The impact of the maritime border on the development of Po- land’s border areas in terms of expenses of foreigners and the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present the issue of border traffic of foreigners and their expenses on the Polish maritime border. The study is based on quantitative data on border traffic and expenses of foreigners in Poland. The time of the study was 2014–2021. Thus, the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on foreigners’ mobility and spending in Poland was additionally taken into account. For the purpose of this paper, the following study methods were adopted: reference literature analysis, secondary data analysis and comparative analysis. The paper mainly uses data from official statistics and the Border Guard. The study has shown that the Polish maritime border generates the smallest volume of border traffic, however, its share increased during the analysed period from 0.7% in 2014 to 0.8% in 2021. Nevertheless, it is foreigners crossing the maritime border who on average spend in Poland more than twice as much as foreigners crossing the Polish land border. In 2020, they spent the most on non-food goods (40%) and services (34.7%). As the study results reveal, their spending patterns and travel purposes are different from those of foreigners crossing the land border. The potential that foreign visitors bring is significant for the development of border areas in such sectors as tourism, services and trade. The analysis of the motivation of foreigners crossing the sea border makes it possible to shape the regional development policy of this particular area.

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QUAESTIONES GEOGRAPHICAE 42(4) • 2023
THE IMPACT OF THE MARITIME BORDER ON THE
DEVELOPMENT OF POLAND’S BORDER AREAS IN TERMS OF
EXPENSES OF FOREIGNERS AND THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
AgnieszkA MAlkowskA 1, ArkAdiusz MAlkowski 2, AnnA TokArz-kocik 1
1 Faculty of Economics, Finance and Management, Institute of Management, University of Szczecin, Poland
2 Faculty of Economic, West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, Poland
Manuscript received: June 27, 2022
Revised version: July 25, 2023
MAlkowskA A., MAlkowski A., TokArz-kocik A., 2023. The impact of the maritime border on the development of Po-
land’s border areas in terms of expenses of foreigners and the COVID-19 pandemic. Quaestiones Geographicae 42(4),
Bogucki Wydawnicsto Nakowe, Poznań, pp. 157–168. 9 gs.
AbsTrAcT: The aim of this paper is to present the issue of border trafc of foreigners and their expenses on the Polish
maritime border. The study is based on quantitative data on border trafc and expenses of foreigners in Poland. The
time of the study was 2014–2021. Thus, the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on foreigners’ mo-
bility and spending in Poland was additionally taken into account. For the purpose of this paper, the following study
methods were adopted: reference literature analysis, secondary data analysis and comparative analysis. The paper
mainly uses data from ofcial statistics and the Border Guard. The study has shown that the Polish maritime border
generates the smallest volume of border trafc, however, its share increased during the analysed period from 0.7% in
2014 to 0.8% in 2021. Nevertheless, it is foreigners crossing the maritime border who on average spend in Poland more
than twice as much as foreigners crossing the Polish land border. In 2020, they spent the most on non-food goods (40%)
and services (34.7%). As the study results reveal, their spending patterns and travel purposes are different from those
of foreigners crossing the land border. The potential that foreign visitors bring is signicant for the development of
border areas in such sectors as tourism, services and trade. The analysis of the motivation of foreigners crossing the sea
border makes it possible to shape the regional development policy of this particular area.
keywords: maritime border, expenses of foreigners, shopping tourism, border area development, maritime border
areas, South Baltic Area
Corresponding author: Anna Tokarz-Kocik, Institute of Management, University of Szczecin, ul. Cukrowa 8, 71-104 Szczecin,
Poland; e-mail: anna.tokarz-kocik@usz.edu.pl
Introduction
Borders serve specic functions that also af-
fect border areas. The perception of borders has
changed under the inuence of the processes of
globalisation, economic integration or interna-
tionalisation of politics and economy. In the case
of European countries, the perception of borders
as an administrative barrier has been replaced by
developing cross-border cooperation. Sea space
is a specic space that has been performing var-
ious functions since time immemorial in human
existence. In most cases, it is a cross-border space.
