Marta Derek

The article is a problem-oriented identification of some aspects of tourism in Warsaw, both typical (hotels, restaurants, markets, museums) and unusual (taxi drivers, the right side of the city, lights). However, the authors discuss only some issues related to tourism in Warsaw. In addition, the article tries to show that the capital of Poland – due to various aspects, but mainly because of its rich and dramatic history – is a city with a huge and diverse tourist potential. Despite the efforts of entities involved in the tourism sector, it is a collection of separate elements, rather than a unified whole.

The aim of the article is to characterize the accommodation base in the vicinity of the Warsaw’s Old Town from the point of view of its location, category structure and prices for accommodation services. Although this area is the only tourist precinct in Warsaw (‘tourist district’), for many years accommodation establishments were scarce here. The situation has changed since the development of sharing economy was launched. The study conducted in October and November of 2016 showed that on the area within a radius of 1 km from the centre of the Old Town Market Square there were as many as 225 establishments with about 1,500 beds. An important part of these places were  apartments to rent from the website provided by the Airbnb. Although about 43% of accommodation establishments were located up to 300 m from the centre of the market, no clear relationship between a distance from the market and a number of apartments to rent was identified. This, however, might have been caused by a relatively small area chosen for the research. Finally, the study shows that the most expensive apartments to rent are located in the surroundings of the Old Town Market Square.