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International Journal for Management Science and Technology (IJMST) Vol. 2; Issue 3

ISSN: 2320-8848(O.)/2321-0362(P.) March, 2014

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Persons Associated Editorial Board

Mrs. Vaijayanti Mala (India) PhD (Cont.), D.ed, B.ed, M.Com, BCom Dr. IBEM, Eziyi Offia (Nigeria)

PhD (Architecture), Full Registration by ARCON, MSC

(Architecture), BSC (Architecture)

Dr. K.K.Patra (India)

FDPM-IIMA, PhD, PGDM, PGDFM, MBA, LL.B, M.Com.

Muhammad Usman (Islamabad) Doctorate BA - Global Business and Leadership (Continued), M.Sc (Software Engineering), B.Sc (Computer Science) Dr. K.Sudarsan (India) PhD, M.Com, MBA, BA Sandeep Aggarwal (India) MBA (Marketing & Finance), BBA Muqeem Ahmed (India) PhD (Computer Science), MCA, BSc Dr. Muhammad Reza Iravani (Iran) Ph.D. (Social work), M.A. (Sociology), B.A. (Social Sciences) Dr. Muhammad Sabbir Rahman (Malaysia) Ph.D (Business Administration), MBA (Marketing & Human Resource Management), BBA (Marketing)

Advisory Body Ms. Rachna Ingle (India) PhD (Microbiology) (Cont.), B.Ed, MSc (Microbiology), BSc (Microbiology) Er. Rajesh Ojha, Muscat (Oman) Bachlor Of Engineering (Computer Science)

Mahesh Kumar Maheshwari

BA. LLB (High Court Advocate)

Reviewers Ms. Mamta (India) PhD (Cont.), MBA, BCom Dr. Asiamah Yeboah (Ghana) PhD (Marketing), Professional Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing, MBA-Marketing, Bachelor of Education (Social Studies). Dr. Alexander Ayogyam (Ghana) PhD (Marketing), M.A Industrial Management, B.sc (Mathematics) Mr. W.M.R.B.Weerasooriya (Sri-Lanka) PhD (Reading) (Management and Science University– MSU Malaysia), M.Com (University of Kelaniya), CCSD, MAAT, LICA, SP (RUSL), B.Sc (Business Management) Mr. MD. Zakir Hosen (Bangladesh) MBA & BBA (Accounting & Information Systems) Mr. Oteri Malack Omae (Kenya) PhD (cont.), MSc (Electrical Engineering), BSc (Electrical & Electronic Engineering) Dr. P.M.B. Jayathilake (Sri Lanka) PhD, M.Com, B.Sc (Business Management) Dr. Jaidev S. Tomar (India) PhD, Master of Industrial Relations & Personnel Management, M.A Dr. Joanna Zator-Peljan (Poland) PhD (Literary studies), M.A. (Intercultural communication), B.A. (Methodology of teaching)from Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland


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The Polish Culture Promotion by Means of the Travel Literature Joanna Zator-Peljan

5

TABLE OF CONTENT


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“The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality,

and instead of thinking how things may be,

to see them as they are.”

- Samuel Johnson

Abstract The previously communistic Poland transformed in 1989 into a capitalistic country. As a

result, the existing reality has undergone a series of modifications that concerned not only the

social, political or economic issues, but also the mentality of the Poles and their attitudes

towards various aspects of life. Nowadays Poland can be perceived as an attractive

destination for foreigners aiming to discover unknown areas, different cultures, interesting

people and extraordinarily difficult language. The Polish seaside or mountains are being

visited by hundreds of foreigners from all over the world every year. Within the scope of this

group one can also notice certain writers, novelists, or journalists describing the Polish

culture experience in their books, articles or journey reports. Their very detailed as well as

subjective descriptions are viewed as a significant aspect while promoting Poland as a

country that is worth visiting. The above-mentioned publications have an influence on the

public opinion – as a result they may encourage the citizens of other countries to visit the

Vistula land. Moreover, the author of the paper is going to compare the imagological images

with the chosen opinions quoted from the Experience Project (www.experienceproject.com).

