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🇵🇱 Poland /Economy & Trade

Poles favored Mediterranean countries for their summer holidays

From Rzeczpospolita · () Polish

Translated from Polish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Polish travelers most often chose Mediterranean destinations during the summer, although industry data differed on the precise ranking of countries.
  • Return-flight bookings averaged just under eight days, and trips lasting three to five or six to eight days made up nearly 70% of reservations in one dataset.
  • Italy led eSky.pl bookings with 27%, followed by Spain at 15% and Greece at 13%; Bulgaria and Albania recorded sharp year-on-year growth.

Polish holidaymakers continued to favor southern Europe and other Mediterranean destinations this summer, while travel patterns pointed toward more frequent but shorter trips. Industry representatives cited by PAP said Italy, Spain, Greece, Turkey and Egypt were among the most popular choices.

Matei Psatta of the FRU platform said Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Greece and France were the leading destinations in its data. Rome, Milan, London and Alicante attracted particular interest because of their broad tourist offerings and extensive air connections. The average return-flight booking in July and August lasted just under eight days.

Trips of six to eight days and three to five days together accounted for almost 70% of FRU reservations. Psatta said travelers were increasingly choosing journeys that made efficient use of both their holiday time and their budgets, rather than taking one long holiday each year. July and August were similarly popular in the FRU data.

Poles are increasingly choosing trips that allow them to use both their holiday time and their budget efficiently. A few years ago, a summer trip most often meant one longer holiday a year, but today we increasingly choose the model of more frequent, shorter trips.

· Matei PsattaThe FRU representative described the shift toward shorter and more frequent holidays.

Data from online travel agency eSky.pl also placed southern European destinations at the top. Italy accounted for 27% of bookings, Spain for 15% and Greece for 13%. Malta represented 11%, while Bulgaria accounted for 9.5%. The number of trips to Bulgaria increased sixfold from the previous year, and the number of flight-and-hotel packages sold for Albania rose sevenfold.

Short city breaks also formed a significant part of demand. One in five eSky.pl customers chose a three-day city break, although weeklong holidays remained the most common option. Trips lasting at least five days made up more than half of bookings, and August departures were about 10% higher than July departures in the agency’s data. Wakacje.pl customers most often traveled to Turkey, Greece and Egypt, followed by Spain and Tunisia.

The 2026 season showed that Poles are increasingly discovering less obvious destinations.

· Katarzyna HautonThe eSky.pl representative highlighted rising interest in destinations such as Albania.
About this summary

Originally published by Rzeczpospolita in Polish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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