Tourists from Poland on the Croatian Adriatic between Two World Wars

Tourists from Poland have been coming to the eastern coast of the Adriatic since the beginning of the development of modern tourism, that is, since the second half of the 19th century. While Dalmatia, Istria and Galicia were part of one state, the path of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy towards the south of Europe was much easier for the Poles. World War I led to the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. New states were founded on its ruins, so the journey was much harder to make and more expensive. From the south of Poland to the Adriatic, it was necessary to travel through Czechoslovakia, Austria or Hungary. These changes were the reason for the decline of interest in vacation on the Adriatic among Poles because they gained access to the Baltic Sea with their own health resorts. Nevertheless, the Poles began to long for a warm climate and the Adriatic Sea. Therefore, new joint Polish-Yugoslav initiatives were devised in the mid-1920s. The most famous activities that had the greatest impact on tourism were the founding of the „Polish House on the Adriatic“ in 1927 and the founding of the „Polish-Yugoslav League“ in 1931. The first initiative provided an opportunity for Poles not only to rest during the summer but also to move south and live all year round. The other society was much more active because it dealt, apart from tourism, with culture, history,and other fields of common interest, which connected Poland and Yugoslavia. Thanks to this as well as other initiatives, which are listed in the article, they have influenced the number of Polish tourists to increase from year to year. This trend lasted until 1939 when Germany invaded Poland, which was a direct reason for the start of World War II.

Na temelju arhivskog istraživanja, onodobnog tiska i literature, u radu se prvi puta prikazuju uvjeti, razlozi i dinamika putovanja turista iz Poljske na hrvatski Jadran između dva svjetska rata. Istraživanje se sagledava kroz djelovanje pojedinaca i međudržavne suradnje između Poljske i tadašnje Jugoslavije te pojedinih društava i putničkih agencija. Zaključuje se da su turisti iz Poljske između dva svjetska rata na različite načine pridonijeli unaprjeđenju turizma na hrvatskom Jadranu.