Cross-border cooperation between countries sep-
arated by sea is much more difcult than coop-
eration between countries bordered by land. The
sea continues to divide communities as a bar-
rier to contact. As Cerić and Więckowski point
https://doi.org/10.14746/quageo-2023-0038
ISSN 2082-2103, eISSN 2081-6383
AgnieszkA MAlkowskA, ArkAdiusz MAlkowski , AnnA TokArz-kocik
The impact of the maritime border on the development of POLAND’S border areas...

158 AGNIESZKA MALKOWSKA, ARKADIUSZ MALKOWSKI , ANNA TOKARZ-KOCIK
out, in the case of the Baltic Sea, the specicity
of this region, combining maritime, coastal and
cross-border character, is an important aspect of
the development of tourism space (Cerić 2019;
Cerić, Więckowski 2020). The development of
border trafc and the accompanying develop-
ment of tourism, including shopping tourism,
is an important factor inuencing the socio-eco-
nomic processes taking place in the border area.
This is due to the fact that tourism has clear links
with borders, debordering and reordering. Each
part of this process has important implications
for tourism and development in the heritage
borderscapes of border tourism destinations
(Więckowski, Timothy 2021).
A review of existing research conducted
throughout the world, as well as activities under-
taken in border areas, clearly indicates a pursuit
of a new model for the development of these ar-
eas (Johnson 2009; Ivan et al. 2016; Lundén 2018;
Wong Villanueva et al. 2020). For many years,
they were deemed problematic, which was pri-
marily due to their peripheral location and the
isolating functions of the borders (Brunet-Jailly
2012; Cooper, Perkins 2012; Scott 2015). Changes
in the functions of borders, including deborder-
ing and reordering, have led to the need to re-
dene the role of border areas in the political
and economic systems of different countries.
Debordering is seen as a factor enhancing the
development of peripheral areas, signicantly
contributing to the increase of border trafc and,
as a result, the development of various forms of
tourism, including shopping tourism (Spierings,
Van Der Velde 2008; Bygvra 2020; Liberato et al.
2020).
This has become more apparent within the
European Union (EU), where ‘a border’ has gen-
erally not been equated with a barrier, especial-
ly since 1995 when the Schengen Area was es-
tablished and internal EU border controls were
completely abolished (Martinsen et al. 2019).
One of the factors that signicantly affected the
role and functions of borders was the coronavi-
rus disease (COVID-19) pandemic caused by the
SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Given the implement-
ed procedures related to crossing borders, in this
case, we can talk about the so-called ‘defence in-
tegration’ (Schimmelfennig 2021), understood as
a combination of activities consisting mainly of
internal and external rebordering.
In the EU, the rst case of the disease was
reported in Italy in the second half of February
2020. In Poland, virus infections were recorded
on 4 March 2020. The spread of the pathogen
forced governments to take a number of meas-
ures. The safety and health of citizens became a
priority, which necessitated the implementation
of preventive sanitary regulations that resulted in
the closure of borders to passenger trafc. Thus,
the primary functions of borders in terms of iso-
lation and protection, which had taken a back
seat until the outbreak of the pandemic (Eckardt
et al. 2020), were restored (Kolosov, Więckowski
2018; Canale 2020). This internal and external re-
bordering was temporary but, undoubtedly, the
related effects affected in particular border areas
in an unprecedented manner.
In the case of Poland, the reduction in border
trafc impacted both the land and maritime bor-
ders. The maritime border is a special type of bor-
der. It is 439.74-km long. The border runs along
the shore of the Baltic Sea (Więckowski, Cerić
2016).
This study contributes to a better understand-
ing of the role and impact of foreigners, and in
particular, the impact of the maritime border on
border areas in Poland, especially in the context
of social and economic development. To the best
of the authors’ knowledge, there is still a lack of
research in this area, as conrmed by the litera-
ture review.
Methodology
The aim of this paper is to present the issue
of border trafc of foreigners and their expens-
es on the Polish maritime border. The following
study questions were formulated: (1) What was
the volume of visitor trafc at the Polish mari-
time border and visitor spending patterns be-
tween 2014 and 2021? (2) Do the travel purposes
and spending patterns of foreigners travelling to
Poland through the maritime border differ from
the purposes and patterns of those crossing the
land border?
The following study hypothesis was formulat-
ed: The spending patterns of foreigners crossing
the maritime border and their travel purposes
differ from those of foreigners crossing the land
border.

