the respondents’ opinion.

With regard to Podkarpacie, less-favoured areas (LFA) denote the areas threatened with socio-economic marginalization yet possessing unique and invaluable resources of the natural environment. Polish membership in the European Union and adoption of the rural development policy creates favourable conditions for tourism growth as a form of unlocking its LFA endogenic potential. The paper attempts to evaluate the level and determinants of the LFA tourism development at the district level. For this purpose an analysis of the environmental and tourist values has been carried out with special emphasis on the quality of the relevant infrastructure. The level of tourism development is evaluated on the basis of the synthetic index.

In the light of their own observations and other authors, and contemporary trends – such as the increasing globalization of the world, integration and devolution – very important and necessary scientific task is to compare the impact of local government policy on tourism and recreation field in the selected European countries. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to show the nature and importance of self-management intervention, as well as comparative analysis of its instruments in the field of development of tourism and recreation in chosen countries of European Union.

Trust is a factor of organizational learning. It is also a very important source of a competitive advantage of a tourist business. Openness is a major component of Trust Management. For instance, openness means that there is a necessity of getting information to employees about significant decisions taking place in their company. It should also encourage workers to interchange informations. Trust Management has a reference in a free information process which allows to enroll employees into business affairs. Openness also refers to the proceeding in case of confl icts. A manager should convince one’s subordinates, that one should not suppress disputes, but to aspire for untying them. In the paper, possibilities of using the model of Partnership Trust Tool in the hotel were presented. It was used originally for the measurement of trusting at American medical institutions.

Currently difficult tourist market may be an area of development chances of Polish tourist industry in effect of activity of government administration before and in time of the Polish presidency at the Council of the European Union and natural impulses of innovativeness resulting from a crisis. Taking these chances depends on the potential of competitiveness of the Polish tourist industry from the point of view of its strategic changing ability. In the paper were presented synthetic results of empirically verified monitoring of competitiveness potential of small and medium tourist enterprises conducted for three years on the base of the author’s model. The measurement comprised outer and inner levers of competitiveness of Polish tourist enterprises. A level of inertia gaps of economic autonomies and local administration, and competitiveness gaps of tourist enterprises were assessed.

The study presents the process of achieving a competition advantage by developing a hotel product, on the basis of combining quality with innovation and new technology. The role of organisational culture, standardisation and technology in the development of hospitality services is discussed here. The study also presents a quality programme bringing together several dozen Polish hotels, which functions under the name PPH&R. The convergence of goals between the development of quality, brand and public relations is pointed out. What is also stressed is the role of cultural heritage in the implementation of the PPH&R programme, which brings advantages to both providers of hospitality services and guests using the services.

Conducted research has shown an improvement in the level of tourism availability in Poland during the studied period. An average level of tourism (defined as an annual average from 16 voivodeships) rose during the studied period by nearly 70%, which gives an average annual growth of 9%. It is worth to note that this growth was significantly larger during 2005–2008 than during 2002–2005. In a regional perspective those changes are not uniform. Regional differentiation of voivodeships during a given year, measured by a coefficient of variation, decreased visibly by 16%. Radar methods employed in the research turned out to be very useful in the analysis of the studied phenomenon. Radar methods, modified by the authors, can be employed on a wider scale, for example, because of, easy multidimensional data visualization. In the next stage we anticipate the creation of an user friendly computer package.

The article presents the results of research conducted in May 2010 among 110 tourist enterprises operating in Wielkopolska Region. The aim of research was to determine the attitude of Polish tourist entrepreneurs towards the European Union and its projects and to show the changes in their ways of business activities after access of Poland to the EU. Also, the authors of the article emphasize the necessity of appropriate tourism policy conducted by central and local governments.

The current activity in the field of control and directing the touristic movement in forests in order to minimize the negative infl uences for the forest ecosystems, and facilitation of those forests in the zones of intensive penetration by tourists (in the vicinity of cities, living quarters, recreational centers) and naturally valuable to fulfillment of the society desired touristic function, could not be the only enterprises undertaken in order to maintain the forest habitats. Equally important for the conservation of the desired forest condition is the promotion of educational tourism, the formation of demanded environment friendly customs of tourists – the visitors to the forest. The including to the accomplishment of this goal the well educated forest sector employees, with the collaboration with schools, local self governments, and NGO-s, will contribute to the creation of people attitude directed at the respect and protection of the environment. This is the more important nowadays when the dynamic development of tourism oriented to the forest area and nature valuable terrain is taking place.

