Tourism product in national parks - effects of COVID-19 pandemic

The tourism market reacted extremely strongly to the travel and business restrictions that were put in place to curb illnesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumers, including tourists, changed their decisions about holiday trips out of concern for their health. The offer of national parks turned out to be very important. The aim of the article is to evaluate changes in the tourist product in Polish national parks as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to illustrate the situation in the various stages of restrictions and limitations on tourism, a case study of many undertakings in Polish national parks was used. A comparative analysis method was used, resulting in a catalogue of examples of tourism product activities. These include activities that on the demand side allowed recreation and leisure for tourists who needed contact with nature as a result of the pandemic, and on the supply side revealed creativity and innovation in creating new forms of tourism product The conclusions also indicated that new virtual forms of tourism product could support nature conservation in national parks by supporting environmental awareness and substituting traditional park tours for virtual forms of tourism product