More Polish tourists expected to visit Philippines

CEBU, Philippines —  Cebu and other provinces in the Visayas could expect more Polish tourists pouring in, as some tour operators have already commissioned chartered flights from Poland to the Philippines for the winter season of 2023 and 2024.

According to Tomasz Danel, Vice Consul of Poland Embassy in Manila, Polish travelers are drawn to destinations that have good beaches and offer a wide array of water sports like snorkeling, and scuba diving, combined with architectural attractions and nature tripping like volcanoes.

Danel said the Philippines is becoming more and more popular among Polish travelers now that travel has opened up after the pandemic. In fact, this year about 6,000 Polish nationals arrived in the country visiting different islands here.

Danel was in Cebu recently to grace the opening of the Poland Visa Application Center operated by BLS International located on the 12th floor, AppleOne Equicom Tower in Cebu Business Park.

Likewise, with the opening of Poland Visa Application Center in Cebu, Danel expects more Cebuanos and travelers from Southern Philippines to visit Poland, located in Central Europe.

According to Danel, Filipinos are also now discovering Poland, as it noted an increasing number of visa applications for tourism.

Poland is best known for its pilgrimage attractions being the home country of Pope John Paul II.

Besides, Danel said applying visa to Poland is not as expensive and complicated compared to other country destinations.

Aside from Filipino tourists, Poland is also slowly attracting Filipino investors. Last year, the government of Poland opened a trade office in its Embassy in Manila to facilitate trade-related transactions between both countries.

Filipino investors, Danel said are more interested in real estate and service industries in Poland.

Meanwhile, Poland also announced that it will hire more skilled workers from the Philippines 2023, as it faces a shortage of workers due to its aging population and the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict.

According to Danel, his country needs construction workers, welders, pipefitters, drivers, and other blue-collar jobs to fill in the workforce shortage and manpower requirement for its growing economy.

In 2022, Poland Embassy, through BLS International, processed a total of 22,000 working permits, an increase of over 100 percent from previous years.

In the first five months of 2023, Danel said they are seeing a double in the application for work permits from Filipinos mostly from skilled workers.

At present, there are about 15,000 to 20,000 Filipino workers in Poland.