The aim of the article is to present the concept of economic activation of tourism regions based on the development of enterprise clusters and on the development of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The following topics are discussed: reasons for the current interest in clusters, approaches to the cluster phenomenon by different researchers and proposed definitions of the cluster, examples of regional clusters and sources of their competitiveness. Moreover, the contribution of SMEs into the regional economy is outlined. Finally, the function of clusters in the policy for economic activation of the region and for the regional SME policy was proposed. The article is based on the review of the literature in industrial clusters and on the results of empirical studies.

The quality of a tourist product makes a factor which determines an increase in a number of tourists arriving to a particular region. A peculiar type of a tourist product with a complex structure is the product of children and the youth tourism. Due to its character and its mass quantity, tourism concerning children and the youth may become the factor infl uencing tourist stimulation in regions which haven’t attracted much attention of visitors so far. Moreover, accomplishing the principles of sustainable tourism may contribute to the awareness increase among participants of tourist motion as well as inhabitants of the taking in areas. The results of some of the research on tourism of children and the youth in the area of West Pomeranian Voivodeship, carried out by the author, have been included in the article.

An increase of competition in a hotel sector is to continuous supervision and adaptation to changing market conditions. A necessary is an aspiration to total quality in purpose of satisfaction of needs and expectations of clients. The aim of study was to demonstrate the importance of various factors in development of quality, the role of service quality in the effective management of the hotel. The study was carried out with a questionnaire. The SERVQUAL method was proposed as an instrument for the measurement of perceived service quality. The degree of fulfillment of customer expectations and perceptions of three star hotel services in Szczecin was evaluated. According to calculations customers’ expectations positively exceeded the standard breakfast (0.73) and the hotel’s staff service. The study proved the importance of: communication, propriety and efforts to maintain regular guests. Negative gaps in the availability of a communication facility (-0.56) and the sense of security (-0.25) were reported. Total score obtained by SERVQUAL method was 0.14, which refl ected a high standard and quality of services. This result was close to total quality, however, the hotel had yet to work on it.

The main objective of this paper is to show the importance of social tourism as a commitment to fight de-seasonalisation of tourism activity and unemployment. The article attempts to analyze social policy programs supported by the Spanish government (Program of Holidays for Elderly – Vacaciones para Mayores) and its role in boosting economic activity. Holidays Program for Elderly in Spain has historically pursued two essential objectives: to improve the quality of life of elderly people and to encourage the creation and maintenance of employment in tourism industry in times of low activity. Spanish government yearly invests in the program around 50 million euro, and every year the program generates savings in payments for unemployment and income via taxes and fees (VAT, income taxes, social security taxes, excise duties, etc). Holiday Program for Elderly in Spain is one of the most interesting solutions in social tourism and in 2009 it has been recognized by European Commission as the example of good practices in field of social tourism.

Transformations occurring at tourism market stimulate tourism enterprises towards ongoing monitoring of activities undertaken by competition and adjusting their offer to changing preferences presented by clients. The main objective of competitiveness at tourism market is to improve ones position regarding competition. One of the key factors infl uencing competitiveness and the way to accomplish the above goal is to carry out broadly understood spectrum of activities focused on innovation. One of Polish tourism locations in which the problem of market competition and enterprises’ competitiveness is Karpacz, observed as a more and more distinctive tourist resort situated in the Karkonosze Mountains. The objective of the hereby study is to emphasize the problem of innovation in tourism enterprises functioning in Karpacz, regarded as one of the most dynamically developing tourism locations in Poland. The article presents research results referring to innovation level of enterprises functioning in the sector of tourism in Karpacz. The research was conducted in Spring 2010.

Products of the tourism spa are an offer of more and more global health tourism market. In spas desire for competitiveness forces different actions, including product concerning health services and infrastructure. There are numerous factor essential for creating competitiveness of subjects or tourist areas. One of them is innovation applying. Other important factors of spa tourism development are product innovations, including modern health services, i.e. wellness. The aim of the paper is to show the level of competitiveness of some elements of a spa product, especially health services, on the example of Kołobrzeg spa.

Tourism constitutes and may become a significant factor infl uencing regional economic development, although it does not represent a phenomenon unchangeable in time. Contemporary tourist turns out a more and more demanding consumer who expects an offer catering for his/her individual needs and expectations. Growing mobility and an increasing level of income in the society result in tourism oriented trips becoming more and more popular. Frequent travelling provides an opportunity for tourists to compare offers they obtain. Requirements also grow regarding the quality and standard of supplied services. Contemporary tourists search for new offers which are not standard ones, but are characterized by a unique profile. A similar situation occurs in case of overall tourism offer supply, since there occurs a growing competition between tourism enterprises and regions. They take the utmost care in order for their locations and enterprises to upgrade their attractiveness as observed by potential tourists and clients. The presented paper illustrates activities of entrepreneurs and local authorities of Karpacz, Szklarska Poręba and Świeradów- -Zdrój focused on upgrading tourism attractiveness by undertaking innovation activities.