Key words: Polish culture, travel literature, imagological analysis

Introduction It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore Poland while taking into consideration the

variety of the attractive destinations nowadays1. For many tourists bored with all inclusive

holiday in Spain, Italy or Greece, Poland seems to be a very exotic and mysterious

destination. The Vistula country offers a variety of different attractions: the beautiful

mountains, the marvelous seaside and the fast developing cities such as the capital city

Warsaw and the others: Wrocław, Kraków, Poznań or Sopot. Poland - that was previously

associated mainly with communism - has undergone a transformation and is becoming more

and more inviting and fascinating for foreign visitors. That is why the recent years

development concerning the various fields have led to a growing interest in Poland for

tourists or investors2. A great number of travel guidebooks

3 attempt to present the Polish

landscape worth sightseeing – they give an account of the cities, mountains, seaside, etc. On

the other hand, their very detailed descriptions of the Polish culture only briefly mention or

seem to lack the foreign tourist feedback that can be considered as a significant issue for

other people reflecting Poland as their holiday destination. This may be regarded as a serious

weakness of the above-mentioned publications. This paper purpose is to review the images of

Poland described within the framework of the travel literature selected texts that can be

considered as an attractive way of promoting the Vistula land as a modern destination. The

travel literature includes descriptions of places, traditions, habits, mentality, customs, etc. It

enables a detailed exploration of individual experiences connected with examining particular

landscapes, language and citizens. After the imagological analysis the author of the following

article is going to present the chosen foreigners’ opinions by discussing the interviews led in

1See e.g.: Więckowski (2010), Klonowski (2011) or Nalepka/ Ujwary-Gil (2012) concentrate on this subject. 2See.g. Karaszewski (2003)or Cieślik (2005). 3E.g. by Marcinek(2002), Salter/ Bousfield(2002) or Herbener(2004).

http://www.samueljohnson.com/


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2012 and 2013 by the Experience Project that concentrates on carrying out studies concerning

living conditions in the selected countries.

1. The Polish Reality – Communism versus Capitalism The existing stereotypes concerning Poland are often associated with its communistic past:

“In 1989, Poland became the first country to leave communism peacefully (…). Solidarity

then formed the world’s first post-communist government. Within a few months, the Polish

paradigm was emulated across all of Eastern Europe” (Kemp-Welch 2008: ix). Roszkowski

(2003) describes the end of the Polish communism in the following way: “New conditions for

change in Poland were being created at the end of the 1980s including the growing tolerance

of the Soviet leadership for systemic change, continued determination on the part of the

Western powers to promote the erosion of the Soviet empire, a declining economy, and

desperate attempts by the Polish leadership to avoid social unrest with its inevitable political

consequences, as well as an increasingly frustrated society and disoriented democratic elites”

(Roszkowski 2003: 18). According to the fact that stereotypes – defined as

overgeneralisations concerning a certain society (Scollon/Wong-Scollon 2005: 168) - are

considered as difficult to modify (Klin 1991: 143; Panasiuk 1998: 84-98; Fiske/ Operario

2004: 134; Schneider 2005: 380), some visions of the Polish culture as a communistic nation

seem unchangeable: “(…) communism in Poland had always been oppressive and lawless

since it did not respect even its own laws (…). To a greater or lesser degree communism

corrupted everybody. The inevitability of living in lies created a lot of moral dilemmas”

(Roszkowski 2003: 25).The above-mentioned transformation regarding to the Polish culture

that started in 1989 is viewed as the democratic era beginning with its capitalistic power:

plenty of domestic companies were established and a variety of foreign investments entered

the Polish market those days: “Summarized and balanced perceptions show that the situation

of Poland as a country for future foreign direct investments seems fairly positive”

(Dobroczynski 1998: 5). The first Polish post-communist minister of finance, Leszek

Balcerowicz, concentrated on the so called shock therapy pertaining to the Polish economic

modification: “Balcerowicz and other post-Solidarity neoliberal reformers believed that once

the fundamentals of capitalism such as private property were established, the Polish economy

would resume its place on the path to capitalist development. They assumed that this path

was the same one followed by the Western market economies, which Central Europe left in

1945 (…)” (Dunn 2004: 4). In 2004 Poland became a new member of the European Union –

this fact enabled the Vistula land e.g. the participation in various EU programs by taking

advantage of the EU funds (Trappmann 2013: 38): “The process of system transformation in

