ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF CERTIFIED POLISH CULTURAL PRODUCTS IN LIGHT OF RESEARCH

By

Adam Edward Szczepanowski, PhD

Presented To

Department of Hospitality Management

 The purpose of researching a number of Polish tourist-oriented, high quality products was to determine the key economic factors for cultural tourism improvement in Poland. The results of research studies, which can assist tourism enterprises further develop the highest quality products of cultural tourism, have indicated that modern day tourist’s preferences are high-quality products. The studies have proven that the most important single factor influencing high quality products supply, was  local authorities’ support of the touristoriented organizations that have developed the brands  based on high quality) cultural products. The unique features of this research has been confirmed by A. Mikos von Rohrscheidt based on his studies performed from 2010 to 2014. These studies which are based on analyses of monographs and key scientific papers on cultural tourism published both in Poland and abroad.  
KEYWORDS: Cultural Products, Market, Supply, Demand, Price-Setting.

Cultural heritage, i.e. culture values (which are usually priceless) left to us by previous generations, is a foundation for the development of cultural tourism. Cultural heritage encompasses both material culture (e.g. churches, castles, palaces and other historical objects) and immaterial culture (e.g. music, customs and traditions). These elements constitute a basis for engaging in cultural tourism, a term which the European Association for Tourism and Leisure Education (ATLAS) defined in the second half of the 1980s. The association described cultural tourism as a form of tourism in which the interests of travellers revolve around a rich past of people and areas that is preserved and reflected in historical monuments, historical regions, traditional architecture and traditional craftwork (Ch. J. Metelka, 1990, p. 41). This definition should be expanded to include human activity linked to the need to see how other people live, which satisfies people’s curiosity and desire to see other people in their ‘authentic’ environment, as well as the desire to witness physical manifestations of their activity in art, craft, music, literature, dance, drinking, eating, play, language and rituals (translated from Polish, J. Jafari, 2000, p. 126).  
Cultural tourism is -