Development of cultural tourism in Chełmno and Golub-Dobrzyń based on the concept of tourist reception area’s functioning and management in the conditions of sustainable development has become the main field of interest in the presented study. While analyzing the possibilities of stimulation of desired sustainable development of tourism in the studied area, defining the attitudes of local residents towards this form of activity was especially emphasized. The presented approach stresses the necessity of profound recognition of the local society’s tourist awareness, without which the emergence of appropriate mechanisms of the development of tourist economy is not possible.

The paper concentrates on Polish presidency in the Council of the European Union as well as its priorities, important for Polish tourism sector. The major problem to be solved is such utilization of the presidency period that would cause new Polish initiatives strengthening competitiveness of the European tourism destination in the future. Polish tourism economy could be a beneficiary of such initiatives and realization of reforms and recovery plans. The paper presents results of crisis effects transmission to European tourism sector as well as evaluation of changes of the economic situation in Polish tourism market, on the verge of Polish presidency in the Council of the EU. Guidelines for the presidency were presented, included in major strategic and recovery documents, in aim to interpret them as objectives for Polish tourism sector.

The paper is focused on use of sources from the European Funds for culture development. The Community Centre of Chełm was the area of the research, as a place enabling Chełm’s inhabitants to access culture, which actively uses financial resources from the European Funds for local community development. Culture is timelessness good, which plays a vital role as a value of particular field of social life. Task realized by community centers are very important for the local community and they aim at organizing various forms of cultural education and upbringing through art.

Tourism as an economic activity in an important way influences the natural and anthropogenic environment. Apart from many positive aspects, more and more frequently the negative consequences of its development are observed. Massive, uncontrolled and unsustainable tourism contributes to the emergence of many persistent losses in all components of nature. Nevertheless, there are touristic activities, for example, developed in rural areas, including tourism, which favorably affect the natural environment and all its participants. Still a more interesting solution is promoting sustainable tourism that sustains the ecological, social, infrastructure and economic integrity of the land for present and future generations. Ecotourism, which is the core of sustainable tourism, is currently facing major challenges and, unfortunately, limitations. The paper discusses these aspects as exemplified by Poland with particular reference to the Polish region of Silesia, which to a large extent, is associated with strong industrial and urban degradation. To overcome this stereotype – considering rich resources and environmental qualities of the area – the study has presented the possibilities of developing environmentally friendly tourism.

The purpose of this article is an attempt to reply to the question if agritourism farms in Wielkopolskie Province use their webpages as a tool for creating their competitiveness. For that reason, 112 farms were examined, 75 of them kept their own webpages and 37 of them only had a generally accessible e-mail account. The study consisted in the assessment of replies obtained to the booking enquiry sent via e-mail to the farms under study. Content of the webpages was subject to an analysis. On the basis of the results of the study it may be concluded that too few of the farms view their webpages as a tool for creating the competitive advantage. Own webpage is most often seen by the farms as a pretty cheap advertising tool but not as a distribution channel with vast potential increase.

Agritourism is one of the real chances of development for farmers and country areas, in the peculiarity meanwhile for areas with less favoured areas (LFA). The exhibition of the differentiation of incomes sources of agro - touristic farms laid on legally protected terrains is the aim of the study (the Lanscape Park of Barycz Valley). The structure of incomes of agro-touristic farms was introduced in the study and the estimated size of the income from agritourism in analysed objects. To comparative aims has been analysed the source the earnings typically agricultural farms laid the area of Lanscape Park of Bystrzyca Valley. The investigations were conducted in 2009.

The article presents the essence, scope and opportunities of development of regional traditional products in agritouristic households in the region of Podkarpacie. Apart from theoretical considerations, there were presented results of survey studies conducted in 2009 among 12 manufacturers of regional traditional products as well as among 300 prospective tourists. Development of traditional products, by exhibiting unique traditions and local cuisine customs, makes the offer of food services in tourism more attractive. However, the role of traditional products in agritouristic services development of Podkarpackie Province is still weak. The studies among the manufacturers indicate that in the nearest future, development of traditional products market will be closely connected with development of agritouristic services. It was also partially confirmed by prospective tourists.

The paper presents results of research on factors determining a success of tourist products in Małopolska. Special attention was paid to tourist attractiveness, tourist information, tourist management in the region as well as promotion activities. These issues were recognized by the authors as the key elements, which can infl uence on the success of tourist products. The conducted research involved evaluation of tourist attractiveness of the region, identification of factors deciding on an arrival in Małopolska as well as evaluation of knowledge of promotional campaigns organized by the regional authorities.

