Poland
Introduction
Travellers from Poland made 16.9 million outbound visits in 2024, with a total international tourism expenditure of US$10.4 billion.
In 2023, the UK welcomed 1.6 million visits from Poland. During the travellers’ visits, their total expenditure was £471.8 million, with an average spend of £290 per visit.
Visitor characteristics
- Almost all business visitors from Poland are male, but Britain attracts slightly more female than male leisure visitors.
- 40% of Polish visitor spend comes courtesy of visits to friends or relatives, and 31% from business visits.
- Almost half of holiday visitors are making a repeat visit to Britain (excluding British nationals).
- 97% of visitors from Poland are either ‘likely’ or ‘extremely likely’ to recommend Britain for a holiday or short-break.
Popular activities for this market
Dining in a restaurant.
Sightseeing of famous buildings and monuments.
Going shopping.
For further information on activities and experiences for this market, please click here.
Explore the inbound data in full
Use our visualisations to see data from this market in greater depth and clarity. Compare annual statistics, and filter by age group, gender, trip duration and more. Includes seasonality, trip purpose and regional spread of visitors to UK destinations. This data is based on the International Passenger Survey, conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Please click on the button below and select the country you are interested in.
Perceptions of Britain in the Polish market
- Poles ranked the UK tenth out of 50 nations in the 2024 Anholt Nation Brands Index.
- The UK was ranked fifth for contemporary culture and culture in general.
- Activities that appeal to potential Polish visitors include ‘riding the scenic ‘Hogwarts Express’ (Harry Potter train) through the Scottish Highlands’, ‘enjoying a traditional afternoon tea’, ‘driving through the countryside of England’, ‘visiting Madame Tussauds’, and ‘going hiking on the South West coast’ (NBI, 2019).
Global context
Top-level statistics relating to tourism expenditure and popular destinations for this market. For greater detail on inbound tourism flows from this market to the UK, see our data visualisations.
| Measure | 2024 |
| International tourism expenditure (US$bn) | 10.4 |
| Global rank for international tourism expenditure | 37 |
| Number of outbound visits (m) | 16.9 |
| Most visited destination | Spain |
Caring for visitors
- Visitors appreciate information being available in Polish.
- British food is not a major draw for Poles, but British pubs are popular.
- Ownership of credit cards is relatively low compared with Western Europe, and many Poles prefer to pay with cash.
- Around 65% of individual Polish travellers book three-star hotels, bed and breakfasts or hostels, although they usually book four- or five-star accommodation when on package tours.
The leisure and travel trade
- The Polish tourism market is dominated by many small businesses.
- The large tour operators research their main programmes between February and April.
- If you commit to the Polish market, you will need to visit your contacts at least once or twice a year.
Access to Britain from Poland
The key routes and transport modes that connect this market with the UK.
| Measure | 2024 |
| Weekly aircraft departures | 434 |
| Weekly seat capacity | 85,573 |
| Airports with direct routes in Poland | 13 |
| Airports with direct routes in Britain | 16 |
- Almost two thirds of visits from Poland to the UK are made by plane.
- London airports made up 62% of total seat capacity on direct flights from Poland to the UK in 2024.
- Following the COVID-19 pandemic, scheduled seat capacity on non-stop flights from Poland to the UK recovered to 97% of 2019 levels in 2024.
- To see rates of Air Passenger Duty for visitors departing Britain for Poland, click here.
- To see entry requirements for visitors from this market, click here.
Further resources
Where visitors from Poland to the UK reside in their own country.xlsx
Data showing area of residence for visits made from Poland to the UK
How we source this information
We work with a number of data sources to provide a rich and insightful picture of our key inbound source markets. This includes, but is not limited to, data provided by Oxford Economics, the UNWTO, Apex, Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index and from our own surveys and ad-hoc research. The largest share of these data comes from the International Passenger Survey (IPS) by the ONS.
Visit our About the International Passenger Survey page for more information on how this data is collected and analysed.