THE IMPACT OF THE MARITIME BORDER ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLAND’S BORDER AREAS... 159
The aim of the paper was achieved and the
study questions were addressed through the
analysis of reference literature, secondary data
and comparative analysis. The study is based
on quantitative data on border trafc and visi-
tor spending in Poland. The paper mainly uses
data from the public statistics of Statistics Poland
(GUS). The article estimates the value of tax reve-
nues and the number of jobs associated with bor-
der trafc at the maritime border.
Owing to the availability of uniform statistical
data, the time span of the study was 2014–2021.
As data published for 2021 were incomplete, 2020
data were included for some of the more detailed
analyses. The paper draws mainly on the litera-
ture on social and economic development, bor-
der area development, cross-border cooperation
and tourism economics. The study examines the
entire Polish maritime border, providing com-
prehensive characteristics of border trafc and
visitor spending as well as an analysis of their
impact on adjacent border areas. It should be em-
phasised that the Polish maritime border has a
direct impact on three Polish regions. Maritime
border crossings in Poland are located at: (1)
Zachodniopomorskie Voivodeship: Szczecin,
Trzebież, Nowe Warpno, Świnoujście, Mrzeżyno,
Dziwnów, Kołobrzeg, Darłowo; (2) Pomorskie
Voivodeship: Ustka, Władysławowo, Jastarnia,
Hel, Łeba, Gdynia, Gdańsk-Port, Gdańsk-
Górki Zachodnie; (3) Warmińsko-Mazurskie
Voivodeship: Elbląg, Frombork. The study area
is called the border sea area and it covers parts of
the three indicated voivodeships.
The results of the study are presented descrip-
tively and graphically in the form of gures. The
conclusions in the last section of the paper are
drawn on the basis of inductive and deductive
reasoning based on desk research analysis.
Literature review
An analysis of the available literature on the
subject indicates that border areas may be as-
signed characteristics that distinguish them from
others. They are usually peripheral, which should
be understood, not only in terms of location and
space (i.e. distance from the centre), but primari-
ly in terms of social and economic development.
Border regions are generally less developed
(Pezzi, Urso 2016). Today, location is of lesser im-
portance because of structural changes, improved
transport infrastructure or development of tech-
nology, including communication technology.
Copus (2001) argued that today, peripherality is
primarily determined by non-spatial factors such
as information society infrastructure, human
capital, business networks, civil society, institu-
tional networks as well as global-local relations.
The above elements are often less developed in
the peripheral areas, which include border areas.
Moreover, Erkut and Özgen (2003) proved that
economic peripherality leads to geographical
peripherality.
Border areas, which have typically been little
transformed by human economic activity, consist
mainly of natural and rural areas (Salvatore et
al. 2018). Thus, they often show considerable po-
tential for the development of tourism (Ianioglo,
Rissanen 2020). Mikhaylova et al. (2022) in their
studies demonstrated that cross-border tourism
plays a crucial role as a tool for the sustainable de-
velopment of urban–rural systems. Cross-border
tourism can be understood as tourism within a re-
gion that includes two or more countries. Cross-
border tourism is therefore an element of interna-
tional tourism and is related to the cross-border
tourist space functioning on both sides of the
border. According to Więckowski (2011), it can
be understood as all forms of tourism that allow
them to be used in neighbouring border areas of
at least two countries. It is a form of tourism re-
lated to the specic values found on both sides of
the border. They are also considered in economic
terms (price differences, quality of services and
access to other products). One type of cross-bor-
der tourism is shopping tourism. For border
areas, shopping tourism is of great importance
(Timothy 2017; Malkowski et al. 2020), also as
an element of local economic development plan-
ning (Rogerson 2011). According to the World
Tourism Organization (UNWTO), shopping tour-
ism should be seen as a modern form of tourism
chosen by people who decide on their travel des-
tination based on their ability to shop for goods
outside their usual environment (UNWTO 2014).