The object of this article is to appear the range and the role of the legal protection of intellectual property considering the tourism and tourist activities. It covers the analysis of statutory, both Polish and European legal instruments in the matter of trade marks (as well as services’ marks) used in this branch. Their appropriate and clear setting may determinate the enterprise’s recognisability, as well as may increase its value on the tourism market. This might be a very important issue regarding the preparation of sport’s international event such as Euro 2012 in Poland.

The region’s image consists of impressions, experiences and feelings it evokes in the surrounding. The region’s image is not something stable and permanent, it can be continuously improved, meaning developed and changed. The visual identity is a part of marketing communication, which no touristic place should ignore during forming or modifying a strategy. It is one of the most important parts of a general identity and gives us foundations for aware building of place image. And so it belongs to add at constructing visual identification any efforts, in order to they solidified the image at tourists of associating emerging, it depends on that area and they strengthened the superiority of the competitive touristic place in a communication dimension.

Rural tourism can be defined in geographical and economic terms. In both approaches the definition of “rurality” is fundamental for understanding specificity of rural tourism. Geographers represent supply-side and economists demand-side approach. The latter can be used for building rural tourism product because of market research as the base. The main conclusion from market research is that landscape has become the main reason of choosing rural tourism by clients. Landscape can give tourists many experiences like tranquillity which is rather state of mind than objective value. Thus, experiencing tranquillity is the core of rural tourism product. The article reviews criteria of tranquillity and mapping based on British achievements.

Middle Pomerania is the area marked by high-end values of the natural origin, development-friendly rural tourism, especially agrotourism. For the analysis area currently operates dozens of farms that offer the wider agrotourism services. Their offer is very diverse, tailored to the requirements of various segments of the target audience. The paper presents such prospects for further development of this form of tourism, taking into account the suitability test under the area of options and different types of barriers to this development. Offer surveyed households are shown in the context of marketing, taking into account in the analysis of individual elements of the tourist product (including the core product, the actual product expanded). The paper also characterizes promotional actions undertaken in recent years by the owners (including promotion instruments, financial outlays for promotion).

About two-third tourists arrive to an agritouristic farm with their families (namely with little children), thus the nutritional offer – that is the important component of a real product in agritourism – of these farms should be adjusted to that segment. There is another problem: according to European White Allergy Book, about 45–50% of little children and infants are food allergy sufferers. Such considerable percentage of nutritional allergies makes both little children and breastfeeding mothers must keep special diets. Unfortunately, only 6% of agritouristic farms located in Lublin region are able to offer nutrition for allergic people. The lack of special diets during the holiday stay is a serious barrier that makes the vacation or weekend in agritouristic farms impossible for families with allergic children. It forms a market niche that should be filled.

The process of tourist products development should be treated multidimensional because of numerous internal and external factors and actors involved. Tourism products are created primarily by tourist enterprises and tourist regions, which on one hand respond to the tourism demands and on the other hand, create tourist products based on their own objectives. When tourist regions are being considered, internal factors are of big importance among determinants infl uencing the process of building a tourism product. In case of tourist enterprises the most important determinants can be traced in the number of incoming tourists and their diverse needs. One of the new trends that gain importance globally is the concept of sustainable development which helps to protect environmental values, sets limits for the development of tourism products and at the same time increases tourist attractiveness of an area.

The aim of this review paper is to present the idea of adventure tourism, and to attempt to de? ne its essence, i.e., a rewarding adventure experience. Based on the analysis of reference materials (mainly foreign sources), the authors also try to enhance the innovative character and attractiveness of national tourism product through the implementation of adventure tourism, and to categorize the latter as a separate category, which is in accordance with the current trends in world tourism. The practical objective is to present own method of devising adventure tourism curriculum. We use our experience gained during outdoor activity classes held with the students of the Tourism and Recreation Department, the Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical Education in Katowice.

According to the concept of sustainable tourism development each tourist company can practice environmental philosophy by implementing appropriate procedures for saving energy and water resources, waste management etc. However, it remains the question of communicating clear information to business partners and customers, which object and to which extent implements environmental policy. Eco-labels, including the EU eco-label, are useful means that can convey the needed information. The article presents the problem of the EU ecolabel use, as well as other national ecolabels in the tourism industry across the EU.

