IP IMEO - Tourist, recreational and cultural offer complementing
the programme of big events.
IMEO – International Mass Event Organisation
based on Recent Experience of Euro 2012
Name of the workshop:
Tourist, recreational and cultural offer complementing the programme of big events
Leaders of the workshop: Prof. Piotr Migoń, Edyta Pijet-Migoń, PhD, Tourism and
Recreation Faculty, Wrocław School of Banking
Required materials and equipment: multimedia projector, screen, maps, cities' maps,
guidebooks, brochures promoting the cities and regions where students study
The scope of knowledge and practical skills to be acquired by participants before
attending the course: students should have basic knowledge on tourist attractions, customs
and culture of the cities and regions where they study. They should also prepare information
on big events organized in their cities.
The workshops' goal:
The workshops' goal is to equip participants with the knowledge and skills related to
preparation of additional tourism, recreation and culture programmes targeted at big events'
participants and their accompanying persons. The aim of these programmes is to make a visit
more attractive, encourage longer stays and revisits with a family or friends.
The workshops' participants will be able to prepare a programme customised accordingly to
different age groups and diverse interests of tourists. They will also learn alternative
approaches to sightseeing tourist attractions through city games, story sightseeing or solving
historical or criminal mysteries. Participation in the workshops should also help to realize that
a tourist potential of a city or town is not necessarily based solely on the most popular
attractions and standard sightseeing tourist routes.
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IP IMEO - Tourist, recreational and cultural offer complementing
the programme of big events.
The activities proposed in the workshops are oriented at creative thinking
and innovative approach to tourist attractions presentation, and thereby, promotion of cities
and towns through these attractions.
Theoretical aspects of the workshops:
Big events, in particular, these of great importance, attract a great number of tourists
both from a hosting country and from abroad. The phenomenon of travelling to places where
big events are held becomes more and more widespread and it is increasingly defined as event
tourism (Page, Connell 2009). The events attracting a lot of participants concern different
aspects of human activities (Table 1), however, the greatest events that gather the greatest
number of people are the events related to culture and sport (Śniadek, Hołderna-Mielcarek
2012).
Table 1. The types of big events
Culture
- festivals
- carnivals
- concerts
- feasts
- fairs
- religious
festivities'
celebration
Business and
trade
- trade fairs
- exhibitions
- products
presentations
- trade exchange
- conferences
Science and
education
- conferences
- conventions
- scientific
lectures
- science
festivals
Politics
- political
summits
- conferences
- organizations
and parties
members'
meetings
- VIPs' visits
(important
politicians)
Sport
- championships
- Olympics
- competitions
- tournaments
- recreational
events
Source: authors' work based on: Alejziak 2008
Big events have a great impact on economy, which is mainly due to proceeds
generated by expenses incurred by tourists participating in the events, but also as a result of
investments aimed at improvement and development of infrastructure (transport, hotel, sports,
municipal infrastructure etc.). Big events contribute to new jobs creation, staff development
and activation of local entrepreneurship (Cieplik et al. 2012, Gruszka et al. 2012).
In addition to the impact on local economy, big events play an important role in
destinations marketing such as cities, regions or even a whole country where they are held
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IP IMEO - Tourist, recreational and cultural offer complementing
the programme of big events.
(Fyall, Garrot 2006, Borzyszkowski 2012). They have got an effect on the
life cycle process of a given destination's tourist product. They become especially significant
when a city, deemed as as a tourist product, reaches a maturity phase. Different types of
events might fuel revival of interest in a given city or a region and they might influence the
increase in tourism flows (Richards 2003).
All beneficiaries of big events' organization, in particular, companies operating in a
widely understood tourism industry should be interested in making tourists' (big events'
participants) stay as long as possible (Davidson, Cope 2003), and in attracting as many people
as possible, not only the people participating in the event themselves, but also their
accompanying persons. For this purpose, a city along with different economic entities should
prepare possibly the widest tourist, cultural and leisure offer, which should spark interest
among wide range of recipients.
Description of activities undertaken during the workshops (tasks for students):
Introduction to workshops - case analysis
Cracow and its tourist attractions
Cracow, along with Warsaw, is the most world-renowned Polish city and it is visited
by a great number of foreign visitors. The number of people who used accommodation in
Cracow in 2011 accounted to 1,628,830 whereof 789,679 fell on foreign visitors.1 Tourists
visit main tourist attractions of Cracow and sometimes they make short, both organized and
individual (half-day and whole day) trips to the surrounding areas.
