On Tuesday, April 27, a meeting of the State Secretaries for Tourism of the countries of the Visegrad Group took place under the Polish presidency of the Visegrad Group 2020/2021.  During the meeting Poland was represented by Andrzej Gut-Mostowy, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Economic Development, Labour and Technology.

During the meeting, the heads of the national delegations discussed the current state of the ongoing cooperation between the Visegrad Group countries, especially in the context of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic; they also exchanged information on the state of foreign inbound and domestic tourism.

They also discussed the main priorities of the V-4 tourism administration in the area of tourism policy and law-making.  Possible sources of financial support for a more dynamic development of the tourism sector were also discussed.

I am convinced that the situation of the tourism industry both in Poland and in other Visegrad countries will improve. We put a lot of hope on the vaccination campaign. Thanks to the hard work of the industry, as well as the support provided by individual governments, we will not only rebuild the industry’s potential, but we will develop solutions to ensure it develops further,

- emphasised during the meeting Andrzej Gut-Mostowy, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Economic Development, Labour and Technology. As he added, government support is crucial to face to noticeably large decline in tourist traffic observed in the recent months.

Participants of the meeting agree that tourism industry needs broad support. In Poland this process has been in place since the first days of the pandemic.

Support for the tourism industry

Minister Andrzej Gut-Mostowy spoke about the Financial Shield, the Tourism Refund Fund and the Tourism Aid Fund.  The issue of the Polish Tourist Voucher, thanks to which support reaches families with children and the Polish tourism industry, was also discussed.

However, the Polish government does not stop there.  The main pillars of the new approach to the development of tourism will include:

• Sustainable development principles taking into account the social, economic and environmental dimensions;
• Improving the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises, which are fundamental for of the tourism sector;
• Use of tourism as a tool for social and professional activation, limiting the marginalisation;
• Strengthening cooperation for the promotion of priority areas of Polish tourism products and regions, as well as the development and application of modern digital tools in tourism.

“I am sure that implementing our ideas will help the industry and will be the necessary development impulse,”

- concluded Deputy Minister, Andrzej Gut-Mostowy.

The meeting was attended by, among others: Ministers David Koppitz from the Czech Republic, Krisztina Varju from Hungary, and Katarína Bruncková from Slovakia, as well as the Executive Director of the International Visegrad Fund – Edit Szilágyi Bátorfi.

The meeting ended with the adoption of Minutes setting out, among others, the promotion of inbound tourism to the Visegrad Group countries from third countries in 2021.  It will be implemented jointly by the national tourism organisations of the four Member States, as part of the marketing promotion plan for this year.

Cooperation within the V4 Visegrad Group enables the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland to identify problems in the tourism sector and to find common solutions, particularly in the area of its promotion.