Huge competition in the tourist market is forcing the entities acting on it, including the territorial units, to search for effective forms to distinguish themselves, in order to attract more and more visitors, or at least to keep current ones. The popularizing of the destination areas as an attractive spaces for tourists should be made in well-designed promotional activity, paying particular attention not only to the media, but above all to participation in the fair events. The aim of the article is to show the role of promotion through the tourist fairs in the activation of the destination areas. The results of research of the exhibitors at the Cracow Tourism Salon 2010 constitute the empirical base of this paper.

The article presents social conditions of sustainable tourism development in case of residents of Poznań. Local communities play a decisive role in the development of tourism at the place of their residence. Local people have an impact on the shape of the tourism product not only through providing their labour, specifically in the tourism sector, but also by creating the general “atmosphere of a place”, which may become a factor in the perception of the place as an attractive tourism destination. The article presents the results of primary empirical research conducted in 2009 among residents of Poznań. The aim was to learn the residents’ attitudes to tourists (now and in the future) and perception of positive and negative results of tourism development. The survey have shown, that residents of Poznań accept tourists and see the role of tourism in the city development.

In a market economy there are many companies offering tourist events. Despite this, a risk to consumer interests also exists in the market of tourist services, because regulations are not always obeyed by operators in this market, as well as knowledge of consumers about the rights they may have in this market is often insufficient. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyze the competence and activities of selected institutions and consumer organizations that may increase the level of protection of Polish consumers in the market of tourist services.

Position of the state on the tourism market is determined by many factors. The aim of the paper is presentation of bases of tourism policy and its determiners as well as reference to the current issues of policy making by the state like: globalization, economic crisis and Polish presidency in the European Union. Those factors should be treated as a priority in the current tasks of the state. It should be assumed that inclusion of issues of globalization and economic crisis in the tourism policy results in the possibilities of infl uencing tourism policy in the long term. Polish presidency in the European Union in the second half of the year 2011, although strictly described by the time frames, should enable realization of not only current goals but also long time goals such as e.g. strengthening Polish position as a place of destination on the European tourism market, infl uence on European Union’s regulations in the field of tourism etc.

The control system in tourism is based on diverse set of control tools. An important tool is funding assigned to infrastructure investment. Such funds affect the potential to increase tourism, its diversification both in quantity and in quality. The most important financial instrument in terms of the amount of resources and its availability for local enterprises is the European Regional Development Fund. This article aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of this instrument in the Podlaskie Province. This article also analyzes the level of absorption of the European Regional Development Fund investment resources in Podlaskie Province. The assessment of the level of absorption is the rate of investment spending per capita of population and expenditures related to the number of tourist arrivals to the region. In addition, this dissertation analyzes the policies of the Podlaskie Province Marshal’s Office in the area of controlling the European Regional Development Fund and the activity and interest of organizations working in the field of tourism in the implementation of that instrument. The article also determines the relationship of regional policy objectives with the level of absorption of the tourist organizations and its infl uence on the tourist potential of the province.

The aim of the article is to diagnose the condition of the infrastructure of the inland transport, based on its use in the inland tourism in Poland during the 1995–2009. Data concerning, among others, the length of inland waterways, the number of Polish passenger vessels in inland traffic and the passenger traffic volume in inland transport as well as revenues from sale of inland waterway transport companies has been analyzed. In the analyzed period there has been an increase both in the number of passenger vessels in the inland transport, and in the revenues per unit in inland waterways vessel and per passenger. This creates favorable conditions for new investments in the infrastructure and promotes the importance of the inland tourism.

Contemporary tourism market undergoes ongoing improvements by new, interesting tourism products. However, in order to create them it becomes indispensable for many entities, organizations and institutions to enter into mutual cooperation. Among such entities there are not only entrepreneurs, but also territorial self-government units, social organizations, as well as scientific and research institutions. Their cooperation may result in finding a client for the prepared tourism offer. Having also considered extensive competition in the region and between regions one has to conclude that the most desirable type of cooperation in tourism is the one taking the form of a tourism cluster. Growing interest in problems of regional innovation systems and the concept of a cluster justifies the question about usefulness of the latter also in tourism. The objective of the hereby study is to point to advantages and disadvantages of the concept, or rather coopetition taking the form of a cluster at tourism market. The article discusses the concept of such tourism cluster for the Karkonosze Mountains and Jelenia Góra region.

The article presents the activation of a specific type of tourist space which is completely degraded natural and scenic areas, until recently, functioning of heavy industry. The analysis was carried out based on the actions of government authorities at central, municipal authorities and specially appointed Tarnobrzeg Sulphur Mine Company “Machów” SA. The main task of this cooperation is to work towards the restoration of natural resources, landscape and the proper management of excavation of the former tourist Sulphur Mine “Machów” in order to stimulate economic activity in this area. This analysis is carried out in two ways. On one hand, it focuses on actions that have already been made, on the other hand reveals plans for tourist development and activities undertaken by the above mentioned entities. At the same time, this test is an attempt to evaluate all completed projects and an indication for a number of other regions of the samples taken at the former tourism recovery.