The attractiveness of Cracow is largely due to a well-preserved medieval city centre,
with numerous architectural monuments dating back to the 11th and 12th centuries. The
historical centre includes, so called, a chartered town with the market square as a central site,
officially founded in the mid 13th century, but functioning as an urban organism already a
few centuries earlier, the Wawel Hill with the Wawel Castle and the Cathedral, Okół district
situated between the Wawel and the chartered town, and Kazimierz district, founded in the 1st
half of the 14th century, which was officially incorporated into Cracow only in 1791. The
most important historical monuments and tourist attractions of Cracow city centre include: the
Wawel Royal Castle, the Wawel Cathedral with the Renaissance Sigismund's Chapel and the
1
The data based on the report of the Lesser Poland' Tourist Organization, which are available at
www.mot.krakow.pl (retrieved on 18.05.2013)
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IP IMEO - Tourist, recreational and cultural offer complementing
the programme of big events.
necropolis of Polish kings in the vault, the Main Square with the Sukiennice
(Cloth Hall) and a tourist route underground the Market Square, Mariacki Church with the
famous Veit Stoss´s remarkable altar-piece, historical buildings of the Jagiellonian University
with the 15th century Collegium Maius, the remnants of medieval walls with Florianska Gate
and the Barbican, as well as the relics of the old Jewish Quarter in Kazimierz. In addition to
these landmarks, the centre of Cracow boasts several dozen of churches in different
architectural styles, numerous city palaces and bourgeois tenement houses, monuments as
well as over twenty museum buildings. This wide collection of the first-class historical
landmarks, coupled with well-preserved urban plan of the medieval city caused that in 1978
the historical centre of Cracow was inscribed on the UNESCO World Cultural and Nature
Heritage List as one of the fist sites in the world. Currently, it is one of 13 UNESCO World
Heritage sites located within Poland.
The immediate surroundings of Cracow are very attractive in terms of tourism as well.
In the stretch of a few hour drive there are trips, inter alia, to Salt Mine in Wieliczka, which
has been operating since the mediaeval times and which was also inscribed on the UNESCO
World Heritage List in 1978, visited annually by over 1 mln tourists; the heritage architectural
and landscape ensemble of Kalwaria Zebrzydowska (on the UNESCO List since 1999), the
grim reminder of the 2nd World War - Auschwitz-Birkenau - German Nazi Concentration
Camp (on the UNESCO List since 1979), Wadowice - the birthplace of the Pope John Paul II,
and interesting natural landmarks - the limestone ravines and the caves of the Ojców National
Park and the forested Beskidy mountain range. In a few hour drive from Krakow there are the
Tatra Mountains - the highest mountains in Poland, having the characteristics of high
mountains, and the Pieniny mountain range, with a unique tourist attraction of a few hourlong rafting along the gorge of the Dunajec river.
Cracow stands, however, as an example of continuous enrichment of tourist offer and
tourist products of the city, complementing it with the unique elements, less-known and
situated farther from the historical centre, as well as thematic sightseeing routes and
unconventional ways of sightseeing. In the recent years, inter alia, new museum facilities
were open, such as tourist routes in the undergrounds of the Main Market Square (opened in
the end of 2010) and the museum in the old Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory, which was
brought into the limelight by Steven Spielberg’s film "Schindler’s List". This last landmark
constitutes an important element of the theme Route of Remembrance, referring to the history
of Cracow Jews in the 2nd World War.
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IP IMEO - Tourist, recreational and cultural offer complementing
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Nonetheless, among the places featuring "alternative Cracow" Nowa
Huta has held the leading position for years. It is, de facto, the urban centre independent from
the "old" Cracow, whose construction was started in the late 40s of the 20th century. It held
mainly the function of a residential area for the gigantic metallurgical plant Nowa Huta. The
most interesting part of Nowa Huta is the original urban plan in the Socialist realism style,
coping with the design developed under then Soviet Union, and, architecturally, depicting the
traditions of the ancient times and the Renaissance epoch. Nowadays, sightseeing Nowa Huta
offers a chance not only to acquaint with the "ideal" socialist town (which remained, though,
unfinished), but also with the lifestyle in the Socialist realism years. One of the most popular
places is, inter alia, "Stylowa Restaurant", with the design of the 50s, which serves the meals
typical for the 60s and 70s of the 20th century, as this was the period of constant shortages on
the food market. The offer of organized sightseeing with the use of a car typical for the 70s of
the 20th century in Poland – Fiat 126p or Jelcz bus, enriched with staging the events that took
place in Nowa Huta area (e.g. street riots with the militia forces during the 80s martial law in
Poland of the 20th century), which helps to acquaint with other Cracow, its modern history,
turbulent post-war history of Poland and its political context, as well as provides the glimpse
of life during socialism.
