Almost 60 representatives of the tourism industry in the Pomorskie (Pomeranian) region! 30 foreign tour operators and more than 640 meetings lasting a total of 9,450 minutes! This is the outcome of the fourth edition of the InComing Poland Gdańsk & Pomorskie Region training session. The co-organiser of the event was the Polish Tourism Organisation.

InComing Poland Gdańsk & Pomorskie Region is the largest networking event in Poland organised by a region and addressed to the tourism industry. Individual meetings create a chance to establish new business contacts and permanent trade relations. For the region in question they signify investment into the incoming offer and actual impact on placing the offer made by the Pomorskie region in foreign travel agency catalogues. The event was co-organised by the Polish Tourism Organisation (Polska Organizacja Turystyczna - POT).

“Naturally, we support the industry because it creates an offer, supplies it to the market, and makes money. We, in turn, are interested in tourists benefitting from the offer and in the industry profiting. After all, tourism is a lucrative field of the economy. We thus create conditions for supporting business ventures, and InComing is decidedly one of the most effective tools”, stresses Kristina Hartenberger-Pater, Director of the Pomorskie Regional Tourist Organisation (Pomorska Regionalna Organizacja Turystyczna) and organiser of the event.

 The October meeting has already become an item on the calendar of tourism sector meetings. It is addressed to the industry in the Pomorskie region although tour operators from other parts of Poland, noticing the business potential of Pomorskie, also take part. Foreign guests too are becoming increasingly diverse. The organisers pay greatest attention to selecting markets by focusing on priorities but also looking for new prospective ones. Consequently, the event continues to evolve and win recognition.   

 “We create contracting conditions and attract foreign partners genuinely interested in cooperation with the tourism industry of the Pomorskie region. Meeting participants include foreign tour operators and representatives of travel agencies. This year as many as 30 firms from 12 markets of crucial importance for our region, i.e. Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Germany, came to Gdańsk. Nonetheless, we constantly try to identify new prospective markets – hence guests from China, Israel or the Netherlands; this is also the first time that we welcomed Iceland”, adds Hartenberger-Pater.

Traditionally, the first day is a time of face-to-face talks conducted according to an earlier established schedule. Almost 60 representatives of the tourism industry, i.e. of hotels, tour operators and tourist product operators, and 30 tour operators from as many as 12 markets! All told, 640 meetings lasting 9,450 minutes took place on this demanding day. The second day was spent on special-theme fam trips in the Pomorskie region, featuring both the tourist offer and the degree to which this destination is prepared for attending to the foreign tourist. This year’s routes led to well-known and outright flagship sites, such as the European Solidarity Centre or the Malbork Castle Museum, but did not omit genuine local pearls comprising the Gothic castles or the Amber Road.  

 

“We make every effort possible so that each edition would include fresh elements but, at the same, we preserve those, which have passed the test, predominantly according to opinions expressed by the participants. It is important for our guests to leave the region full of good energy, motivated for further activity and, first and foremost, firmly convinced that Poland is a suitable place for starting a business. We keep our fingers crossed for further contracts and business negotiations”, sums up K. Hartenberger-Pater.