This year’s all-Poland celebrations of World Tourism Day were held in Supraśl and Białystok. The slogan of the event was ‘A new approach to tourism’, and it featured an industry conference entitled: ‘New trends in the development of health resorts and priorities in their promotion’ with the participation of the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, Andrzej Gut-Mostowy, and the President of the Polish Tourism Organisation, Rafał Szmytke.
The World Tourism Day, established at the initiative of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), a specialised agency of the United Nations, has been celebrated since 27 September 1979. The annual festival serves to create public awareness of the importance and role of tourism in the modern world, and provides an opportunity to exchange views on the tasks and problems facing tourism in terms of its impact on the cultural, political and economic spheres.
The first part of the tourism industry celebration was held in Supraśl, where the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, Andrzej Gut-Mostowy, welcomed the participants and presented the benefits for health resort communes participating in the Strategic Investment Programme – The Polish Health Resorts, whose beneficiaries include Supraśl and Augustów. In the speeches that followed, the President of the Association of Polish Spa Communities, Jan Golba, as well as the Mayor of Supraśl, Radosław Dobrowolski, and the Deputy Mayor of Augustów, Sławomir Sieczkowski presented the situation of Polish health resorts. Before a series of questions to the speakers, Anna Białk-Wolf talked about the promotional activities of the Polish Tourism Organisation in the area.
The culmination of the All-Poland celebrations of the World Tourism Day was a gala event linked to the 20th anniversary of the Podlasie Regional Tourism Organisation at the Podlasie Opera House and Philharmonic. During the ceremony, the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, Andrzej Gut-Mostowy, the President of the Polish Tourism Organisation, Rafał Szmytke, and the Marshal of the Podlasie Province, Artur Kosicki, honoured those involved in the tourism sector with departmental awards – medals “For Merits to Tourism”. The event was highlighted with a concert by Maestro Chives, accompanied by the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk.
The All-Poland celebrations of the World Tourism Day 2022 were organised by the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, the Polish Tourism Organisation, the Podlasie Marshal’s Office, and the Podlasie Tourism Organisation.
