Experiences of other countries show, that the organization of the Championships, most of all, gives benefits for companies which take part in tourist traffic service, improves an image of given country, and also causes great development of infrastructure.
According to preliminary approximations, about half a million foreign supporters should arrive in Poland during Euro 2012. Dynamic development of the hotel base will be necessary to accommodate all guests. Experts predict, that it should be improved by building new 30 000 hotel places. In Warsaw, Gdańsk, Poznań and Wrocław, (so-called basic cities), and in reserve cities – Chorzów and Kraków, many decisions are being made and their aim is an extension of hotel base with missing places.
According to data published by Main Statistic Department (in Polish – Główny Urząd Statystyczny) the hotel infrastructure in Poland in last months of 2007 consisted of 1 370 objects. 108 of them were in categorization process. During 2007 75 new hotel objects have been built in Poland. Most of all new hotels have been built in voivodships: Dolnośląskie (15), Małopolskie (22), Pomorskie (10) and currently the number of them in all these voivodships is 820 which is 60% of all hotel objects in Poland.
Comparing to the situation 10 years ago (1996) 600 new hotels have been built, so during the decade an increase of 77% occurred. Dynamic increases are being reported since 2002 and since then systematically from 50 to 60 new hotels are being built per year. Analyzing quantity changes of hotels during last years, it can be said, that it is a tendency which is various depending on the category of given hotel.
The most important localizations of investments connected with Euro 2012 are the cities, where the matches of this tournament take place. In March and April this year most of all investment plans (280) announced in Mazowieckie voivodship. It is about 12% of all investments. Dolnośląskie voivodship has the second place (208 plans of new hotels) which is 9% of all investments. The least quantity of investment is in Opolskie voivodship – 81 plans, 4% of all investments.
Talking about current preparation of main Polish cities in case of hotel base for Euro 2012, Gdańsk has more than 10 000 places for accommodation. According to information given by Tourism Report of Faculty of Economy Policy of Urban Department in Gdańsk, the city has already sufficient hotel base for football championships’ need. In case of insufficient quantity of high level objects, the city authorities plan to bring luxurious ships, which enlarge the accommodation quantity by 2 500 rooms.
Poznań currently offers 49 hotels, which have more than 6 260 accomodation places. In whole Poznań’s agglomeration there are 84 hotel objects with 8 300 places. However, the city still does not fulfill the UEFA expectations, because that organization expects 2 000 more places in 5-star hotels and 1 300 places in 4-star hotels there.
On the other hand, Wrocław currently has 22 000 accommodation places. By 2012 15 new hotels will have been built, according to the plan, which will cause the increase of 7 000 new hotel places.
The hotel base of Warsaw has 30 000 places at this moment, which are localized in hotels of different standards. It will be necessary to build another 10 000 places to accommodate all tourists. The capital authorities try to encourage investors of hotel branch e.g by immunity (from real estate tax) for investments in hotel, tourism and sport infrastructures. Such immunity will be valid for 4 years for hotel objects and for 5 years for business activity connected with sport or tourism. However, to get such immunity, the investment must be finished until 2011.
Organization of Euro 2012 in Poland will have a huge influence on a dynamic development of hotel market. Building new hotel places is necessary to set up the European Football Championships in Poland appropriately. The cities where the matches will be played have not been prepared to invite expected, huge group of supporters and guests yet. However, experts predict, that by 2011 this cities will have fulfilled all stipulation given by UEFA. The biggest need will occur in sector of high standard hotels. The more luxurious hotels the more tourists and foreign investors, which will cause significant development of tourism branch in Poland.