Shopping accounts for a signicant portion of
tourist spending (Choi et al. 2016), and shopping
behaviour when travelling abroad differ from
shopping behaviour in the home country (Choi
et al. 2018). In addition, cross-border shopping

160 AGNIESZKA MALKOWSKA, ARKADIUSZ MALKOWSKI , ANNA TOKARZ-KOCIK
is more often accompanied by leisure activities
(Bar-Kołelis, Wendt 2018). Tourism stimulates
the development of a diverse sector with a va-
riety of tourist attractions and services centred
around shopping. Shopping tourism is becom-
ing an increasingly relevant component of the
tourism value chain (UNWTO 2014). Shopping
is already a determining factor in the decision to
travel and the choice of destination. Owing to so-
cial, cultural and economic changes around the
world, there are new patterns of consumption
and purchasing behaviour (Rylance, Spenceley
2017; Liberato et al. 2020). Previous research has
found that shopping tourists stay longer at a des-
tination and spend approximately three to four
times more than leisure tourists (Getz et al. 1994;
Alegre, Cladera 2012).
The research in cross-border areas revealed
that market processes can balance short-term
shopping trips and contribute to long-term tour-
ism that provides economic value to border areas
(Leick et al. 2021). Hence, it is important to study
consumers’ motivation to visit the border region,
the benets they seek or their spending patterns
(Díaz-Sauceda et al. 2015).
Border trafc and visitor spending can be used
to analyse their role in borderland development.
However, the subject literature focuses on areas
adjacent to land borders. In Poland, this issue
was studied, among other scholars, by Dołzbłasz
and Zelek (2019), Malkowski et al. (2020) for
the Polish–German border; Malkowski (2019)
for the Polish–Ukrainian border; Cyargeenka
(2021), Studzieniecki et al. (2021) for the Polish–
Belarusian border; Batyk (2016), Studzieniecki et
al. (2016), Zaitseva et al. (2016), Bobryk (2020),
Palmowski and Fedorov (2020) for the Polish–
Russian border.
The development of the border region is close-
ly related to the presence of a tourist product, in
which spatial development, tourist attractions
and the development of the network of servic-
es and infrastructure signicantly affect the de-
velopment of border trafc (Jussi 2000; Roest
2004; Cerić, Więckowski 2020). Many authors
also emphasise the impact of sustainable tour-
ism on the development of the peripheral re-
gion (Studzieniecki et al. 2020; Kropinova 2021;
Renfors et al. 2021). This indicates that the anal-
ysis of the motives for crossing borders is an im-
portant element in shaping regional development
policy (Anderson, Wever 2003; Ramazannejad et
al. 2021; Lim, Kim 2022).
An extremely interesting direction of research
is also an attempt to determine what economic
benets accompany the development of tourism.
The size of border trafc and the accompanying
expenses of tourists crossing the border justify
the search for a unied methodology for assess-
ing the impact of this form of tourism on the econ-
omy of the region (Ennew 2003). Unfortunately,
to date, a universally applicable methodology for
assessing this impact has not been established.
This is primarily related to the fact that different
types of indicators are used in research because
of differences in the scope of collected data char-
acterising tourist trafc, the type of tourist desti-
nation (Kizielewicz 2016), preference in the use of
certain methods by entities carrying out research
and entities which commission and pay for these
studies (Dooms et al. 2015). Some of the studies
are industry-specic and concern a selected form
of tourism such as cruise tourism (CLIA Europe
2013; Kizielewicz 2020). This leads to a situation
where some studies deal with direct impacts and
others with indirect or induced impacts. The di-
rect economic impact usually captures the vol-
ume of production and the amount of employ-
ment in enterprises whose customers are tourists.
The indirect impact is related to the creation of
products and services for tourists using the eco-
nomic potential of the socio-economic environ-
ment in which the enterprises selling their prod-
ucts and services to tourists operate. The induced
impact is related to expenditures made by em-
ployees affected by tourism.
Among the main beneciaries of the econom-
ic benets associated with tourism are rst and
foremost local governments (new investments,
new jobs, increased attractiveness of settlements
and additional tax revenues), entrepreneurs (sale
of goods and services), local community (new
jobs and new technical infrastructure serving
residents) and public institutions (number of
visitors, revenues from fees, e.g. port fees, etc.).
Benets are, of course, also accompanied by costs
including environmental costs (increased noise
and emissions) and social costs (prostitution,
crime, etc.).
