The city supports the association

The Mayor of Warsaw has decided to increase the membership fee of the capital city government in the Warsaw Tourism Organization by PLN 300,000 for the second time in a row. Thanks to the additional funds, the Organization's board will be able to exempt entrepreneurs associated with the association who are affected by the effects of the pandemic from this year's membership fee.

In 2021, WOT actively lobbied the government for support for entrepreneurs, shared information needed to manage services during the crisis caused by the pandemic. Actively promoted the city in the context of recreation for children and youth and the use of the Polish Tourist Voucher (PBT) in services offered by members of the association.

For the Organization, this was another year of increased activity, because the pandemic only changed priorities but did not reduce the number of activities. On the contrary: there were many more in 2021 in areas such as: information exchange and knowledge sharing, constant market monitoring and observing the new tourist reality.

In the justification for increasing the City's contribution, we listed the following arguments:gradual unfreezing of tourism, which took place very slowly in 2021 (from 4 to 30 May) and on various dates and while maintaining the limits.

We pointed out that despite the noticeable presence of domestic tourists in Warsaw and the Association's intensive activities promoting the recreation of children and young people, including families with children (PBT context) occupancy of Warsaw hotels in holiday months remained at around 35%.

We look with concern at the further restrictions introduced by the government on 15 December, which will worsen the situation of entrepreneurs in the coming months.

We also note that the number of tourists from abroad has only slightly increased, due to which companies handling incoming tourist traffic still do not see any significant improvement in the situation, and in the MICE sector there are still limits on participants, which makes this sector remains "frozen" all the time.

Thanks to the decision of the President of Warsaw, the association will be able to increase its activity in the area of integration, development (acquiring new members) and promotion of leisure tourism and MICE in 2022. The association plans to develop the HoReCa sector and create new innovative products. Contextually, we will promote sustainable tourism.

The Warsaw Tourist Organisation, initiated by the local government of the capital city of Warsaw, is an association aimed at integrating and supporting the tourism sector in the capital.