The 13th New Trends in Tourism conference has concluded
Hours of presentations and special guests. Meetings, discussions and networking. All this has for years now been a mainstay of Poland’s largest tourism industry event – the New Trends in Tourism conference. On 14 April, we met at the European Solidarity Centre in Gdansk for the 13th time.
Similar to previous years, the conference was a hybrid event that could be attended in person or enjoyed online. This time, it began with a morning press review hosted by experts from the Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management. We discussed current topics, including the effectiveness of selected forms of promoting various destinations.
‘I’m very happy that we can all be here. It appears that the worst is behind us. The tourism industry is recovering from the losses caused by the pandemic and the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. Gdansk was visited my more than 3.7 million guests last year!’, said Deputy Mayor of Gdansk, Piotr Grzelak, at the opening ceremony.
The floor was then given to a very special guest, whose speech was not listed in the conference schedule and was kept a secret until the very last moment. The guest in question was former president Lech Walesa, who greeted the attendees warmly and gave a short lecture. To commemorate the occasion, the former president received a Visit Gdansk hoodie, and the guest wished him a happy birthday (even though his actual, 80th birthday is still a while off, there was no better opportunity to celebrate than this).
After a photoshoot with the president, the panel discussions began. Many of this year’s speeches focused on statistics and analyses as the foundations of project planning, with in-depth presentations given by Katarzyna Nalysz-Safuryn and Janina Bak. Sustainable tourism also made an appearance in the form of a presentation by Mariusz Czepczynski, and
some of the other topics included online activities and culinary tourism. Of particular interest was the speech given by a special guest – the famous chef Wojciech Modest Amaro, who focused on quality, VIP guests and the prestige of culinary awards.
The final presentation was given by Piotr Kosek, who illuminated us on the topic of space tourism. We learnt roughly when we would be able to go into space as tourists, who can take us there, and of course – how much it is going to cost us.
The organisers also did not forget about a networking evening, hosted by Elektryczny Zuraw, which was a great opportunity to relax after a long day and make friends with other attendees.
As is tradition, the conference was officially concluded by Lukasz Wysocki, president of the Gdansk Tourism Organisation, as well as the host, Michal Zalewski. ‘The next conference is still far away, but it’s always a good idea to keep an eye on the NTT website. Our next meeting is in a year, but I would already like to invite you to attend’, said Lukasz Wysocki, President of the Gdansk Tourism Organization.