On the other hand, various options of city games and story sightseeing, offered by
several tourist offices and agencies, serve as enrichment to the way of sightseeing of wellknown landmarks in the city centre. They are available both in Polish and English language
versions. Their scenarios feature historical events (e.g. "Who killed? the riddle of tower St.
Mary's Church"), legendary (e.g. "In search of the Wawel Dragon"), film screenplays (e.g.
"Vinci - abduction of Cecyli Gallerani") or entirely fictitious stories, which have never
happened, however, providing a chance to acquaint with famous places in Cracow in a nonstandard order and format (e.g. "Professor Einstein's kidnapping") 2
Completing the tourist offer and enriching the tourist product of Cracow becomes
especially significant as the city is visited by different groups of tourists, of different interests
and within diverse age groups. Cracow is an important centre of business tourism, which
entails the need of creating an attractive offer both for accompanying persons and the people
directly participating in conventions, conferences and business meetings. It is a place where
wide range of cultural, sports and religious events are held. Good airline connections between
Krakow and numerous European cities and attractive price offer of these connections,
2
The names of city games offered by ACTIGRA Event on www.gry-miejskie.pl (retrieved on 18/05/2013).
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IP IMEO - Tourist, recreational and cultural offer complementing
the programme of big events.
serviced mainly by low-budget airlines, attract tourists repeatedly, which
necessitates, though, the constant development of a local tourist offer.
Answer the following questions:
1. Why is it recommended to extend the tourist offer of cities that have been already
perceived as being attractive from a tourist point of view?
2. How can a city's tourist offer be developed?
3. What are place games and who might they be targeted at?
The tasks to be performed by the Workshops participants
All tasks are performed in the work group format. The respective groups are created
by the Workshops' participants from one city (country), so that all group members present a
comparable level of knowledge with regard to a given city and its surroundings, and the task's
object is the city where the participants study. It will facilitate a cooperative work, referring to
their own specific experiences and formulating proposals by all participants, working
discussions in the course of work over the task and a similar level of involvement.
Task 1.
The task's subject is to prepare a sightseeing programme of a given city for a particular target
group (received by a group by drawing lots), featured by age, interests, physical condition or a
visit's reason at a given place. The proposed programme of activities should cover half a day
(4-6 hours), as this is the time frame in which the offers accompanying big events are usually
planned and proposed. It should be made to be reasonably varied, however, customised to key
characteristics of a target group. The programme might be run with the use of a mode of
transport (coach, tram, ship), on foot or in their combination. However, it is necessary to
remember about the limitations arising from a target group character.
The prepared programme should consist of the following elements:
- short characteristics of the predicted expectations of a target group as explanation of the
programme,
- general assumptions of the proposed programme,
- description of a sightseeing route / proposed activities / sightseeing sites combined with
explanation why they were chosen,
- general information for the programme's participants (preparing method, difficulty level).
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IP IMEO - Tourist, recreational and cultural offer complementing
the programme of big events.
The programme should not include meal breaks unless specific culinary
experiences are an integral part of the content of the programme. In this case the choice of a
landmark and a meal formula must be explained.
Target groups:
 students from different countries (age range 20-25 years)
 families with young children (up to 10 years)
 persons accompanying participants of scientific or trade conventions
 managers of big corporations
 seniors (age range over 65 years)
 persons having interests in natural environment
 fans of technical monuments
 persons interested in exploring regional cuisine and local food products
Task 2.
The task's subject is to propose an original form or theme sightseeing programme of a given
city with an emphasis only on one issue, specific for a given city. The proposed programme
might also combine both these conditions. The programme might be carried out with the use
of a mode of transport (coach, tram, ship), on foot or in their combination.
The examples of non-standard forms of sightseeing:
 city game – solving a riddle
 story sightseeing
 sightseeing with the use of non-standard (but available) modes of transport
 night sightseeing
Examples of theme programmes:
 modern architecture route
 old tram or rail lines route
 literary heroes route
 geological route (nature)
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IP IMEO - Tourist, recreational and cultural offer complementing
the programme of big events.
