- This year, up to 40 percent of Poles are planning a holiday abroad. Most of them go to Italy, Croatia or Greece
- Up to 37 percent of Poles plan to spend between PLN 901 and PLN 3.6 thousand on entertainment. Polish zloty per person
- — Our friends encouraged us to go with them through a travel agency. We came to the conclusion that it would be a shame to spend a lot of money on lying by the pool. I know that after one day I’ll feel like I’m wasting my time, says 31-year-old Natalia
- — Last year, we paid PLN 1,400 for tickets to Naples, and accommodation was cheaper. We flew out and got moving: we sailed to Capri and the Amalfi Coast, took a train trip to Rome, and climbed Mount Vesuvius. “It was great, we changed our plans based on what came into our minds,” says 35-year-old Ola
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According to the Visa CEE 2024 Travel and Payment Intentions Study report, up to 40 percent of Poles are planning a vacation abroad. This year, Italy is the most popular, followed by Croatia and Greece. Interest in relaxation in Türkiye, which has been very popular for several years, is slowly decreasing.
The average holiday duration is eight days with 37 percent of Poles planning to spend between PLN 901 and PLN 3.6 thousand on holidays. Polish zloty per person. Interestingly, we are increasingly organizing trips on our own, and not with an agency.
“I don’t want to spend my vacation in a crowded hotel.”
— Our friends encouraged us to go with them through a travel agency. They found an offer for Rhodes worth 3.5 thousand PLN. PLN per person in June. We were thinking about it because we are both tired from work and just want to relax on vacation. However, we later came to the conclusion that it would be a shame to spend so much money on lying by the pool. “I know that after one day I will feel like I am wasting my time,” says 31-year-old Natalia.
– I started browsing the shows and looking for cheap tickets. I found tickets to Heraklion in Crete for PLN 299, and return tickets for PLN 359. It cost us PLN 1300 for flights, and PLN 2100 for 6 nights in the city centre. The total price was the same as the price for one person at a travel agency. Of course there will be the cost of food, but overall we will pay less than when purchasing an organized excursion. But the most important thing is that we will be completely independent and will not spend time in a crowded hotel, says Natalia.
Is organizing your own vacation really cheaper?
Buying flight tickets and accommodation yourself can actually be much cheaper than using a travel agency. When purchasing accommodation, we can indicate whether we want to live in the city center or on the beach, have meals or just have breakfast. We can also plan our vacations to visit as many people as possible and change accommodations.
This is what 35-year-old Ola did. — Last year I spontaneously bought tickets to Naples. Now I laugh that maybe it was a sign of fate, because thanks to this trip I completely fell in love with Italy. We paid 1400 PLN for tickets, but accommodation there was cheap because southern Italy is poorer than the central regions of the country. We flew there and got moving: we sailed to Capri and the Amalfi Coast, took a train trip to Rome, and climbed Mount Vesuvius. “It was absolutely wonderful and spontaneous, and we changed our plans depending on what came to mind,” she says, thrilled.
The entire trip, including meals, souvenirs and flights, cost them PLN 5,000. PLN in five days. It was a busy time, because every day they would wake up at six in the morning and visit a different part of the South. – Not only did we see much more than if we used a travel agency offer, but we also discovered that we could handle abroad on our own. “It was a great feeling to have that complete freedom and decide every day what we were going to do,” he says.
“4.5 euro bus to a small Greek town”
Natalia wants to spend her vacation the same way. She does not intend to rest only in Heraklion, she read on the Internet that from the city you can take a ferry for a trip to Santorini, and 70 km from Heraklion there is the town of Agios Nikolaos with the beautiful Vuillismeni Lake.
— You can get to the city by bus, the ticket price is only 4.5 euros per person. From the city you can also take a cruise to the small island of Spinalonga, which was once a leper colony. Obviously, the cruise offers great views, and you can also swim in the bay – says Natalia dreamily.
Holidays with a comfortable travel agency
The heroines agree that if you go somewhere alone once, you will no longer want to use the offer of a travel agency. Because organizing a trip is addictive, it opens you up to the world and forces you to rely on your own strength.
However, holidays with a travel agency can be very convenient, especially for people who do not want to travel alone, do not know the language or have young children. The travel agency provides flights, transfer from airport to hotel, full board, animation and optional excursions. You benefit from resident care throughout your stay, and guests have access to restaurants, swimming pools and relaxation areas.
– I have friends who go with a travel agency every year. They like to relax, swim in the pool and send their children to cartoons. I do not deny it in any way, everyone rests differently, but I know that such holidays are not suitable for me. I think I’d get bored sitting in a deck chair and calculating in my head how much I paid to lie there. This year we are also planning a multi-day trip on our own. I bought the tickets in March to make it cheaper and also booked an apartment for a week. “We plan to move around to see a lot and to show the children that the world is really open to them,” says Ola.
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