Editing Tourism in Poland (section)

==History==
The first Polish tourists were [[pilgrim]]s traveling to [[shrine]]s both within Poland and abroad. The development of commercial tourism began in the 19th century. The most popular regions were mountains, especially the [[Tatra Mountains]], explored for example by [[Tytus Chałubiński]]. In 1873, the [[PTTK|Polish Tatra Society]] and in 1909 the [[PTTK|Polish Sightseeing Society]] were established to organize and develop tourism. The 19th century was also the time of the rapid appearance of [[spa]] resorts, mostly in [[Sudetes]], [[Beskids]] and along the [[Baltic Sea]] coast, with some of them associated, since 1910, with the [[Polish Balneology Association]]. After Poland [[Second Polish Republic|regained independence]] in 1918, Polish tourism boomed, and was encouraged by the government. The first professional Polish [[tour operator]], [[Orbis (Polish travel agency)|Orbis]], was founded in [[Lviv|Lwów]] in 1923, followed in 1937 by [[Gromada]] tourist organization and tour operator.

After [[World War II]] all tourist organizations were [[Nationalization|nationalized]] by the new [[Communism|communist]] government. The Polish Tatra Society and Polish Sightseeing Society were combined into [[PTTK|Polish Tourism-Sightseeing Society (PTTK)]] and most of the tourist infrastructure was handed over to the newly created Workers Vacations Fund (FWP). Tourism was limited to the [[Comecon]] countries. This was the era of governmentally-founded tourism, characterised by mass but low-standard tourism. A typical sight was a holiday campground with small [[bungalow]]s managed by one of the state-owned companies. Holidays for children and teenagers were organized by [[Juventur]].

After the [[fall of communism]] much of the infrastructure was [[Privatization|privatized]], although many company-owned resorts were downgraded because of their unprofitability. The early 1990s saw the foundation of many new tour operators. Some of them prevailed and strengthened their position on the market, being able to compete with multinational tour operators.