Halal food, tourist information in Arabic or dedicated attractions? Zakopane has it all covered and ready for the growing number of tourists from the Arab world. In the last years the Polish “mountain capital” has become very popular among tourists from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. 

The sight of women wearing traditional, religious Arab clothing becomes an everyday sight for the local vendors. The impact of the tourist is visible also in the commercial slogans and offers written in Arabic.

Recently the local newspaper, “Tygodnik Podhalański” placed a “welcome” sign in Arabic to greet the new admirers of the Polish mountains. 

Some restaurants in the famous Krupówki street, known for its glamour decided to place signs informing the tourists of serving Halal food, that respects the religious norms of Muslims, especially concerning the meat dishes. 

In many hotels, tourists from the Arab world constitute half of all the guests. The locals are content because of the generosity of these tourists and their rather compromising character in bearing the travelling expenses. Some vendors operating in Zakopane’s famous market say they were surprised as the Arab tourists were not eager to bargain, which is both the tradition of Zakopane and the Eastern trade culture. 

According to the opinions of the Arab tourist, the most important factor for their choice to travel to Zakopane is the beautiful nature and mild weather conditions, especially in the summer. But they also travel to Poland to admire the winter aura. 

According to the data provided by the Polish Central Statistical Office, in the first, “winter” quarter of 2024, the country was visited by 3.3 thousand residents of the United Arab Emirates and 34.4 thousand tourists from Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Israel and Palestine. 

Photo: X/@JanKot07

Tomasz Modrzejewski