The literature on the subject clearly lacks
studies on the maritime border, which conrms
the need to undertake this line of research. This

THE IMPACT OF THE MARITIME BORDER ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLAND’S BORDER AREAS... 161
poses considerable challenges to researchers in
determining the scale of this effect, as well as the
economic impact of the increased border trafc
in a specic peripheral area, such as the Baltic
Sea coast. To the best of the authors’ knowledge,
there is still lack of research in this area, as con-
rmed by the literature review. Based on selected
and popular databases such as Scopus, Web of
Science and EBSCO, it was shown that there were
no papers on the subject under discussion and
there was a knowledge gap. The search with the
phrases ‘maritime border’ and ‘expenses of for-
eigners’ has yielded no results. We searched for
publications containing both of these keywords
together.
Results
Border trafc and motives for crossing the
sea border
The analysis of border statistics showed that
the overall trafc on the Polish border gradual-
ly increased from 2014 to 2019, rising by 18.6%.
This trend halted in 2020 due to the introduction
of administrative restrictions on the free move-
ment across borders triggered by the COVID-19
pandemic. It should be emphasised that 2021, i.e.
the second year of the pandemic, saw a notice-
able increase in the number of visitors crossing
Polish borders. During the examined period, the
Polish border was crossed 258 million times in
2014 (58.9% by foreigners) and only 193.3 million
times in 2021 (55.5% by foreigners). This means
that, in 2020, there was a 25.5% drop in over-
all border trafc. This was more true for Poles
(down by 29.8%) than for foreigners (down by
23.8%) – (Fig. 1).
The number of foreigners crossing the Polish
maritime border in 2014–2019 indicates a system-
atic increase in the volume of border trafc. In
the analysed period, it grew by as much as 28.6%.
Fig. 1. Crossings of the Polish border [in million].
Source: own study based on: Statistics Poland (2015), Statistics Poland (2022).
Fig. 2. Crossings of the Polish sea border by
foreigners [in million].
Source: own study based on: Statistics Poland (2015),
Statistics Poland (2022).

162 AGNIESZKA MALKOWSKA, ARKADIUSZ MALKOWSKI , ANNA TOKARZ-KOCIK
The year 2020 saw a marked fall in the volume
of border trafc. The overall number of visitors
crossing the Polish maritime border decreased
from 0.9 million in 2019 to 0.7 million in 2020 and
2021 (Fig. 2). In 2021, almost half were foreigners
coming to Poland (0.37 million).
Expenses of foreigners crossing the sea
border and their structure
When the reasons for which foreigners crossed
the Polish maritime border were analysed, it was
found that they travelled both for private and
business purposes. During the period under
study, quite signicant changes were observed
in this regard. The number of surveyed foreign-
ers travelling privately decreased in the analysed
period from 590,000 to 480,000, and those travel-
ling on business increased from 110,000 to up to
220,000. The percentage of foreigners who trav-
elled for private purposes decreased by 16.2 per-
centage points (from 84.8% in 2014 to 68.6% in
2020), and the percentage of visitors travelling on
business increased (from 15.2% in 2014 to 31.4%
in 2020) – see Figure 3. It should be noted that
the share of foreigners crossing the maritime bor-
der for business purposes is much higher than
the share for Poland in general (in 2020 it was
9.3%). Business trips to attend congresses, con-
ferences, trainings and trade fairs, among others,
are purely business-related and concern various
aspects of the business. The increase in the num-
ber of foreigners travelling for business purposes
should be viewed positively in terms of their im-
pact on the economic development of maritime
border areas.
Analysis of the data on the declared purposes
of private visits by foreigners has shown signi-
cant changes in the studied period. The number
of foreigners crossing the Polish sea border in the
case of transit and shopping decreased in the ana-
lysed period, and increased in the case of visiting
friends and family, and leisure, recreation and
holiday. Detailed data is presented in Figure 4.
In 2014, foreigners arriving by maritime border
declared transit as the main purpose of their visit
(35.4%), and in 2020, visiting friends and family
(27.5%). In both the baseline and target years, the
fewest visitors crossed the border to shop (4.5%
in 2014 and 1.3% in 2020) – see Figure 5.
These data contrast with national data, accord-
ing to which most foreigners visited Poland to
shop (61.2% in 2014 and 64.3% in 2020). The main
travel purposes of foreigners arriving in Poland
by sea were therefore completely different from
those indicated by foreigners crossing the land
Fig. 3. Foreigners crossing the Polish sea border for
the purpose of a visit in 2014 and 2020 [%].
