Zakopane is empty? Highlanders complain about tourists

The second round of winter holidays is coming to an end. Only students from five voivodeships: Wielkopolskie, Lublin, Podkarpackie, Silesia and Lubuskie will have a winter break from studying. In these regions of Poland, the holidays will last from February 16 to March 1.

This year, winter holidays are taking place according to a changed schedule for the first time. Initially, parents and representatives of the tourism industry warned that this could cause major problems in popular destinations.

Empty near the Tatra Mountains? The highlanders do not hide their disappointment

However, as it turns out, the problem in the Tatra Mountains actually occurred, but it was completely different. – It’s bad this year. Less than half of the rooms are occupied during the week. It was better last year. Always like students from the province. Masovian Voivodeship are the first to have holidays, so there are few guests. Families shorten their stays – they come for three or four days. There is more interest on weekends, but during the week it is empty – said Mr. Janusz, the owner of one of the accommodation facilities in Zakopane, in an interview with Wirtualna Polska.

– We have a 50% occupancy rate during the week and full occupancy on weekends. I have been operating on the market for only the second year. SI expected that things would be much better in Zakopane, but here you have to fight and fight for every customer. The exception is Valentine’s Day, because now the phones are disconnected – added another.

Holiday 2026 is disappointing. Highlanders having a difficult season

Karol Wagner from the Tatra Chamber of Commerce admitted that “the thesis that winter would be the key season for Polish mountain regions is absolutely unfounded.” – Not because it lasts longer, but because tendencies, trends, generational changes, demographic changes take away demand in the winter.

The TIG representative noted that “there are entrepreneurs who are more professional and were more prepared for the decline in demand and adjusted their offer to the requirements of tourists and the market.” However, he stipulated that: there are also those who did not open their facilities even for three weeks of winter break.

– They gave individual rooms to a neighbor so as not to heat the entire cottage, because they experienced such a drastic drop in demand. But it clears the market. There will be a few closures and liquidations that either missed the opportunity for renovations or thought that they would choose their guests and there would always be plenty of them – he commented.

Charles Wagner also drew attention to the fact that There are more and more accommodation facilities in Podhale, which means that the occupancy rate is decreasing.