The Centre for Sustainable Development of the University of Gdańsk hosted entrepreneurs from Pomerania ready to cooperate for the development and promotion of wellbeing tourism in the region. On 20 June, the inauguration ceremony of the Wellbeing Regional – Poland association took place in the building of the Faculty of Social Sciences of UG.
The meeting was also an opportunity to summarise the four-year activities of the project “Wellbeing Tourism in the South Baltic Region – Guidelines for good practices & Promotion (SB WELL)”, which enabled tourism professionals to learn how to create offers that fit in with sustainable tourism.
“In recent years we can see a change in our approach to tourism. We are looking for new values in our trips – interaction, intelligence and holistic satisfaction of our needs. It is not the climate zone that is important, but the credibility of the place, the sincerity of the locals and an offer based on valuable local products and services. Over the four years of the project […] tourism entrepreneurs have been learning how to create an offer that meets these conditions, and we have been learning how to be more conscious, sustainable tourists,” says Monika Dmitrzak from the Pomerania Development Agency.
The results of the work can be found on the interactive platform: Home – Wellbeing (wellbeingtourism.com). Instagram: turystyka_wellbeing
“Maintaining a balance between work and leisure time is very important. It is also important that the tourism industry recognises this global trend and builds its offer precisely on this basis,” notes Krzysztof Szczepaniak, PhD, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Development at UG.
According to Anna Dziadkiewicz, Ph.D., from the Faculty of Management at UG, wellbeing tourism refers to current social trends such as caring for the environment or taking a holistic view of people and their needs.
“The SB WELL project, in which I participated for four years, also aimed at raising awareness of wellbeing values among potential visitors and branding the South Baltic region as a competitive player in the global market with attractive qualities for visitors based on the unique natural and cultural heritage of the area,” reports Anna Dziadkiewicz, PhD, DSc.
One of the most important achievements of the project was the establishment of the association Wellbeing Regional – Poland, which was set up on the initiative of the Bruno Synak Pomeranian Scientific Institute (SB WELL project partner). It now brings together a group of entrepreneurs from all over Pomerania who are ready to cooperate further to develop and promote wellbeing tourism in our region. The official inauguration of the Association, which took place on 20 June 2023 at the University of Gdansk, was attended by companies:
- EskimoTeam (http://www.eskimoteam.pl)
- Step Out – Sylwia Piaseczna (http://stepout.pl/)
- Notera Hotel SPA (https://hotelnotera.pl)
- Stare Polaszki 13 (http://starepolaszki.pl)
- Hotel Villa Leśne Ustronie (https://lesne-ustronie.pl)
- Marina Kociewska Resort & Water Sports (https://www.marinakociewska.pl/index.php)
The event was hosted by the UG Centre for Sustainable Development, which supports sustainable tourism activities in Pomerania by bringing together academia and business.
The project “Wellbeing Tourism in the South Baltic Region – Guidelines for good practices & Promotion” is co-financed by the Interreg South Baltic Programme. It is led by Charles Linnaeus University from Sweden and partnered by local governmental and non-governmental organisations, local tourism organisations and authorities and universities from the Baltic Sea regions of Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Lithuania and Germany.