Poland (…) has always been closely connected with the process of integration with the

European Communities. The interdependence and interpenetration of these processes,

characteristic of all the Central and Eastern European countries aspiring to EU membership,

is considered beneficial to economic development and to achievement of stability”

(Barburska 2012: 53). The Polish reality transformation has also encouraged foreigners to

consider Poland as a new and modern destination connected with an intercultural experience

of the unknown area offering such attractions as the beautiful landscapes, the unique

traditions and people or the interesting, constantly developing post-communistic cities:

“Tourism has always been linked with the commodification of culture, landscape, recreation

and indigenous people. There has recently been fresh concern about the role of tourism as a

force for cultural commodification and socioeconomic development both in postmodern

societies and in societies undergoing transformation” (Marciszewska 2006: 71). Moreover,

Poland as a destination has inspired a wide range of writers, essayists or journalists to

consider the Polish culture as a subject of their investigations.


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2. The Travel Literature as a Way of Promoting Poland

“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel

is to be able to experience everyday things

as if for the first time,

to be in a position in which almost nothing

is so familiar it is taken for granted”

– Bill Bryson

Worth mentioning seems to be the fact that travel writing started a few centuries ago:

“During the sixteenth century, writing became an essential part of travelling; documentation

an integral aspect of the activity. Political or commercial sponsors wanted reports and maps,

often kept secret, but the public interest aroused by stories of faraway places was an

important way of attracting investment and – once colonies started – settlers” (Hulme/

Youngs 2002: 3). By consulting the relevant literature it can be stated that “the real power of

travel writing lay in its independence of perspective. The claim to have been there and to

have seen with one’s own eyes could defeat speculation” (ibid., 4). The purpose of travel

literature is a detailed exploration of chosen cultures from the writer’s perspective that is

contemplated as a subjective one: “Travellers will usually follow their instincts and

opportunities (...). and it is travellers’ eccentricities and extravagances – in the literal sense of

wanderings off –which have attracted many readers to the genre of travel writing” (ibid., 5).

However, according to Hulme/ Youngs certain travel visions suffer from some individual

writer’s limitations – from his or her way of perception and one’s own foreign reality

interpretation: “(...) the experiences and impressions of travel are never easy to capture, and

contemporary travellers sometimes make the phenomenology of travel an aspect of their

work” (ibid., 10). This issue is also discussed e.g. by Opitz (1990: 351), Blanton (2002: 1),

Hooper/ Youngs (2004: 3), Biernat (2004: 79) or Pacholski (2008: 396).

More and more famous writers are visiting Poland these days aiming to discover its culture,

habits, customs, landscapes and the mentality of the Polish people. The well-known novelists,

essayists or journalists compensate the phenomenon of the Vistula land focusing on its

modernity after the transformation from the communistic to the capitalistic country. These

popular and recognized authors have a significant influence on public opinion – they are

constantly present in the media, and their new publications are widely commented. For this

reason their writing can be viewed as a kind of the Polish culture promotion. In recent years,

there has been an increasing interest in the Poland perception from the standpoint of the

German and Austrian writers. A plenty of different essays aiming to describe the Poland have

been published nowadays - e.g. by Karl-Marcus Gauß, Martin Pollack, Ilse Tielsch, Steffen

Möller oder Matthias Kneip. They encouraged those who are interested in discovering new

areas to visit the mysterious Vistula land. The writers’ personal descriptions have shown a

diversity of cultural and intercultural issues.

The author of the following paper attempts to analyse the travel literature concerning Poland

by concentrating on the Austrian travel writing. The objective of this research is to study the

Poland’s experience from the imagological point of view by taking into consideration the

viewpoint of Radek Knapp. The imagological research bases on the selected images

described in various writings: travel reports, novels, articles, etc. (vgl. Dyserinck 1988: 22;

Klin 1991: 145; Logvinov 2003: 204).

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/billbryson/


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Radek Knapp was born in 1964 in Warsaw and emigrated to Austria when he was twelve

years old. After graduating from the Vienna University he decided to concentrate on writing.

The author’s Polish roots seem to play an important role when it comes to the issues

concerning his writing. The main aspects the writer investigates are related to Polish,

Austrian and German relations. In his books the essayist focuses on cultural comparison

among the above-mentioned nations. Knapp was given plenty of positive book reviews as

well as has won a series of significant prizes relating to his publications. His works are

perceived as an important opinion in the discussion in the matter of Poland and the German

speaking countries.

