Best Tourist Products of 2018 are here!
The purpose of the competition for the Best Tourist Product is to boost the tourist offer’s quality and competitive character. POT awards products that stand out from the rest of the industry and offer tourists a wide range of options for spending free time in an interesting way.
“For already the sixteenth time Polish Tourism Organisation [Polska Organizacja Turystyczna - POT] acknowledged attractive, innovative and friendly tourist products. I am glad to see the level of submissions grow year by year and that we have increasingly more to offer both domestic tourists and guests from abroad. In addition to promoting rewarded highlights, the competition also acts as a form of appreciating the hard work of enthusiasts creating them”, Witold Bańka, Minister of Sports and Tourism, said at the gala.
As is the case each year, the committee awarded ten POT Certificates, while tourists in an online poll decided that the Certificate of Internet Users should be granted to the “Focus on Freedom. Łabiszyn’s Meetings with History” project. The most important Golden Certificate can only be presented to a product that previously received a regular POT Certificate. In this particular category the committee exclusively considers winners recognized three or more years earlier. The 2018 “tourist Academy Award” was presented to Warsaw Rising Museum, a special place on the tourist map of the capital. The Centre of Slavs and Vikings in Wolin and the Historic Silver Mine in Tarnowskie Góry were also nominated for the prestigious distinction.
This year the Polish national tourism organisation also decided to launch another type of distinction, Special Certificate, to award lesser-known tourist products that have been established not more than two years ago. The first-ever Special Certificate was granted to the Milk Museum in Grajewo, an interactive and highly modern venue teaching visitors about all that is happening to milk before it reaches store shelves.
“The highlights rewarded in the competition for the best tourist product are truly exceptional and deserve to be known among tourists from all over the world. In addition to a purely promotional aspect, the competition is aimed at demonstrating practices and models that can inspire the whole industry. I believe that this will lead to the emergence of successive fascinating places on the tourist map of Poland. I would like to congratulate all the winners”, says Robert Andrzejczyk, President of Polish Tourism Organisation.
All certified tourist products are subject to a promotional programme of Polish Tourism Organisation. 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.
Warsaw Rising Museum – winner of the 2018 Golden Certificate
How to tell a story about the past and make your message reach a contemporary audience? The Warsaw Rising Museum merges past with present, a memorial site with an innovative exhibition. It is a place that uses multimedia to recreate the ambience of the insurgent capital. It affects visitors and simultaneously helps them understand history through an exceptional use of image, light and sound. Warsaw Rising Museum is the type of institution that applies cutting-edge means of communication to embed bygone events in present-day national consciousness. Housed in a historical monument of industrial architecture, it is one of the most oft-visited museums among domestic tourists.
2018 POT Certificate winners:
Centrum Edukacji Ekologicznej Hydropolis (Hydropolis Centre for Ecological Education; www.hydropolis.pl)
Hewelianum (www.hewelianum.pl/)
Kompleks Sztolnia Królowa Luiza (Queen Louise Adit; http://www.sztolnialuiza.pl/)
Lawendowa Osada i Zagroda Edukacyjna Lawendowej Osady (Lavender Farm and Educational Homestead; www.lawendowaosada.pl/)
Muzeum Pałacu Króla Jana III w Wilanowie (Museum of King Jan III’s Palace in Wilanów; www.wilanow-palac.pl/)
Muzeum Pałac w Rogalinie (Rogalin Palace Museum; www.rogalin.mnp.art.pl/)
Ski-Raft Spływy Pontonowe Bardo (www.ski-raft.pl/)
Rafting down the Dunajec River (www.flisacy.pl/)
Stare Kino Cinema Residence (www.cinemahotel.pl/)
Zamek Moszna (Castle Moszna; www.moszna-zamek.pl/)
Special Certificate – Muzeum Mleka w Grajewie (Milk Museum in Grajewo; www.muzeummleka.pl)
Certificate of Internet Users – Frontem do Wolności. Łabiszyńskie Spotkania z Historią (Focus on Freedom. Łabiszyn’s Meetings with History; http://labiszyn.pl/artykuly/162/labiszynskie-spotkania-z-historia)
Distinction – Ster na Bydgoszcz (All Aboard for Bydgoszcz; www.sternabydgoszcz.pl/)
