The spending of foreigners in Poland exceeded the spending of Poles abroad

The expenses of foreigners visiting Poland in 2024 increased by over 5%. compared to 2023 – reported the Polish Economic Institute (PIE). Last year, foreigners spent more money in Poland than Poles spent abroad.

The Institute, citing data from the Central Statistical Office, pointed out that although the number of foreigners visiting Poland in 2024 decreased by 0.6% year-on-year, their expenses increased by over 5%.. According to PIE, this is a signal that the stays of foreigners may be getting longer and their expenses may also include accommodation and meals.

The PIE report shows that in 2024, 7.9 million foreign tourists stayed in tourist accommodation facilities in Poland, constituting over 20%. all tourists using the accommodation facilities (in 2023 it was 19.5%). In this total number of foreign tourists, the largest group were tourists from Germany (approx. 23%), Ukraine (over 11%), Great Britain (less than 9%), the USA (7%) and the Czech Republic (over 5%).

In 2024 foreigners spent PLN 46.6 billion in Poland, while Poles spent PLN 31.1 billion abroad. “Poland gained PLN 15.5 billion on the tourism balance in 2024, mainly as a result of purchases of goods and services by our closest neighbors, especially from Germany and Ukraine. Shopping was the dominant purpose of visits by foreigners crossing Poland's land border in 2024 (66.5 percent of responses). At the EU's internal borders (e.g. with Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia) this percentage was even higher – 70 percent.” – reported PIE.

In turn on external borders of the EU (Ukraine, Belarus, Russia) purchases constituted 46.5 percent purposes of visits. Over 72 percent foreigners living abroad who crossed the land border of Poland came from localities nearby up to 50 km from the border. Nearly 83 percent foreigners made purchases in Poland within 50 km of the border.

Average expenses of a foreigner who stayed in Poland only 1 day amounted to PLN 348 (including those crossing all types of borders). The average expenses of a foreigner whose stay exceeded 1 day amounted to PLN 1,197 and were over three times higher than the expenses of a person not staying overnight. In the case of one-day trips, foreigners spent the vast majority of their expenses on the purchase of various types of goods (90%), while in the case of trips with at least one overnight stay – more than half of the expenses were still spent on the purchase of goods, but 43% earmarked for services.

PIE emphasized that Poland still remains an attractive shopping destination for foreigners, especially from neighboring countries. “As part of the local border traffic, purchases within a zone of up to 50 km from the border generate turnover that is important for local border economies. However, from the perspective of the entire economy, the growing expenses of foreigners coming for longer periods are important, because they prove the potential for the development of tourist and business services in Poland,” he added.

“Although Polish tourists leave more money abroad than at home, their average expenses per person who crossed the border in 2024 (PLN 494) were still lower than those left in Poland by foreign tourists (PLN 585),” it concluded.

The Polish Economic Institute is a public economic think tank; prepares reports, analyzes and recommendations regarding key areas of the economy and social life in Poland. (PAP)

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