3. The Imagological Analysis of the Polish Culture Chosen Aspects

A considerable amount of literature has been published on the Polish reality description:

various scientists, writers, journalists, etc. take into consideration the diversity of aspects

concerning the Vistula land. As already mentioned, a large volume of publications in the

matter of travel literature characterizes the city images nowadays. In his essay published in

2009 under the title “The User’s Guide of Poland” Radek Knapp discusses the challenges

relevant to a Poland trip. The author highlights the fact that Poland has become a modern

destination these days: “The situation is delicate. It seems that Western Europe is not only

interested in us, but, what is more, recently it starts to like us. After diving off the coast of the

Seychelles and bungee jumping in the Grand Canyon there is the turn of our Slavic cities and

landscapes. For some unexplained reasons Poland has become trendy and it seems to be in

good taste to praise it” (Knapp 2009: 5). Knapp lists the reasons why it is not possible to

experience the Polish culture from the travel guidebook: “After reading this you will know

everything except one thing: what is Poland like and who we really are. Unfortunately, it is

impossible to experience a certain country by studying a travel guide. This is only possible as

a result of some unexpected experiences that will prepare us to the journey itself. Taking into

consideration this fact one can say that Poland is unique” (ibid., 7). The author points out that

even his writing - due to its subjectivism and the writer’s worldview - cannot be compared

with a journey to Poland: “Even if it had a thousand pages, it couldn’t replace a trip to Poland

itself. Its great success would be to arouse curiosity in regard to the country on the Vistula

River. Because Poland has always been the right place for those interested in the world”

(ibid., 8). Contrary to the well-known travel guides that give attention to the Polish habits,

cuisine and traditions, Knapp attempts to examine the term that foreigners define as an

incomparably mysterious one – the so called Slavic soul: “It is not possible to describe it, one

can only experience it” (ibid., 111). According to Knapp the above-mentioned Slavic soul can

be understood as a variety of character traits possessed by the Poles: “One can say everything

about the Poles and it will be correct. Poles feel the happiest ones when they complain. On

the other hand, they are born poets and enjoy to talk a lot. They look suspiciously at childless

marriages, but at the same time listen to the priests, who are not allowed to have children”

(ibid., 8).

As already mentioned, a large and growing body of literature has investigated the

communistic and the capitalistic Poland. Plenty of essayistic writings have indicated the so

called Polish new reality in the era of capitalism. Knapp discusses the aforementioned

transformation in the following way: “It seems that Lech Wałęsa or Solidarity did not inflict

any mortal blow to the communist regime. They were only an extended arm of the Polish

nation possessing certain character traits which are deadly for each regime and dictatorship.

Moreover, it is called an innate distrust of authority, and especially their own government, on

the other hand - almost unbelievable ability to make chaos wherever there was peace” (ibid.,


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49). The transformation caused certain further modifications in the Polish society: “After the

inevitable crash in 1993 the balance in the Polish society changed. After 40 years of

communism, when all citizens had equally much or rather equally not enough of particular

goods, the Polish population divided into two groups: the rich and the poor one” (ibid., 56).

The transformation issue has been a controversial and much disputed subject within the field

of various scientific disciplines – some of the Polish citizens lost all their savings from one

day into another, and the others – such as e.g. policemen, office workers or taxi drivers –

became wealthy, prominent and influential (ibid., 56). Plenty of observers have already

drawn attention to the new social class creation – the so called nouveau riche residents of the

Polish community. These inhabitants use their welfare to become different and – in their

opinion – better than the rest of the society. As a result, while observing the new Polish social

layer, one can notice a lot of exaggeration with reference to many diverse areas such as for

example: the most expensive cars, the mansions that seem to have been designed by drunk

Harry Potter, extravagant piece of clothing or exotic animals (ibid, 57). According to Knapp

the sightseers visiting Poland do not have to be worried of a potential meeting with the Polish

upstarts: “While staying in Poland, foreigners do not need to fear the escaped iguanas or their

owners. In this case the free market economy is very helpful. All the Polish millionaires are

staying in Gstaad or Malibu with their spouses and iguanas attempting to make the hotel

staff’s life difficult. In their absence, we can go for a walk or sightsee a chosen Polish

church” (ibid, 58).