Source: own study based on: Statistics Poland (2015),
Statistics Poland (2022).
Fig. 4. Foreigners crossing the Polish sea border for
private purposes in 2014 and 2020 [in thousands].
Source: own study based on: Statistics Poland (2015),
Statistics Poland (2022).
Fig. 5. Foreigners crossing the Polish sea border for
private purposes in 2014 and 2020 [%].
Source: own study based on: Statistics Poland (2015),
Statistics Poland (2022).

THE IMPACT OF THE MARITIME BORDER ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLAND’S BORDER AREAS... 163
or air border. It should also be noted that their
hierarchy has changed over the years studied.
There was a signicant decrease in the share of
respondents declaring transit (by 24.4 percentage
points) and shopping (by 3.2 percentage points)
as the main purpose of their visit. However, the
number of foreigners coming to Poland mainly
to visit relatives and friends as well as for leisure,
recreation and vacation has increased by 14.2
percentage points and by 0.5 percentage points,
respectively.
Structure of expenses of foreigners crossing
the sea border
An important factor affecting the economy
of border areas is the expenditures of foreigners
crossing the border. The estimated value of total
goods and services purchased in Poland by for-
eigners in 2021 was PLN 24.5 billion, and in 2014
– PLN 35.4 billion. Thus, during the period under
review, visitor spending decreased by 30.7%. The
highest level of spending by foreigners in Poland
was recorded before the pandemic, i.e. in 2019,
when it reached PLN 45.3 billion. The level and
type of expenditures were inuenced by move-
ment restrictions imposed by individual coun-
tries, including Poland. These resulted from the
COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the pandemic re-
strictions, temporary restrictions on trafc were
also introduced in Poland from 15 March, 2020,
and for numerous border crossings, the trafc
was completely halted.
The study showed that the expenditure of
foreigners crossing the Polish maritime border
amounted to PLN 357.4 million in 2014 and PLN
385.3 million in 2021. As shown in Figure 6, be-
tween 2014 and 2019, foreigners’ spending was
highest in 2019, when it amounted to PLN 477.6
million. There was a marked annual increase in
spending in the period from 2014 to 2019. The
year 2020 saw a sharp decline in spending by
foreigners which began to rise again in 2021. It
should be noted that spending by foreigners
travelling by sea accounted for a small, yet grow-
ing share of total visitor spending and was 1.1%
in 2014 and 2019, and 1.6% in 2021.
An analysis of the average spending of for-
eigners leads to interesting conclusions. It was
found that foreigners crossing the Polish mar-
itime border spent on average more than twice
as much as those crossing the land border. The
analysed value in the examined years remained
at a similar level and amounted to PLN 1,016 per
capita in 2014 and PLN 1,022 per capita in 2021
(Fig. 7).
In the analysed period, the types of expendi-
tures of foreigners crossing the maritime border
changed slightly. Of the total amount of money
spent in Poland in 2020, they spent the most on
non-food goods (40%) and services (34.7%), and
much less on food and non-alcoholic beverages
(17%) as well as alcoholic beverages and tobacco
products (8.3%). Compared to 2014, the share of
spending on services increased the most (by 5.5
percentage points), while spending on non-food
goods decreased the most (by 4.9 percentage
points) – see Figure 8.
Therefore, it may be concluded that the Polish
service market is increasingly attractive for
Fig. 6. Expenses of foreigners crossing the Polish sea
border in 2014–2020 [in million PLN].
Source: own study based on: Statistics Poland (2015),
Statistics Poland (2022).
Fig. 7. Average expenses of foreigners crossing the
Polish border and Polish sea border in 2014–2021 [in
PLN].
Source: own study based on: Statistics Poland (2015),
Statistics Poland (2022).

164 AGNIESZKA MALKOWSKA, ARKADIUSZ MALKOWSKI , ANNA TOKARZ-KOCIK
foreigners. Foreigners spend more than one-third
of their funds on services in the maritime border
areas, which undoubtedly has a positive impact
on their socio-economic development.
