West Pomerania: The hotel industry counts losses due to COVID-19

Tourists who enjoyed a lot of relaxation on the beach in Międzyzdroje – such a picture of the holiday reigned in the media, both traditional and social, especially in August, when temperatures in West Pomerania exceeded 30 degrees Celsius.

"Irresponsibility, lack of reason and negation of what we all live on now, or coronavirus" - concluded in a conversation with PAP the behavior of many tourists medical rescuer Tomasz Kubiak, who is on duty in Interzdroje. He added that this made lifesaving work much harder.

"Suns, hot sand, we in suits – we protect ourselves so as not to infect someone else, and everyone else has it deep... And it is the biggest problem that you can negate the virus, you can say that it is not there, because I have not seen it, I have not been sick, but since there are regulations, they apply to everyone" - said Kubiak. He pointed out that there were also people who acted responsibly, tried to keep distance and wore masks.

However, the social distance was remembered by tourists in most cases when they required this sharpening, e.g. in shops," said Vice-President of the West Pomeranian Province Apoloniusz Kurylczyk. "When they were on the beach, they acted as if nothing was happening, as if there was no danger. Although they were warmed by the paravans – in this season the screens especially reigned – but this did not disturb the resting crowds on the beach," he pointed out.

He added that he himself was "testing" tourist behaviour, wearing a mask on the boardwalk. "I wanted to see if it would cause other people to wear masks, but nothing like that happened. The walkers tried not to notice me. Perhaps there is a belief that since they are on vacation, there is no time to worry," Kurylczyk said.

This holiday season was completely different from the previous one for the tourism industry. Artur Pomianowski of the Zachodniopomorskie Regional Tourist Organisation stressed that there are no official tourist traffic data yet this season, but a significant problem was the smaller number of guests from abroad, including Germany.

"There were travel restrictions, the situation was very vague for a long time (the borders for EU citizens were opened on 13 June – PAP), so that travel agencies were unable to send organised groups of tourists to our resorts, especially coastal ones, which were always of great interest," Pomianowski said.

He pointed out that the towns that have developed a hotel base especially prepared for such groups may have suffered the most. He also pointed out that tourists from abroad in previous seasons were eager to come during Easter, as well as the long May weekend, which this year was impossible due to the closure of borders.

According to Mayor Mielna Olga Roszak-Pezala, the greater tourist movement could not be observed until August. "The sunny weather and tourist voucher helped. Short stays in cottages and smaller hotel facilities were preferred," she said. She added that the prices of services and accommodation offers were at the current level.

However, the mayor stressed that "the financial loss from the months of total stagnation in tourism would not be able to catch up".

"We estimate that revenues from current own income in 2020 in connection with the pandemic will be lower by 20-30%. This decrease will mainly concern income from civil law, property tax and PIT and CIT. Today we see that the revenues from the local fee are 25% lower," said Roszak-Pezala.

For the first time in more than a decade Kołobrzeg recorded a decrease in proceeds from the spa fee," said President Michał Kujaczyński.

"Data from this year shows that May-July months were the hardest. For such cities as Kołobrzeg, whose primary industry is tourism, the state of the epidemic is particularly difficult" - he noted.

As Kujaczyński said, from the beginning of this year to 25 August the proceeds from the spa fee amounted to nearly PLN 6 million 200 thousand. During the same period in 2019 it was almost PLN 10 million 50 thousand.

As Artur Pomianowski pointed out, there was a greater interest in less popular places this season. "An interest in recreation in more secluded towns, not so obvious, in campsites or canoes, when it comes to the number of queries – was very large," he said. He added that full data on this issue would have to be waited.

Source: PAP