Polish residents were invited to visit Latgale in Warsaw
Atzīmējot Latvijas simtgadi un veicinot valsts atpazīstamību, Latvijas vēstniecība Polijā kopā ar Latgales tūrisma nozares pārstāvjiem 26. maijā kopīgā stendā piedalījās Varšavas rajona “Saska Kempa” ielas festivālā. Latvijas stendā tika piedāvāti tūrisma materiāli, īpaši uzsverot Latgales reģiona piedāvājumu poļu tūristiem, par ko informēja Latvijas vēstniecības Polijā darbinieki un Preiļu novada un Daugavpils pilsētas TIC pārstāvji.
The number of Polish tourists in Latvia is gradually growing and this trend is also observed in Latgale region. The Polish people are interested in the history of their country and the cultural historical heritage in other countries, so Latgale as a potential traveller can offer quite a lot. As it is known, several manors, including Preille Manor and Park, Lūznavas Manor and others, have belonged to Polish aristocrat, as well as the history of several Latgale churches, including the Catholicism Centre Aglona Basilica, are closely related to the Polish customs. Latvia and Latgale also have close links and cooperation with Poland today. For example, the population of Daugavpils city around 15 % is Polish, the Polish cultural centre and the Polish family are active. The former President of Poland, Broņislavs Komarovskis, who visited the city in 2010, called Daugavpils a Latvian Polish capital.
Businessmen from North Latgale took part in the event to activate the interest in getting the entire Latvian and also our region. In Vilaka municipality, z/s Kotiņi offered to enjoy a specially prepared, delicious pearl of pearls with cheese, buy their products – various groats and rapeseed oil, and invited tourists to visit the farm to meet the process of producing healthy, organic products. On the other hand, Smakovka's wound master called for a visit to the Malnava Manor Park with Hitler's bunkers hidden in it (similar to Poland), as well as “Latgale Shmakovka burnt”, where he will introduce the process of production of the traditional spirit drink of this Latgale from the beginning to the present day. Latvian stands could be tasted and purchased by Latgale rye bread and fat, cheese, cidonium beverage, various confectionery and Latvian beer. As Latgale businessmen emphasized, this was an excellent opportunity to begin to know and understand the large Polish tourism market so that they are now more focused on their offer. The Polish population is a gardener who appreciated the Latvian and especially Latgale food at the time of the event. They are also prepared to pay for a high-quality and delicious product, so it is important for potential Polish tourists to also include local farms in the Latgale touring routes, which offer a special taste for our municipality.
In planning more targeted work for the attraction of Polish tourists, it is necessary to develop detailed multi-day routes from Poland to Latgale directly in Polish, because, as it could be ascertained, the Russian language is becoming less frequent, more often in English, especially among young people, but very much of the Polish chose to speak only polically. It is also necessary to identify those tourism agencies in Poland who are already offering travel to Latvia, encouraging them to organise more excursions directly to Latgale.
Latvian embassy in Poland and Latgale tourism association “Ezerland” took place in Latvia. Special thanks to the Ambassador of Latvia in Poland to Edgar Bondars with his family for his sincere admission and his true interest in getting the Polish to become more familiar with Latvia and Latgale. We also thank the active Latgale entrepreneurs for their participation in this event. More information about them will be found www.latgalessmakovka.lv and http://vilaka.lv/index.php?page=zs-koti-i .
The information was prepared by:
Iveta Snepste
Preilu District manager
Photo: The Preilu District BELIEVES