By Caroline Scutt
NEW YORK -- Heavy rains that flooded much of southwestern Poland
during the height of the summer tourist season have not deterred
U.S. tourists, according to the Polish National Tourist Office and
U.S. tour operators. Inquiries have been pouring into the tourist
office here, said a spokeswoman for the PNTO, adding that only a
few callers had any cause for concern.
"Most people who are concerned don't understand that the flooded
areas are not anywhere near Warsaw, Krakow or Gdansk," the main
destinations for American visitors, said the spokeswoman. The only
area within the damaged region that American travelers might visit
is the historic city of Wroclaw, and many operators that include
the city on itineraries had to reroute their groups, she added.
American Travel Abroad and Orbis Polish Travel Bureau, two of
the largest U.S. operators to Poland, reported that business has
not been affected by the floods. The tourist office said it is
advising travelers who were planning a trip to southwestern Poland
this summer to postpone their trip until September, when residents
will have had some time to pick up the pieces, and most roads and
rail lines damaged by the floods will be repaired or reopened.
The upside is that many of the damaged roadways that were in
desperate need of repair before the floods will finally be fixed,
said the PNTO spokeswoman. While visitor numbers from the U.S. are
not predicted to take a nosedive because of the floods, arrivals
numbers from other parts of Europe have been disappointing.
A recent article in the Warsaw Voice said that the number of
European travelers has dropped significantly, especially Germany
and the Czech Republic, because of health warnings due to flooding
and concerns about getting around the country. The decrease also is
being felt in areas unaffected by the floods because information
providing a list of places where it is safe to travel is
unavailable.
A recent World Tourism Organization report ranked Poland 14th in
the world in tourism income and ninth as a foreign travel
destination. It is too soon to tell if this summer's disaster will
change the ranking.