Te first decade of 21st century is a period of many difficulties and turbulences in the global tourism market. They were caused by further growth of economic globalization and competition on domestic and international markets, global financial crisis and terrorist attacks as well as natural disasters. Tourism also suffered difficulties in Poland, which in 2009 recorded a decrease in activity of domestic tourists and 11% of foreign arrivals by 12%. The way to overcome difficulties in the tourism industry and maintain its position in the highly competitive domestic and international market is innovation in creating innovative and attractive tourism products, ensuring their high quality, which will build their brands so that they could become a symbol of a region, attracting domestic and foreign issues. Development of regional tourism brand-building is an effective way to its promotion and to increase economic mobilization of local communities. The paradigmatic example of this approach is “The Industrial Monuments Route of the Silesian Voivodeship” as an innovative solution for the creation of a chain tourist product that has become the new image of the region in the country and abroad.

Valuable features of rural areas concerning natural environment, culture and landscape have been also used for tourism development purposes. In Poland they have still been underestimated, especially in peripheral areas, borderland, despite their uniqueness and diversity on the European and international scale. Poland has become an inherent part of the European model of rural and agricultural development, by its multifunctionality and multidirectional character. In the non-agricultural functions competitiveness advantages should be sought. Revenues generated by tourism and agrotourism are essential source of inhabitants’ income, having impact on regional economy development. Along with tourism and agrotourism development consumption is growing, especially consumption of traditional and locally made food.

Kazimierz Dolny is the best promoted commune in the Lubelskie area and has the most advanced accommodation and catering services. The study features an inventory of facilities and places providing the above services. Moreover, it includes the characteristics of local tourism. The research conducted has shown that for the sake of tourism development we should not aim at increasing accommodation and catering capacity, but focus on the quality of tourist services by expanding the auxiliary tourist base, as well as diversifying and enriching the tourist products provided. The basis of long-term development of tourism in the commune should be based on a consistent, long-term strategy accounting for problems resulting from the seasonal and weekend character of contemporary tourism.

The article is a concise presentation of the town of Tarnów position on a tourist map of Poland. In the light of its history and general characteristics the tourist values, natural and cultural attractions of the city were discussed. Further, the tourist movement was characterized and some more important elements of tourist facilities development. The perspectives were outlined briefl y in the light of adopted strategy and directions in tourism development.

The study presents problems of agricultural development in Lubelszczyzna. It underlines the necessity of diversification of economic activity in the country. The study shows the role of tourism in social-economic activation in the country, its position among the strategies of regional development and activity of local authorities in order to attain development of tourism. The study presents the attitudes of country inhabitants towards tourists and touristic development of their region.

Current state of tourism in R.F. is imfl uenced by two main groups of causes. On one side we have a pool of materials and resources, followed by the society demands created in the previous political system, while on the other hand we have the economical condition of the society [very diversed] and its actual state of knowledge and demands. As a result it led to reation of peculiar tendencies on the tourism market in Russia. There is a growth in the number of costly endeavours organised by the travel agencies, had caused a noticeable rise in the number od wealthy clients, which, on the other side is accompanied by a low – budget of vacations organised by the people on their own, sometimes even as tramps. The task of resolving those problems is lying in the hand of of the Russian Federation administration which utilises a number of organisational, legislational and financial initiatives.They are mainly used at once and that results in stimultaion of tourism in corelation to objectives of tourism and macroeconomic politics.

The article addresses the attempt of a new reading of the growth prospects for the health tourism sector in the region through the confronting phenomena and processes which objectively affect the present and future socio-economic growth trends in the European Union in the face of institutional arrangements. Analysing the conditions in the external environment of the sector – macro and meso levels – the existence of two trends was proved: 1) mismatch (fossilization) between national tourism development strategies (health tourism sector) to qualitative changes in the European Union (megafactors of development) during 2) the attempt to give a new impetus of development to health tourism through the incorporation into the framework of broader institutional arrangements which can be observed in the German federal lands neighbouring with West Pomerania., that is, regional sector development policy as a component within the booming health economy.

The paper contains a short analysis of two ways of Internet implementation as a tool of promotion of agritourist farms in Podlaskie Voivodeship. The analysis of Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) in 2009 and 2010 suggest that the short content about Agritourist farms within nationwide tourist portals was more efficient than individual websites. These portals have higher positions on Search Engine Result Page so the probability of finding specific farms was greater than in the case of individual websites of these farms.