Importance of foreigners’ border trafc for
maritime border areas
The level of expenses incurred by foreigners
in Poland is related, among others, to the mode of
travel (including the type of means of transport),
the purpose of travel (private or business) or the
length of stay (including the need for accommo-
dation). The amount of expenditures depends
on the protability of purchases (price level and
exchange rates), the international situation and
changes in border crossing regulations that facil-
itate or restrict trade between countries. There is
no doubt that the foreigners visiting Poland, in-
cluding the money they spend, affect the func-
tioning and socio-economic development of mar-
itime border regions (see Fig. 9).
Based on the declared purposes of travel, it
can be concluded that foreigners crossing the
maritime border come to Poland for business
tourism, leisure and recreation tourism, family
tourism, shopping tourism and transit tourism.
Border trafc is a particularly important factor
inuencing the development of border areas.
This is primarily due to the amount of spending
by foreigners crossing the border. The conducted
research revealed that in the case of the maritime
border, most foreigners (over 90%) shopped in a
zone up to 50 km from the border. This means
that the bulk of their funds was spent in the coast-
al belt, becoming a signicant driver of the local
economy. This became particularly evident after
the limitation of border trafc as a result of the
pandemic restrictions. They were met with dis-
approval by local business owners from all Polish
border areas who lost their customers overnight.
The tourism industry in the border sea area has
been signicantly affected. The drop in the num-
ber of foreign and domestic tourists has led to a
decline in revenue for the entire tourism sector
and the related service sector. As a result, the
government and local government authorities
were forced to introduce a number of support in-
struments to alleviate the adverse impact of the
border trafc restrictions. However, this does not
change the fact that compared to 2019, the local
economy lost more than 140 million in 2020 as a
result of the border restrictions.
To assess the impact of border trafc on the re-
gion’s economy, a methodology created by Cruise
Lines International Association (CLIA) Europe
was used. This methodology assumes that the
Fig. 8. Structure of expenses of foreigners crossing
the Polish sea border, incurred in Poland in 2014 and
2020 [%].
Source: own study based on: Statistics Poland (2015),
Statistics Poland (2022).
Fig. 9. The importance of foreigners’ border trafc for sea border areas.
Source: own study.

THE IMPACT OF THE MARITIME BORDER ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLAND’S BORDER AREAS... 165
total economic impact should be considered as the
sum of the direct, indirect and induced impacts of
the cruise industry. According to this methodolo-
gy, each 1 million EUR in direct spending by the
cruise industry generates about 2.4 million EUR
in output and about 21 jobs (CLIA Europe 2018).
In addition, the analysis uses the per capita tax
revenue ratios for individual municipalities of
districts (poviats) and provinces (voivodeships),
used in Poland by the Ministry of Finance, which
are the basis for calculating the annual amounts
of the equalisation part of the general subvention
and payments for municipalities, districts and
provinces, respectively.
As a result of the analysis, the value of output
that was generated by tourism in 2021 in the study
area was estimated at more than PLN 924 million.
The added value for the study region was the cre-
ation of about 1,760 jobs. The estimates presented
also made it possible to determine the projected
tax revenue to budgets. Using the methodology
of the Ministry of Finance, an estimate was made
of tax revenue related to the size of border trafc
in the border sea area. As regards an inuence on
the budgets of municipalities, the value of funds
raised in the form of tax revenues amounted to
no less than PLN 3.7 million in 2021. The budgets
of districts operating in the study area and the
budget of provinces received respectively about
PLN 558,000 and 404,000 from this source.
Conclusion
This paper focuses on presenting the issue of
border trafc of foreigners on the Polish maritime
border and dening the role of the maritime bor-
der in the development of border areas. Tourism
is one of the leading economic sectors. Changes
in the function of the border and, above all, loos-
ening tourist trafc restrictions render this area
attractive for the service sector oriented towards
the needs of tourists, including shopping tourists.
Therefore, it is necessary to take advantage of the
increase in border trafc and development of all
forms of tourism to provide attractive services
available regardless of the season and thus stim-
ulate the development of this peripheral region.
Therefore, it is necessary to prepare an integrated
tourism offer for the region, paying particular at-
tention to well-recognised border trafc.
The conducted study indicates that the volume
of maritime border trafc is the smallest among
all borders in Poland. It is worth noting that, dur-
ing the period under review, its share increased
from 0.7% in 2014 to 0.8% in 2021. During this
period, the highest trafc volumes were recorded
at the EU’s internal border (85.7% in 2020), with
much lower volumes at airports (7.1% in 2020)
and at land crossings on the EU’s external border
(6.3% in 2020).
