INTERNATIONALIZATION OF TOURISM MANAGEMENT IN POLISH CITIES: STRATEGIES, MARKETING AND STRUCTURES

In cities, global drivers are coupled to local conditions of tourism development. The urban tourism industry, treated as an urban function, is subject to intensive internationalization, and because of its heterogeneity and complementarily it may influence the internationalization of a whole city. The internationalization of the tourist function has an impact on management activities performed by urban :DMOs. The aim of the paper is to indicate the scope and extent of internationalization of destination management in Poland's ten biggest cites. On the basis of an exhaustive questionnaire survey conducted in 2013, three spheres of adaptation have been identified: strategy, marketing, changes to DMOs' organizational structures and collaboration. In addition, four modes of tourism internationalization have been distinguished: active (Gdansk and Lublin), reactive (Bydgoszcz, Szczecin and Wroclaw), active-reactive (Katowice and Poznan) and secondary (Cracow, Lodz and Warsaw) However, the multi-level and multi-organizational system of destination governance in Poland does not allow taking full advantage of the internationalization of the tourist function.