Arabic signs appear in Polish resort town amid surge in tourists from Middle East

In the Polish mountain resort of Zakopane, signs in Arabic, created with the help of artificial intelligence, are popping up all over the city as local businesses prepare for record numbers of tourists from the Middle East this year.

Zakopane, at the foot of the Tatra Mountains in southern Poland, has become a popular destination for Arab tourists in recent years, with record numbers of Arabs visiting last year, making up the largest group of foreign tourists in the country, the Zakopane newspaper reported. Gazeta Wyborcza Every day. And this year, we’re seeing even more bookings.

“Reservations from this area have increased by about 20%. [the Middle East] “This is more than at the same time last year,” Karol Wagner of the Tatra Chamber of Commerce told the paper last month, estimating that around 15 percent of tourists visiting the region now come from Arab countries.

Local businesses have been preparing Arabic-language materials in anticipation of the arrival of tourists from countries such as Bahrain, the UAE and Qatar, who spend more on average than tourists from Poland and other European countries.

Around the city, restaurant signs advertising halal food, written in Arabic, are popping up (indeed, Poland is one of Europe’s largest producers of halal and kosher meat).

“This is the result of combining the innate skills of Podhale’s entrepreneurs with modern AI solutions,” Wagner said. Gazeta WyborczaIt takes its name from the historical Podhale region in which Zakopane is located.

“Thanks to our tools that allow error-free communication in Arabic, we can create Arabic advertisements, menus and information quickly and completely free of charge,” he added.

Agata Wojtowić, chairperson of the Zakopane County Council, told the paper that there was initially “a little bit of resentment” among local residents when Arab tourists first arrived in town: “Everyone is initially scared of the unknown.”

In 2019, a local newspaper warned Poles “not to panic” over the fact that some Arab tourists were giving money to local children, which the paper reported was just part of the gift-giving tradition during Eid.

Now, visitors are welcome, Wojtowicz said. “These signs are [in Arabic] “This is another step in our flexibility,” she added.

Last year, Emilia Grysta, who works at a local consulting and marketing firm, said that since the invasion of Ukraine, Zakopane was “helping to fill the gap left by tourists from the Middle East and Russia”.

Meanwhile, Polish media have reported that Arab tourists are also becoming interested in Poland’s other popular tourist destination, the northern Baltic Sea coast.

The proportion of foreign guests is increasing [than before] “In Świnoujście,” Agnieszka Masznar-Paprocka of the Polish Chamber of Hotel Industry and Commerce told news website Wirtualna Polska last month, referring to the popular tourist destination.

“We have mostly tourists from Germany, but it is also an attractive destination for people from Sweden and the Czech Republic. We have also had first-time inquiries from Saudi Arabian nationals,” she added.

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Main image credit: Marek Podmokly / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Daniel Tilles is Notes from PolandHe writes about the Polish situation in a wide range of publications, including: Foreign Policy, POLITICO EUROPE, EU Observer and Genic Gazeta Prawna.