Radek Knapp considers another aspect of the Polish reality – the images of the Polish women

as the Vistula Aphrodites (ibid, 71). The author highlights not only the beauty, but also the

ability of the Polish women to deal with particular difficulties connected with the daily

routine. Their strength, talents and intelligence were tested many times in the problematic

communistic reality: “(…) it was the everyday life that strengthened the women. All over the

time they had to stand many hours in queues (…) to get one kilogram of beef. Women were

engaged in bringing up children; they were school principals, led trams or sold stamps at the

post office. After the communism fall, the free market economy welcomed the resourceful

and energetic women (…)” (ibid, 76). Therefore, a plenty of the Vistula Aphrodites are not

afraid of starting their own business or being managers of the well-known national or

international companies nowadays (ibid.).

In the viewpoint of Knapp another significant aspect of the Polish culture is strongly

connected with hospitality: “It is a great loss for a foreigner who has no opportunity to

experience the Polish hospitality. Luckily, in contradistinction to the West European habits an

invitation to a Polish household is rather common. We can be quite sure that we will not

leave the house hungry or thirsty” (ibid, 67). It takes a lot of effort to prepare delicious Polish

national dishes – for this reason each guest is expected to eat as much as possible:

“Unfortunately, the food cannot be denied. The guest who is not hungry is worse than the one

who did not bring any gift. Our assurance of being full will be listened by the hosts with an

anxious face expression – at the same time they will put dishes in front of us” (ibid., 68).

To sum up, it can be stated that the above-presented images of the Polish culture may

encourage foreign tourists to visit the Vistula land. In his essay Radek Knapp highlights the

current Polish reality that significantly differs from the communistic past. The aim of the next

chapter is to carry out an exploration concerning the foreign visitors’ opinions regarding to

Poland.


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4. The Images of Poland with Reference to the Foreigners’ Individual Opinions

After focusing on the imago logical analysis the author of this paper is going to concentrate

on the certain examples of particular individual opinions connected with visiting Poland by

foreigners. The aim of this chapter is a comparison between the imago logical images with

the presented perception of those visiting the country. In 2012 and 2013 the chosen tourists

were interviewed by Experience Project (www.experienceproject.com) dealing with

conducting research concerning various issues within the scope of living conditions in the

selected countries. All the research participants were asked to answer the following question:

“What do you think about Poland and Polish people?”

(http://www.experienceproject.com/question-answer/What-Do-You-Think-About-Poland-

And-Polish-People/3738, 09.03.2014). According to the above-mentioned interview Poland

and the Poles are perceived in the particular way:

1) “Polish people are hardworking and family oriented. They love their houses clean and

are proud of everything they do. They love their faith and are friendly. Sometimes

they can be a bit serious but, it comes from living in the communist times. Poland is a

beautiful country that one should see” (ibid.);

2) “Individually they can be really great. Warm and funny. However, collectively, by

western standards I also found many Poles to be very guarded, suspicious,

conservative (the church is absurdly powerful there) and complaining about, oh,

everything... which is the national pastime, I'm sure. If they know you, or you're a

guest, you'll be treated like royalty. But if they don't, they will not trust you and likely

assume the worst about your character. Tourists are exceptions, of course. On the plus

side, customer service has improved a lot over the years, the food is excellent, and

there are many beautiful things to see and places to go. A fascinating and complicated

country” (ibid.);

3) “It's no surprise that people often find Poles to be a little on the insecure side. My

granddad still hasn't gotten over the how many Poles does it take to change a light

bulb joke. It's commonly referenced that Polish people like to ask what you think of

them, and I think there's a misunderstanding behind their intentions of the question.