The proposed activities' programme should cover half a day (4-6 hours) The
prepared programme should consist of the following elements:
- short characteristics of the chosen form of city sightseeing with possible explanation
(applies, in particular, to night sightseeing),
- general assumptions and the objectives of the proposed programme,
- description of a sightseeing route / proposed activities / sightseeing places combined with
explanation of the reasons for their choice,
- general information for the programme's participants (preparing method, difficulty level).
The programme should not include a meal break.
Task 3.
The task's subject is to prepare sightseeing proposals of less known parts of a given city or its
surrounding areas, located beyond the typical, frequently explored sightseeing routes ("off the
beaten track"). In each city there are places, districts, landmarks, which are so interested from
nature, landscape, historical, architectural, military or other points of view, that with adequate
information and promotion they may become a part of a widely understood tourist product of
a given city or town. The task’s objective is to identify these places and present proposals of
their inclusion into more general city/town offer, which explains such inclusion.
The outcome of the task's work should be a short presentation containing the following
elements:
- presenting chosen sites or landmarks,
- explaining their unused tourist potential,
- suggesting the way to boost this potential as well as tourist attractiveness,
- suggesting the best sightseeing format, assuming that we have got the time frame of 4-6
hours.
Description of educational effects:
The student:
- knows elements of tourist offer complementing big cultural, scientific, business and sports
events;
- understands the need to create such an offer and he/she is able to explain the relation
between such activities and a long-term strategy of tourism development in a city/region;
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IP IMEO - Tourist, recreational and cultural offer complementing
the programme of big events.
- understands the need to customize the accompanying offer to the
expectations and possibilities of target groups,
- is able to create the outline of a tourist offer complementing big events and he/she is able to
customize it to different expectations of customers;
- is able to characterize a tourist potential of a city from a special tourist offer's perspective;
- he/she is aware of diverse expectations of tourists and he/she is able to adapt to them
accordingly;
- is able to work in a team over a joint project and, if necessary, take the role of a leader of
such cooperation.
References:
Alejziak, W. (2008). Wielkie wydarzenia sportowe jako czynnik walki konkurencyjnej na
globalnym rynku turystycznym [in:] Turystyka jako czynnik wzrostu konkurencyjności
regionów w dobie globalizacji, Gołembski G. (ed.), Wydawnictwo Akademii Ekonomicznej
w Poznaniu, pp. 52-66.
Borzyszkowski, J. (2012). Mistrzostwa Europy w piłce Nożnej UEFA EURO 2012 a turystyka
w Polsce – wstępna ocena, Turystyka Kulturowa nr 9, pp. 55-60 (online magazine
www.turystykakulturowa.org, retrieved on 18.05.2013).
Cieplik, J., Gruszka, I. & Smolarski, T. (2012). Baza Noclegowa Wrocławia a
zapotrzebowanie na usługi noclegowe w trakcie Mistrzostw Europy EURO 2012. Zeszyty
Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego, Ekonomiczne Problemy Usług nr 84, pp. 315-327.
Davidson, R. & Cope, B. (2003). Business Travel: Conferences, Incentive Travel, Exhibitions,
Corporate Hospitality and Corporate Travel. Pearson Education Limited.
Fyall, A. & Garrod, B. (2006). Tourism marketing. A collaborative approach. New Delhi:
Viva Books Private Limited.
Gruszka, I., Fedyk, W., Bagińska, J., Smolarski, T. & Sołtysik, M. (2012), Imprezy sportowe
jako czynnik aktywizacji kadr w turystyce na przykładzie Mistrzostw Europy UEFA 2012, [in:]
Morawski M.(ed.). Zarządzanie wiedzą w turystyce a efektywność gospodarki turystycznej,
Akademia Wychowania Fizycznego we Wrocławiu, pp. 179-193.
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IP IMEO - Tourist, recreational and cultural offer complementing
the programme of big events.
Page, S. J. & Connell, J. (2009). Tourism. A modern synthesis. Andover:
Cengage Learning EMEA (in particular the chapter : Event tourism, pp. 599-619).
Richards, B. (2003). Marketing atrakcji turystycznych. Jak zwiększyć frekwencje i dochody
(the original title: How to Market Tourist Attractions, Festivals and Special Events),
Warszawa: Polska Organizacja Turystyczna.
Śniadek, J. & Hołderna-Mielczarek, B. (2012). Mega-eventy sportowe jako czynnik
kreowania popytu turystycznego. Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego,
Ekonomiczne Problemy Usług nr 84, pp. 694-710.
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