Transportation behaviour of persons visiting Cracow for tourist purposes with special regard to visits during the period of Euro 2012 in Poland

Abstract

Transportation and tourism are business activities that are closely related but owing to dynamic changes, they are rarely analysed with regard to transportation behaviour of tourists. Therefore, this article focuses on this issue with reference to Cracow as an important tourist centre in Poland. The atypical situation connected with the organisation of 2012 UEFA European Football Championship in Poland and in Ukraine as well as behaviour related to the declared transit purpose of visiting the city were also taken into consideration. This article presents the results of surveys regarding tourist traffic that have been conducted within the area of Cracow in recent years. It should be noted that the transportation behaviour of tourists changes in time and varies depending on the nature of travel. Taking into account means of transportation, the most popular one is a car (domestic traffic) and a plane (international traffic and improvement in domestic traffic). Persons with transit motivation more frequently arrive by car, whereas, mega sporting events slightly change this situation because planes (including charter) and trains become more popular. From the point of view of transportation hubs, arrivals to Cracow are mainly from: Warsaw and Katowice in Poland and from abroad: Prague, Berlin and Frankfurt.