Best Tourist Products 2019 announced!

: 05.12.2019

The objective of the competition for the Best Tourist Product is to boost the quality and competitive character of Poland’s tourist offer. Polish Tourism Organisation (Polska Organizacja Turystyczna - POT) awards products that stand out from the rest of the industry and offer tourists a wide range of intriguing free time options.

“The fact that tourism in Poland is blooming can to a large degree be credited to managers of tourist products, including our winners. I sincerely congratulate everyone and would like to thank you for your dedication and hard work. It is thanks to you that our country’s offer aimed at both domestic tourists and foreign guests visiting our country is continuously expanding”, said Minister of Development Jadwiga Emilewicz.

As is the case each year, the jury awarded ten POT certificates along with the Special Certificate aimed at lesser-known tourist products launched not more than two years ago. The latter was presented to Aviation Education Centre - Kraków Airport, a unique educational institution casting light on airport operation principles and organisation. Tourists voting in a nationwide poll decided that Certificate of Internet Users should this time be granted to Perspektywy – 9 Hills Festival, a three-day meeting with art in the mediaeval town of Chełmno.

The most important Golden Certificate can be presented only to a product that previously received a regular POT certificate. In this particular category jury members exclusively consider winners recognised three or more years earlier. The 2019 “tourist Academy Award” went to the Historic Silver Mine in Tarnowskie Góry. With other premium products (i.a. POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews and Green Velo Eastern Cycle Trail) nominated, this was a truly fierce competition.

Robert Andrzejczyk, President of Polish Tourism Organisation, emphasised that “The certificates of Polish Tourism Organisation are unquestionably synonymous with Poland’s leading tourist highlights, which deserve to be known among guests from all over the world. I would also like all Polish families to become familiar with them. Visit the polska.travel website and learn more about the winners. The regions where you will find the certified products can act as the perfect getaway for holidays or weekend breaks”.

All certified tourist products are subject to a promotional programme of Polish Tourism Organisation as part of the “Rest in Poland” campaign. In addition, winner of the POT Golden Certificate receives a 150,000 PLN promotional campaign conducted by POT. The following tourist product categories are eligible for POT certificates: a cyclic event, a package of tourist services - a tourist event, a venue, a route, and a destination - an area.

Highly coveted both from the viewpoint of prestige and image, a POT certificate also has a practical value by elevating the status of a given tourist product and reinforcing its position as perceived by customers. Finally, it plays the role of a marketing asset in conducted promotional campaigns.

Historic Silver Minner – winner of 2019 POT Golden Certificate (www.kopalniasrebra.pl)

Historic Silver Mine in Tarnowskie Góry is a one-of-a-kind tourist highlight with no peers in Europe. It is Poland’s only underground tourist route making it possible to sightsee a former mine of argentiferous ores. The majority of the tourist route of 1,740 m can be traversed on foot, while a boat ride covers an adit of 270 m. In 2014 the Mine joined the European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH) as a so-called anchor point. Three years later it was included on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Tarnowskie Góry Lead-Silver-Zinc Mine and its Underground Water Management System.

2019 POT Certificate winners:

EC1 Science and Technology Centre (www.ec1lodz.pl)

ENOTarnowskie (www.enotarnowskie.pl)

PGE Narodowy (www.pgenarodowy.pl)

Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk (www.muzeum1939.pl)

Emigration Museum in Gdynia (www.polska1.pl)

Museum of Folk Architecture in Sanok (www.skansen.mblsanok.pl)

Łuk Mużakowa UNESCO Global Geopark (www.geopark.muzakowski.pl)

Srebrna Góra Fortress (www.forty.pl)

Czocha Castle (www.zamekczocha.com)

Książ Castle in Wałbrzych (www.ksiaz.walbrzych.pl)

Special Certificate – Aviation Education Centre - Kraków Airport (www.krakowairport.pl)