Poles will call a spade a spade. I've never met another Pole that likes to beat around

the bush. Being straight forward is particularly important to Polish people. They want

to hear the unpolished truth - they're curious to know what you think of them, or what

stereotypes you've heard. Which isn't strange to want to know. But I can understand

how the question would make someone with an American upbringing uncomfortable-

since their culture puts more stress on politeness than honesty” (ibid.);

4) “As it has been said before, they were betrayed few times in the past, let’s not forget

the partitions of Poland when the country did not exist for over 100 years, then II WW

after which they were under Russian occupation. So yes, maybe they are a bit

nationalistic (trying to hold on to the culture and language by attending underground

schools etc.) and not trusting but please tell me, are you surprised? Just imagine not

being allowed to speak your mother tongue and celebrate your own traditions. If you

could imagine it, you should be able to understand it” (ibid.);

5) “My best friend and her husband are Polish and they are two of the smartest and most

wonderful people I know. The stupid American jokes and stereotypes about Poles are

all wrong- I have heard them all and they really are stupid- Americans just have to

show their ego and they use the Polish people to do it- it's dumb” (ibid.).

6) “I love Poland, love the food, love the country, hate the government. My great

grandfather was from Poland and emigrated to Canada in the 1930s at some point...I


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found out about my relatives there and knew instantly I wanted to visit, so I learned

Polish, saved money, and went there when I turned 16, one of the most amazing

experiences of my life” (ibid.);

7) “I think they are wonderful - principled, dignified and strong, yet very private about

their lives and culture (probably because of their close relationship to Russia for such

a long time). They are most welcome here in the US - anytime!” (ibid.);

8) “The country of Poland has an extraordinary history of oppression and takeovers. In

the U.S., there are many successful polish people. Every race has unfortunate

stereotypes that are just simply not true. People are the same all throughout the world.

We all desire basic needs, love, respect, and the very best for our children” (ibid.).

To sum up, the above-quoted opinions present a positive attitude towards Poland and the

Poles that can be understood as a kind of encouragement to visit the country and get to know

its inhabitants, customs and traditions. After the interview analysis one can come to a

conclusion that the communistic times are no longer a part of the Polish reality and the

existing stereotypes with regard to Poland are not always true.

Conclusions Returning to the issue mentioned at the beginning of this study, it is now possible to state that

travel literature may be perceived as a way of promoting Poland. The images presented by

Radek Knapp in “The User’s Guide of Poland” (2009) concentrate on the diversity of issues

connected with the current Polish reality. The author mentions Poland’s communistic past

aiming to explain the background of particular behaviors and attitudes. Knapp refers to

various system modifications caused by the transformation in 1989 and considers Poland as a

worthy visiting, interesting and unique destination. According to the essayist the experience

of the so called Slavic soul – with all its advantages and drawbacks – may be an unforgettable

aspect of a Poland trip. Knapp’s writing may be considered as a significant user’s guide that

offers a lot more than an average tourist guidebook published by travel agencies – it focuses

on the Poles’ mentality relevant to the capitalistic reality: the diverse society concerning the

rich and the poor, the Vistula Aphrodites dealing with starting their own businesses or being

given manager positions, or the savoir-vivre in the matter of dinner invitations to the Polish

households. On one hand, the afore-mentioned issues are a result of the author’s detailed

analysis of Poland, its history, traditions, customs, habits and inhabitant’s mentality. His book

gives the readers certain instructions and a kind of a background informing them how to exist

in Poland as a visitor. On the other hand, Knapp is aware of the subjectivity of his writing –

the book cannot be viewed as a Poland trip substitute. What is more, Knapp’s publication

focuses only on some selected aspects of the Vistula land. Therefore, he recommends the

individual participation to experience the diversity of the Polish landscape with its beautiful

mountains, seaside, developing cities and interesting citizens. The comparison of the imago

logical analysis of “The User’s Guide of Poland” with the individual foreigners’ opinions

taken from the Experience Project highlights the positive attitude towards Poland and Poles.

The following conclusions may be drawn from the Experience Project study: the Vistula

country inhabitants are friendly and tend to treat tourists as royalty. In particular situations

they seem to be conservative or suspicious – this kind of behavior can be interpreted after the

country’s communist past analysis. The Experience Project also mentions the fact that the

existing stereotypes concerning Poland are not always true – there is e.g. a variety of jokes

attempting to illustrate the Polish society in a certain way. The most obvious finding to

emerge from this article is that today’s Poland does not have a lot in common with its


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communistic past anymore – it is a developing capitalistic country attractive for foreign

visitors.

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Rowley, Jennifer. (2005). The four Cs of cusr loyalty. [Database] Marketing

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