The process of European integration contributes to creating new tourism destinations. The European Community initiative INTERREG has introduced three strands of co-operation over the borders: transnational, cross-border and interregional. Theoretically, each of these forms of co-operation creates new destinations. These overlap with traditional destinations such as a state, a region and a municipality. The authors are analyzing the case of the Baltic Europe that serves as exemplification of new and old destination branding.

Health care resort treatment has a very long history and reaches a deep way back in past time. Health right after the need of thirst and hunger is the most important factor enabling human proper functioning. The purpose of this work is to present and compare, on the example of Kamień Pomorski and Mielno, the offers of seaside health care resorts and indicate that they need restructuring, changes and obtaining new investors. The study was carried out in 120 respondents of both genders, in the age above 18 years old. Respondents consist of a group of two seaside health care resorts within the borders of West Pomeranian district: Kamień Pomorski and Mielno. The testing method included a diagnostic survey regarding a service and holiday offer of a seaside health care resorts. The survey was used to present the adaptation seaside health care resorts to services provided by them, the evaluation of their quality, a customer satisfaction rate and also the direction in which they need to develop and extend their activities. The obtained results allowed observing that Polish health care resorts require high capital investment and restructuring, from resorts infrastructure up to the service offers. Comparing these results with studies of other authors one can consider that health care resorts in Poland are currently not prepared and competitive in comparison with the offers from European countries.

Tourism which constitutes an essential factor of economic development of many places and regions does not develop to a large extent in Polish voivodeships having the highest natural potential (on the basis of CSO data in recent years). Therefore, there is a need for increasing tourism competitiveness in these regions. The author in the study places a thesis, that entrepreneurship growth of tourist sector is an essential factor, raising and strengthening competitiveness of Polish tourism and Polish economy in Europe. The first part of the study introduces an issue and most important features of entrepreneurship. The second part is dedicated to discussion of an integrated entrepreneurship model for tourism, based on entry and exit factors including the idea of sustainable development.

During the last years the actual role of tourism in accomplishment of UE goals has been perceived. Although there is no common tourism policy on the EU level, many financial instruments of regional policy can be used in order to support tourism enterprises. This paper aims to introduce and evaluate options of EU funding for tourism companies in Poland. In the period 2007–2013 the greatest possibilities in this range provide Regional Operational Programs and Rural Development Program.

Active tourism is a form of tourism whereby its participants combine recreation, sport, development of physical fitness, visiting places, and different forms of physical activity. Nature-bound school tours allow continuing the education of children and youth in natural settings. A survey was conducted to estimate the offer of nature-bound active tourism provided by Polish schools. Two hundred and ninety-two physical education teachers throughout Poland entered the study. The respondents of the diagnostic survey confirmed that the majority of schools organized tours or other tourist events. However, the frequency of these events was inadequate compared to the needs of contemporary children and youth. Thus, it seems necessary to create a range of innovative products for active tourism during school years, which would broaden this type of activity among the largest possible fraction of schoolchildren population.

Events are organized by various actors in the market such as local governments, private businesses, non-profit organizations. In any event, event marketing tool allows you to show the profiles of these actors and may have a particular impact on the creation of the image of the area where the event takes place. Event marketing can be both a tool of tourist products, and promotion tool for the area. Shown examples of the events confirm the thesis that event marketing is a deliberate revival of the economy (growth of demand and supply of services), the popularization of cultural values and the possibility of inclusion of different backgrounds.

In this article the following topics were discussed: directions of tourism development in the light of Polish developing plans, directions of tourism development in border regions, development of tourism resulting from the transnational and interregional cooperation and development of tourism between the regions and districts in Poland. The aim of this article – based on literature, documents of tourism development in Poland and selected instruments structural policy of the European Union – was to present the directions of this cooperation and determinants of realization in Poland in the current financial perspective. Moreover was indicated to support of this cooperation.

The aim of the article is to show that agritourism is a particular manifestation of Polish tourism in rural areas, which has been developing part of market economy since 1989. Firstly the author attempts to explain why agritourism can be regarded as a manifestation and then to describe it. Therefore she discusses the features of Polish agritourism and next the role of the factors which generate it, as well as development consequences. It is stated that agritourism in Poland, both as a term and a type of tourism, is a new phenomenon, initiated institutionally at time of political and economic transformation in our country. Thus it is manifested by certain socio-political conditions and mechanisms, which made it a type of tourism that socially developed from scratch, while from the geographical point of view (nature and landscape) it continues the tradition of recreation in rural areas (succession of the recreational function of an area). It is assumed that the process of agritourism development consists in two paradigms: the old one, where exogenic factors were crucial, and the new one, where creativity based on experience is a priority.

