Poles continue to favor package holidays abroad

Polish travelers continue to book foreign holidays through travel agencies, and the familiar destinations remain firmly at the top. Turkey accounted for 28.3% of all package trips sold, followed by Greece with 18% and Egypt with 13.6%. Spain, Bulgaria and Tunisia completed the next places in the ranking.

The Polish Chamber of Tourism said the organized foreign-tourism market maintained stable growth in the first half of 2026. Data from the Tourism Guarantee Fund showed that the number of contracts signed rose 2.6% from the same period a year earlier. Bookings slowed after a crisis linked to the Gulf conflict in March, but sales began rising again in the second quarter. By June, contracts were 3.2% above the June 2025 figure.

Customers initially favored last-minute bookings before returning to their usual planning patterns. Chamber president Paweł Niewiadomski said one in every 10 trips sold by travel agencies was already for the following year. Some customers had even begun booking New Year’s trips for the end of 2027.

The market is also attracting more registered tour operators. From the start of 2026 through Aug. 29, the central register added 243 entities, bringing the total to 5,798. Niewiadomski linked part of the increase to businesses leaving the shadow economy and registering legally.

The typical agency-organized trip lasts seven or eight days, a choice made by nearly 68% of customers. All-inclusive travel dominates, with 82.2% selecting that option. The average holiday cost 3,263 zlotys per person. The chamber’s Ewa Kubaczyk said package travelers generally favor charter and resort destinations, while people arranging trips independently tend to choose European cities and regions.

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At the same time, differences between organized and independent tourism are becoming increasingly clear. While charter and leisure destinations dominate packages, tourists organizing trips themselves mainly choose European cities and regions.