Furthermore, the studies have shown that
foreigners crossing the maritime border on aver-
age spend in Poland more than twice as much as
foreigners crossing the Polish land border. Their
spending patterns and travel purposes are also
different. The potential that foreign visitors bring
is crucial for the development of border areas.
The study shows that the trafc of foreigners
at the Polish maritime border increased almost
every year between 2014 and 2021. Moreover,
the study has found that the COVID-19 pandem-
ic signicantly affected all examined gures re-
garding foreigners. The year 2020 saw a decrease
in the number of foreigners crossing the Polish
maritime border and a decrease in their spend-
ing, including a decrease in average spending.
It should be emphasised that these gures have
improved in 2021.
A comparison of travel purposes and the types
of expenditures of foreigners coming to Poland
by maritime and land border revealed signicant
differences in this respect. The share of foreigners
crossing maritime borders for business purpos-
es in 2020 was more than 3.4 times higher than
this share for Poland overall. The difference is
therefore signicant. Differences were also found
when comparing the purposes of foreigners’
visits. In 2020, foreigners came to Poland across
the maritime border mostly to visit friends and
family, and least often, to shop. The opposite was
true for the Polish land border, which foreigners
usually crossed to do shopping. Thus, the formu-
lated hypothesis was conrmed. Additionally, it
was shown that the hierarchy of travel purposes
of the foreigners surveyed has also changed.
During the period analysed, with the excep-
tion of 2020, spending by foreigners travelling
by sea was increasing steadily. Their share in the
total expenditure of foreigners was small but it
should be noted that it increased in the examined
years (from 1.1% in 2014 to 1.6% in 2021). Studies

166 AGNIESZKA MALKOWSKA, ARKADIUSZ MALKOWSKI , ANNA TOKARZ-KOCIK
have shown that foreigners crossing the maritime
border on average spend in Poland more than
twice as much as foreigners crossing the Polish
land border. This trend continued throughout
the entire period examined, hence it can be con-
sidered steady. This is another aspect that distin-
guishes the study group from other groups in the
country. It is also worth noting that 90% of the
foreigners surveyed purchase products and ser-
vices within 50 km of the border.
Analyses and studies of foreigners crossing
the maritime border of Poland have shown that
these are determinants of the socio-economic de-
velopment of maritime border areas. The study
conducted allowed the authors to develop a mod-
el which shows that the purposes for which the
Polish maritime border is crossed can be trans-
lated into different types of tourism practiced by
foreigners. They support various sectors of the
Polish economy, which contributes to better func-
tioning and development of border sea areas.
The volume of border trafc and the accompa-
nying expenditures of tourists crossing the bor-
der are an important factor affecting the region’s
economy. The magnitude of border trafc and the
value of expenditures incurred in Poland by for-
eigners crossing the sea border made it possible
to estimate that, in 2021, at least PLN 4.65 million
would ow into the budgets of local government
units (from the study area) in the form of taxes on
this account. Border trafc and spending by for-
eigners contributed to the creation of 1,760 jobs.
The total value of output generated by tourist
trafc in 2021 in the study area was no less than
PLN 924 million.
The authors’ contribution to the literature on
the subject was to demonstrate that, in terms of
purpose and nature, the border trafc and ex-
penditures of foreigners crossing the maritime
border differ from those of foreigners crossing the
land border. The available literature on the sub-
ject lacks studies comparing these aspects. The
study conducted by the authors should be treated
as a starting point for further in-depth analysis in
this area, including the comparison of shopping
behaviour and decisions of foreigners crossing
land, maritime and air borders. The conditions
of crossing these borders are somewhat different
but the study results presented may be used by
local governments or institutions planning the
development of maritime border areas.
The analysis conducted in this paper can serve
as a basis for further academic discussion and
more detailed studies to better understand the
importance of foreigners, including their spend-
ing, in the development of maritime border areas.
Acknowledgements
The project was partially nanced under the
programme of the Ministry of Science and Higher
Education as ‘Regional Initiative of Excellence’
in the years 2019–2022, Project No. 001/
RID/2018/19, funding amount: 10,684,000.00.
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