For the last few years, statistic data concerning international conferences and congresses, which constitute the crucial component of the business tourism, show gradual, single digit but systematic, declining trend in the share of Europe as business destination in the scale of the global market. According to ICCA annual reports, a little bit more then 50% of all international meetings are located in Europe, however, a gradual decrease in this share is being observed. One of the threats to the still dominating position of Europe, is an increased popularity of Asian destinations, including China. Counteracting this trend was one of main objectives of European Federation of Associations of Professional Congress Organisers EFAPCO, established in 2005. Since its inception, Poland is being represented in EFAPCO. The Polish Conference and Congress Association PCCA has been a founder member, and the Pole is acting for two terms as the EFAPCO First Vice-President. The organization and the field of tourism business is an interesting example of the contribution of Poles to building the position of Europe on the global market. The paper is showing the issue relating to trends of the development of this sector in Poland.

In knowledge-based tourist economy innovativeness becomes one of the key pivots in competitiveness growth for various economies as well as in reaching a permanent competitive advantage [Borkowska 2008]. Global competitiveness constitutes a pressure factor to improve innovative ability [Porter 2001] by tourist businesses or companies that face the necessity of taking various actions tending to be oriented towards the present and future. Only such action proves they will stay on the market longer. Tourist businesses vary in view of a level of innovativeness subject to the approved action strategy, type of activity, workforce qualifications, market environment, etc. Innovations may and are affected by all employees, customers, deliverers and all those who are interested. Thus, examination of all transitions on the market when it comes to the extent of utilization of particular sources of innovativeness in the process of improvement in offers given by tourist businesses in Poland deems to be significant. The main aim of the article is to point out which of the sources are most often used in innovative activities of tourist businesses in Poland.

The study presents agritourism on a background of contemporary tendencies of tourism development. The author presented the beginning and stages of agritourism development in Poland and marked the features characteristic for all stages. The study presents different types of agritouristic holdings and takes into account especially their connection with agricultural activity. Moreover, the author emphasized directions of agritouristic activity in Poland.

The need to remove all the barriers, which restrain creation of internal market and need to strengthen consumers’ position on all these fields, on which market instruments does not provide the consumers with proper protection, underlie the creation and development of legal consumers’ protection in EU. That system consists of two groups of regulations. The first group are the regulations concerning all, or big group of consumers, regardless of purchased goods or services (horizontal regulations), the second group are regulations protecting only consumer of specific goods or services (sector regulations). As a result, legal protection system of consumers in EU is in fact the aggregation of separate, not connected regulations, which are created in order to eliminate certain sources of dangers. Harmonization of that system by issuing one single legal act (consumers code), at present stage of internal market development, is not possible. That thesis is confirmed by works, executed on EU level, aiming at creation of complex system of protection of passengers. In the article were characterized regulations, which consist on system of protection of passengers using different types of transport. On the example of carriers responsibility for cancellation, delay and refuse to transport, it has been shown, that peculiarity of different transport means will unable to do the full unification, even in the confines of one subsystem like legal protection of passengers in EU.

The article examines selected aspects of tourist activity in areas of high nature value, presenting results of survey conducted among tourists. Research area was located in Podlaskie Province and included three units of nature – Knyszyńska Forest (an area with the largest landscape park in Poland), Biebrza Valley (the largest national park) and Narew Valley (as it is also located within the national park, with the smallest annual number of tourists in comparison to other national parks in Poland). The analysis allows to define preferred types of tourist activity, length of tourist stay, used transport means or motivations of visiting nature areas.

The aim of this article is to indicate the directions of the development of tourist sector innovativeness in the region. In the article was self-characterized the essence of the innovation strategies, used both by tourist enterprises and institutions supporting the development of tourism. It was showed, that tourist enterprises seeking possibilities of introducing new solutions, both products as process, deserve on the name of innovative. There were presented these international organizations, which favour the co-operation in the field of tourism and creating innovative actions. There were also showed the chosen results of research in Poland with special pressure on the indexes of trade and the economy of tourist.

The article concerns the issues connected with tourism policy in the European Union, being a base for the other member countries, for example Poland. There are presented general and direct EU activities having an infl uence on tourism and having a refl ection in the law (directives, decisions, decrees) in that area. There is also an attempt to show law solutions connected with Polish law adjustment do the EU directives. Among the conclusions there is a statement that tourism policy is not always correct and sometimes in individual countries there is no need to unify the tourism law to the European level.