16.5m tourists expected in Poland in 2014

The number of foreign tourists visiting Poland this year will reach 16.5 million, making 2014 yet another good year for the tourism sector, Polish Sport and Tourism Minister Andrzej Biernat said Thursday.
"Spending by foreign tourists visiting Poland totals some 1.2 billion euros (1.55 billion U.S. dollars) per year -- a huge amount that fuels not only tourism businesses but all those operating around tourism," Biernat told a conference on the achievements of the tourism sector during ten years in the European Union, adding that the tourism sector accounts for 6 percent of gross domestic product.
"Thanks to EU membership we have become part of a machine that drives the tourism economy in the EU," he said, adding that during those ten years Poland had spent 1.2 billion euros of EU funds on developing tourism.
According to the Central Statistical Office, in the first six months of this year, 8.78 million Polish tourists took advantage of tourist facilities in Poland, 8 percent more than in the same period of 2013.
The Activ Group's survey results, quoted at the conference, show that in the period January to June 2014, the number of foreign tourists using accommodation in Poland had grown by 4.6 percent year-on-year.