Stalin Had a Golden Frock, And a Palace Too


Artykuł pochodzi z pisma "New Warsaw Express"

The Warsaw Destination Alliance, an organization founded on the back of support from the city's hard-pressed four- and five-star hotels, made it boldest publicity move so far last weekend, announcing plans to wrap the Palace of Culture in shiny gold cloth to celebrate Poland's European Union entry next May.
Covering the city's most famous landmark will cost the WDA some EUR 1.7m, but all indications are the venture is wellfounded. Palace of Culture director Lech Isakiewicz told Gazeta Wyborcza this week he believed the event would generate between EUR 300m and 400m in income for the city's tourist industry.
Other estimates aren't quite as steep, but WDA representatives emphasise this is just the start of a more extended campaign. The organization has the backing of most of the capital's major tourist industry players, who have lost hope that city authorities will create a coherent campaign pushing Warsaw as more than just a business destination.
The initiative has drawn concrete commitments from most of the major hotel groups. Ten hotels including the well-established Marriott and Sheraton as well as the new Intercontinental on Emilii Plater, have agreed to establish a levy on their own room prices, with the money gathered going to cover the costs of international-scale advertising and stunts like the Palace covering. There are rumours of similar deals with large corporate players in the works.
"We had to do something to push the city to foreign visitors. Warsaw's becoming a really good place to spend a weekend, but it badly needs to lose its old post-communist reputation," said David Ippersiel, sales director of the Marriott hotel and one of the founders of the group.
With two more top-of-the-range hotels opening in this half of the year, says Ippersiel, the market has to look for a solution other than pure competition.
"By competing with each other all we're doing is diluting a market that simply isn't as big as it should be – we have to work together to increase the number of people coming here, or staying on for weekends. If we don't increase the supply of visitors, we can forget about making money in years to come," said Ippersiel.
"What we have to do is change the city's image in the eyes of people outside of Poland. To create something that will benefit all the city's businesses," agrees Intercontinental executive assistant manager Oliver Horn.

STEVEN MULLER

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