I'll try to post some short translation of an article which was written in Lithuanian newspaper "Lietuvos rytas"
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The city is flooded by Polish tourists
Every year, at the first weeks of May big number of Polish tourists come to Vilnius but this year the number of them is big as never before.
The number of Polish tourists is 2/3 of all tourists in Vilnius. Most of tourists from Poland come by buses and municipality of Vilnius is solving the problem where to place all those buses. E.g. in weekends at the sides of Aukstaiciu street there usually are ~30 buses parked.
The buses often does not fit in a parking place near church of St. Peter and St. Paul.
Photo of buses in Aukstaiciu street - when this photo was taken there were 27 buses parked (all of them from Poland):
Manager of Tourism department denied stereotypes that Poles come to Vilnius with intentions just to visit the Gate of Dawn Chapel and few churches. Poles visit shopping and entertainment center "Akropolis", night clubs. Also Poles often visit park of geographical center of Europe. Biger and biger number of Poles choose village messuages located around Vilnius.
Waiters in some restaurants at Pilies street are learning Polish words. Restaurant "Forto dvaras" which is also located in Pilies street printed menu in Polish language.
Tourists from Poland are choosing the cheapest hotels and in restaurants they do not order expensive dishes, drinks. But the businessmans are happy because of big numbers of them.
Although in the streets of Vilnius you can mostly meet tourists from Poland the number of other tourists is also increasing. E.g. last year the number of Italian and French tourists increased more than twice in comparison to 2003 year.
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Additionally some statistics: last year the number of guests from Poland in Lithuania was the second after Germany (German tourists - 21% and Polish tourists - 14%).
That's it.
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The city is flooded by Polish tourists
Every year, at the first weeks of May big number of Polish tourists come to Vilnius but this year the number of them is big as never before.
The number of Polish tourists is 2/3 of all tourists in Vilnius. Most of tourists from Poland come by buses and municipality of Vilnius is solving the problem where to place all those buses. E.g. in weekends at the sides of Aukstaiciu street there usually are ~30 buses parked.
The buses often does not fit in a parking place near church of St. Peter and St. Paul.
Photo of buses in Aukstaiciu street - when this photo was taken there were 27 buses parked (all of them from Poland):
Manager of Tourism department denied stereotypes that Poles come to Vilnius with intentions just to visit the Gate of Dawn Chapel and few churches. Poles visit shopping and entertainment center "Akropolis", night clubs. Also Poles often visit park of geographical center of Europe. Biger and biger number of Poles choose village messuages located around Vilnius.
Waiters in some restaurants at Pilies street are learning Polish words. Restaurant "Forto dvaras" which is also located in Pilies street printed menu in Polish language.
Tourists from Poland are choosing the cheapest hotels and in restaurants they do not order expensive dishes, drinks. But the businessmans are happy because of big numbers of them.
Although in the streets of Vilnius you can mostly meet tourists from Poland the number of other tourists is also increasing. E.g. last year the number of Italian and French tourists increased more than twice in comparison to 2003 year.
------------------------------------------------
Additionally some statistics: last year the number of guests from Poland in Lithuania was the second after Germany (German tourists - 21% and Polish tourists - 14%).
That's it.
