It is with undisguised joy and satisfaction that we received the news that Izabela Stelmańska, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Promotion and Tourism at the Marshal’s Office of the Mazovia Province and President of the Board of the Mazovia Regional Tourist Organization, was ranked 5th in the annual ranking of the ” 100 Most Influential People in Polish Tourism 2024” organized by the editors of the industry portal WaszaTurystyka.pl. It should be added that this is a two-place improvement on last year’s ranking and that she continues to hold the position of the most influential woman in Polish tourism. Congratulations!
The justification for the selection included a brief but rich professional dossier.
Izabela Stelmańska is an experienced and extremely active figure in Polish tourism. This year, she was honored for 25 years of work at the Marshal’s Office of the Mazovia Province.
She is one of the most recognizable and respected figures in the Polish tourism community, known as the “queen of tourism” in Mazovia. She enjoys enormous trust both within the region and beyond. She is a tireless promoter of Mazovia, who always finds time to participate in congresses, debates, and trade fairs.
Her efforts are focused on activating and supporting local tourist organizations in the Mazovia Province, which brings measurable results. Thanks to her work, towns such as Mińsk Mazowiecki, Żyrardów, and Łomża have begun to actively promote their tourist and cultural attractions, attracting tourists not only from Warsaw but also from other regions of Poland. This is a great success, which has a positive impact on the further development of tourism in Mazovia.
More information about the rules and results of the competition can be found directly on the WaszaTurystyka.pl website.
“For the ninth time, we are announcing the list of the 100 most influential people in Polish tourism – people who have the greatest real impact on tourism in Poland. This year’s list features 28 new names, all well known in the industry. Of the remaining names, 55 people moved up, 12 moved down, and five maintained their previous positions. The growing role of women in the industry is attracting increasing attention. There are 27 women in the ranking, four more than last year.
The ninth edition of the List of the 100 most influential people in Polish tourism is another landmark year for global tourism, bringing a long-awaited recovery after difficult years. In the first nine months of 2024, the number of tourists traveling abroad reached 1.1 billion, meaning that the global tourism industry has already recovered 98 percent of its pre-pandemic level. Tourist traffic is also growing in Poland. Our country has begun to enjoy greater interest from foreign tourists. How have these changes affected this year’s ranking and the positions of the people who shape Polish tourism?
Let us remind you that our List (then still called “50”) was first published in December 2016. This was thanks to Adam Gąsior, founder of the WaszaTurystyka.pl portal, who had the courage and determination to bring together in one list key figures from various areas of the tourism industry in Poland. To this day, we remain the only ones who have taken up this challenge, creating a list of people who have a decisive influence on the condition of Polish tourism.
As every year, we would like to emphasize that the List is not a popularity ranking or a list of the most liked people in the tourism industry.
After each publication of the List, readers express their opinions about some of the people who appear on it. It is worth noting that our “100” list includes people whose business and political decisions and professional achievements have a significant impact on the condition of the tourism industry. This impact can be both positive, which benefits all interested parties, and negative, which is also taken into account in the assessment.
How do we do it?
The first stage is the selection process, which is carried out by a group of experts forming this year’s jury. Nearly 300 names from the broadly understood tourism industry in Poland – representatives of travel agencies, hoteliers, tourist chambers of commerce, activists from tourist local governments, regional and local tourist organizations, officials responsible for tourism, and scientists.
In the second stage, each expert presents their 40 proposals for the most influential people in Polish tourism and a brief justification for each candidate.
Each year, the jury takes into account the influence on the shaping of processes and structures of Polish tourism, the degree of contribution to the success (or failure) of Polish tourism or its individual segments, financial resources (own or those of the organization or company managed by the person), influence on employees, credibility, media presence, popularity (in a positive or negative sense), image, public and environmental activity.
The group of experts consisted of:
– Marzena German, expert in external communication and media relations at Wakacje.pl
– Magdalena Kachniewska, professor at the Warsaw School of Economics
– Michał Kalarus, editor-in-chief of Think MICE magazine
– Jarosław Kałucki, press spokesman for Travelplanet.pl
– Anna Kołtan, office manager at the Polish Chamber of Commerce for the Hotel Industry
– Magdalena Kondas, representative of the Rector of Vistula University for cooperation with the business and economic environment
– Marzena Markowska, editor-in-chief of Wasza Turystyka
– Mariusz Piotrowski, editor of Fly4free.pl
– Wiesława Przybylska, Polish Chamber of Tourism
– Jerzy Szegidewicz, Institute of Tourism Economics
– Weronika Szabelewska, deputy editor-in-chief of Wasza Turystyka
– Bartłomiej Walas, professor at WSTiE
– Elżbieta Wąsowicz-Zaborek, assistant professor at the Department of Business at the Warsaw School of Economics
A good year, but…
Despite positive results, the tourism industry continues to face significant challenges. Inflation, high transport and accommodation costs, and unstable oil prices are serious barriers to its development. In addition, geopolitical conflicts and extreme weather events are causing concern among both tourists and entrepreneurs. The year 2024 brought changes and new challenges for the tourism industry. The economic and social recovery after the pandemic has been impressive, but the future of the industry requires a new strategy. The new approach should respond to the growing expectations of tourists, while taking into account climate and geopolitical challenges.
The power of women is growing
The growing role of women in the industry is attracting increasing attention. The ranking includes 27 women, four more than last year. We believe that initiatives such as “Women in Tourism Year” and “Tourism Leadership Academy” are bringing measurable results in reducing professional inequalities. Nevertheless, there are still too few women in senior positions in companies, organizations, and chambers related to tourism. We are trying to change this, and this year the proportion of women on the Chapter has increased significantly. There are now more women than men.
The list also includes 27 representatives of tour operators and agents (in 2023 there were 21), five representatives of hoteliers (in 2023 – 10), 22 representatives of local governments and tourist organizations (in 2023 – 30), seven officials (in 2023 – 7), five representatives of air, bus and rail carriers (in 2023 – 9), eight representatives of airports (in 2023 – 8), seven representatives of tourist attractions, museums and amusement parks (in 2023 – 7), and two representatives of insurance companies (in 2023 – 3).
Source, photo, graphics: WaszaTurystyka.pl
