Kinga Krzesiwo

Current state and main directions of ski resorts development in the Polish Carpathians

Forecasts for the development of ski tourism in the world are not optimistic. They are related to the influence of climate change on the shortening of the ski season and the decrease in skier demand, as well as the progressive ageing process of the societies in economically developed countries. Therefore, ski resorts all over the world are faced with many challenges as a consequence of these phenomena. The purpose of this article is to present the current state of ski infrastructure in the Polish Carpathians and to define contemporary trends in the development of ski resorts in this area. The main methods used in the research process included inventory of ski infrastructure, field observation, analysis of the websites of ski resorts and their profiles posted on social media, and interviews with representatives of leading ski resort management companies. The state of infrastructure for downhill skiing in the Polish Carpathians in 2020 included 469 ski lifts, including 91 cableways, with a total length of 199.8 km and transport capacity of 400.8 thousand people per hour, as well as 528 ski runs with a total length of 304.7 km. The best developed tourist regions are the Tatras and Podhale region, as well as the Silesian Beskids. Among the 91 ski destinations in the Polish Carpathians, the best developed for skiing are: Białka Tatrzańska, Krynica-Zdrój, Wisła, Zakopane and Szczyrk. The most important development trends of ski resorts in the studied region are: modernization and construction of new, high-quality lifts (cableways, gondolas etc.); expanding the offer of ski resorts in terms of the summer season, especially for cyclists and families with children; combining the offers of many ski resorts in the region in the form of one joint ski pass; the use of special price promotions for the purchase of ski passes out of high season; using modern interactive tools for attracting customers; high concentration of tourist traffic in selected ski destinations; development of infrastructure for tourists travelling with motorhomes. The actions mentioned above are the most commonly used adaptation tools to climate and demographic changes that are aimed at increasing the profitability of ski resorts.

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Prognozy dotyczące rozwoju turystyki narciarskiej na świecie nie napawają optymizmem. Wiążą się one z wpływem zmian klimatycznych na skrócenie sezonu narciarskiego i na spadek popytu na uprawianie narciarstwa oraz z postępującym procesem starzenia się społeczeństw krajów rozwiniętych gospodarczo, skąd pochodzi najwięcej narciarzy i snowboardzistów. Ośrodki narciarskie na całym świecie stoją zatem w obliczu licznych wyzwań będących konsekwencjami tych zjawisk. Celem niniejszego artykułu było ukazanie obecnego stanu bazy narciarskiej w polskich Karpatach oraz określenie współczesnych kierunków rozwoju ośrodków narciarskich na tym obszarze. Do najważniejszych metod, które zastosowano w procesie badawczym, należały: inwentaryzacja infrastruktury narciarskiej, obserwacja terenowa, analiza stron internetowych ośrodków narciarskich i ich profili zamieszczonych w mediach społecznościowych oraz wywiady z przedstawicielami czołowych przedsiębiorstw zarządzających ośrodkami narciarskimi. Stan infrastruktury dla narciarstwa zjazdowego w polskich Karpatach w pierwszej połowie 2020 r. liczył 469 urządzeń przeznaczonych do transportu turystów po stokach, w tym 91 kolei linowych, o łącznej długości 199,8 km i zdolności przewozowej 400,8 tys. osób/godz. oraz 528 tras zjazdowych o łącznej długości 304,7 km. Najlepiej zagospodarowanymi regionami turystycznymi pod tym względem są Tatry i Podhale oraz Beskid Śląski. Spośród 91 miejscowości wyposażonych w wyciągi narciarskie i koleje linowe czołowe miejsca zajmują: Białka Tatrzańska, Krynica-Zdrój, Wisła, Zakopane i Szczyrk. Do najważniejszych trendów rozwojowych bazy narciarskiej w badanym regionie należy zaliczyć: modernizację i budowę nowych, wysokiej jakości urządzeń przeznaczonych do transportu narciarzy po stokach; rozbudowę oferty ośrodków narciarskich pod kątem sezonu letniego, w szczególności dla rowerzystów i rodzin z dziećmi; łączenie ofert wielu ośrodków narciarskich z regionu w postaci wspólnych skipassów; stosowanie specjalnych promocji cenowych na zakup karnetów narciarskich poza sezonem wysokim; stosowanie nowoczesnych narzędzi interaktywnych przyciągania klientów; wysoką koncentrację ruchu turystycznego w wybranych miejscowościach; rozwój infrastruktury przeznaczonej dla turystów podróżujących kamperami. Wymienione działania są najczęściej stosowanymi narzędziami adaptacyjnymi do zmian klimatycznych i demograficznych mających prowadzić do wzrostu rentowności ośrodków narciarskich.

Quality of customer service in travel agencies – case study of Krakow

The paper concerns the quality of customer service in tourist services. The aim of this study is to present an assessment of the quality of customer service in selected travel agencies in Krakow. The spatial extent of research involved the Old Town with adjacent quarters and the Kazimierz district in Krakow. To achive the purpose of the work, a stocktaking of travel agencies and an assessment of the quality of customer service using a mystery shopping method were carried out from March to May 2019. The quality of customer service in Krakow’s travel agencies is varied. It is at an average but increasingly unsatisfactory level. Network travel agencies have a higher standard of customer service than non-network ones. The top-rated areas of customer service were staff appearance as well as their behaviour and personal culture during the conversation with a client. The lowest-rated areas were staff behaviour and personal culture during the customer enterance to the office as well as at the end of the conversation and while saying goodbye to the client. Only 16,0% of studied travel agencies showed maximum interest and respect to the customer. The research results presented in this paper can be used in the functioning of travel agencies in Poland to improve the quality of services in these types of enterprises and meet the requirements of quality management.

Keywords: quality, customer service, travel agency, mystery shopping, Krakow

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W artykule podjęto zagadnienie jakości obsługi w usługach turystycznych.  Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie jakości obsługi klienta w wybranych biurach podróży w Krakowie. Zakres przestrzenny badań obejmował Stare Miasto z kwartałami przylegającymi oraz Kazimierz. Do osiągnięcia celu pracy przeprowadzono  nwentaryzację biur podróży na badanym terenie oraz ocenę jakości obsługi klienta metodą mystery shopping („tajemniczego klienta”) w 25 krakowskich biurach podróży specjalizujących się w turystyce wyjazdowej. Badania prowadzono od marca do maja 2019 r. Jakość obsługi klienta w krakowskich biurach podróży jest zróżnicowana. Kształtuje się ona na średnim poziomie. Wyższy standard obsługi prezentują biura sieciowe niż niesieciowe. Najlepiej ocenionymi obszarami obsługi klienta były wygląd pracowników oraz ich zachowanie i kultura osobista w trakcie prowadzenia rozmowy z klientem, a najsłabiej – zachowanie i kultura osobista personelu w chwili wejścia klienta do biura oraz przy zakończeniu rozmowy i pożegnaniu klienta. Maksimum zainteresowania i szacunku, przez co klient czuł się jak ktoś wyjątkowy, okazano mu średnio w co szóstym badanym obiekcie. Zaprezentowane w artykule wyniki badań mogą zostać wykorzystane w działalności biur podróży w całej Polsce w celu podniesienia jakości świadczonych usług w tych przedsiębiorstwach i sprostania wymaganiom zarządzania jakością.

Evaluation of the size of tourist traffic in the Kotelnica Białczańska Ski Resort in the winter season 2014/2015

From the point of view of sustainable development of tourist localities, an important issue is the continuous monitoring of tourist traffic and the timely response to fluctuations in its size. Determination of the number of persons participating in tourist traffic is an extremely difficult undertaking. Research into tourist traffic is carried out in Poland but a vast majority of it is periodic and incomplete. Furthermore, the methods used to determine tourist traffic are burdened with many defects, so they do not give grounds to determine the number of people resting in tourist facilities and localities. The aim of this article is to estimate the number of single persons that use the services of the Kotelnica Białczańska Ski Resort in Białka Tatrzańska in the winter season 2014/2015 and to identify the source areas of tourist traffic. In contrast to the most of publications taking up the issue of the size of tourist traffic, in this work a person who came to the studied ski resort several times in a  season was not counted as a few people but as one person. The assumptions and calculations contained in the article allow to conclude that about 318 000–342 000 people visited the Kotelnica Białczańska Ski Resort in the winter season 2014/2015, of which about 291 000–312 000 were tourists from Poland and about 27 000–30 000 from abroad. Those from Poland accounted for 91.3% visitors and they came from all voivodships of the country. About ⅓ of them arrived from the agglomerations of Warsaw and Cracow. Foreign tourists accounted for 8.7% of all people relaxing in the studied ski resort. They came from 34 countries of the world,  excluding Poland. The research method presented in this article allows to estimate the number of single persons resting in a given area and in a specified time as well as it allows for a precise indication of the source areas of tourist traffic. However, an unquestionable disadvantage of the method is its time- and labor-consuming character.

The development of ski tourism in the light of idea of sustainable development – state of research

The development and functioning of ski resorts brings many economic an social benefits for the mountain regions. However, this results in many cases, with the significant cost in environment. Reducing disadvantageous changes due to the development for the mass skiing movement in the late 80th and 90th twentieth century resulted in the need to revise the current model of ski tourism development. The aim of this study is to present – on the basis of the current state of research – contemporary problems of ski tourism development in the world in the context of achieving economic and social benefits, while preserving the value of natural environment of mountain areas, according to the principles of sustainable development. Despite of the negative environmental impacts, resulting from the development and functioning of ski resorts and unfavorable predictions of climate and demographic changes, ski tourism should continue to develop in the traditional ski regions. For many  communities, this activity is the most important sector of the local economy, supporting other forms of development, as well as inhibit the phenomenon of emigration in search of work. Activities which seek to ” balance ” the development of ski tourism have environmental, economic and social dimensions. Environmental aspects relate to eliminate negative environmental impact of ski infrastructure and ski tourism movement includes: modernization of ski lifts, cableways and snowmaking system, appropriate waste management, improvement of air quality, continues monitoring of natural environment quality, the planned development of ski resorts, participation in voluntary environmental programs and initiatives aimed to raising the ecological awareness of employees, visitors and local communities. Economic aspects financial performance though the development of new tourism products. In order to achieve a competitive advantage, in many ski resorts are conducted market research and marketing actions in order to create a good image of the company, locality and region, and to search for niches of the market. However, very important issue is to implement social activities by the ski resorts consisting primarily on employing local communities, meeting the expectations of tourists referred to their satisfaction with the stay, educating tourists of the safety on ski slopes and adapting some of ski resorts to disabled ski tourists. The concept of sustainable development of ski resorts can be applied in the developed mountain tourist regions, where the economy is dominated by mass ski tourism or in areas, where this form of tourism is still developing. The preservation of development of specialized and addicted to this form of tourism regions requires to conduct active marketing actions, continues monitoring and preventive procedure in the event of a deterioration in economic conditions or reduction in the quality of tourist values. Sustainable tourism development assumes conscious adaptation and adjustment to its objectives both by tourists, leisure organizers, local authorities and representatives of host communities, but this goal in practice may be difficult to achieve.