With the recent introduction of the local border traffic law (also known
as small border traffic) with Russia the amount of traffic at the Kaliningrad
Oblast border has increased by over 60%.
In the last 8 months over 4 million people have crossed it. Since the
introduction of the new law in July 2012 the Russians flock to visit shops on
the Polish side, especially when buying food. Polish markets warmly welcome the
new customers as they leave large amounts of cash every time they shop. The
considerable sums of money impel (entail) to most supermarkets, restaurants and
even hotels close to the border but also in Elblag and Gdansk employ people
with the knowledge of Russian language.
People from the Kaliningrad Oblast not only come for shopping but also
to visit our medical centers as they say that the Polish doctors are much
better educated and have higher qualification and advanced
equipment than their counterparts in Russia. There’s even a hospital close to
Gdansk which is building an ultra-exclusive new wing just for the new
clientele.
We can see more and more Russians not only around the Baltic Sea but
also in our mountains. Whoever has visited Zakopane in the last few years must
have seen all the cars with Russian and Belarusian license plates, even the
gorals are starting to learn the language of our neighbors.
Not only Polish people are starting to like their Eastern neighbors for
the money but also the Eastern neighbors love visiting our country. They even
created a song which is taking the internet by storm.
What do you think of the current situation?
I think it's a wonderful thing that our Big Neighbour is visiting our country. I love tourist, they're the best to talk to, although I don't remember much of russian laguage.
ReplyDeleteThank for this article, I tried to explain to myself, why the hell we've got so much Eastern Freinds in our borders, now I know....
Anyway, it's amazing for us, that now we are open for west and east, we're welcoming both sides with our warm culture (but not climat ;)
Can't wait to see, where it will take us...
I think there's a major difference between Kaliningrad's Russians and Russians in general, but still it sounds like good news. I wonder how's the legal situation now - can we just cross borders each way without any problem or do we still need russian visas to enter Kaliningrad region?
ReplyDeleteIt's a good thing that Russians leave their money in our country. Last year, when I was in Zakopane, in restaurant I saw russian man leaving a very very fat tip. Quite pleasant, especially for the waitress. Poland benefits from this, so I think it's a good thing :)
ReplyDeleteMartyna Zych:
ReplyDeleteUnfortunetly, only citizens that live within the border trade zone can travel fairly freely between the broder. Here you can find some more detials:
http://www.msz.gov.pl/pl/informacje_konsularne/maly_ruch_graniczny/
That border trade zone gives benefits to both sides, polish and russian. They can use of our service sector (like private healthcare) and enjoy lower prices in shops. For polish citizens which live near the border it's opportunity to import (necessarily legally) fuel and some products which are cheaper on opposite side of border.
ReplyDeleteIn case of tourism, I see only good side of that situation. Tourists from abroad brings their own money to Poland, it boosts the growth of GDP and provides huge support in development of poorer regions.
I had a lot of prejudice against the Russians but when they started to appear in Sopot and Gdansk I realized that they are nice people, friendly. Poles who live in the border area also going to Russia to buy cheaper cigarettes and fuel. It's easy to talk to the Russians, even if you do not know the Russian language well.I think that song on youtube is great advertisement for Lidl and Biedronka.
ReplyDeleteI knew that the English come to Poland to undergo treatment, but I’ve never heard that Russians do so. Supposedly, in England they organize trips to Polish dentists. The price differences are very big – so it is even profitable to go by plane, and they still save money.
ReplyDeleteIt’s good that Russians also visit Poland, shop here and use our services. However, I doubt if it has a big influence on our Gross Domestic Product – not many people live in Kaliningrad Oblast.
All of them would have to come at once, if we wanted serious profit. Nevertheless, I am happy that our country is so open and foreigner-friendly.
The situation is not very suprising - the Kaliningrad Oblast performs better and better every month in terms of economy and in comparsion with other Russian regions. And it is obvious that they will buy cheaper if possible. But to truly understand it, we have to be aware that what we call great economy performance is not the same in Russia. The country's economic profile is a bit different - we may see rich Russians in expensive cars spending thousands in Poland, but there is only tiny percent of population who can afford it.The gap between richest and poorest in the country is among world's biggest. What is more, the Kaliningrad Oblast, being isolated from the rest of Russia, created a bit different life conditions. So we may say that only few percent of Russians visit other countries, most of them will never go outside their little towns.
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ReplyDeletePoland is a beautiful country and if foreign tourists want to come to us, we should be proud of. We have many outstanding professionals and their knowledge and skills must be used in Poland. Of course, this also works the other way. Eastern countries have often cheaper products for example, the above-mentioned cigarettes and fuel.
ReplyDeleteEveryone knows the tale between Polish and Russian. Unfortunately, many people related with this have grievances. We should learned from this and try to cooperate as much as possible.
"From Poland with love".
About Russians in Zakopane should make a movie, there are so many bizarre story of them already.
ReplyDeleteAlways like someone coming back from the mountains after the new year, tells how he saw that the Russians were doing this and that. It's not uncommon that they use it for that. Russians often wanting to integrate pay for everything and everyone.
As for me, it's cool that Russians spend their money in our country.
I prefer drunken Russians than English flower children in Krakow.
Tourism is good for a country in terms of money earning. It helps to gain foreign exchange. Thanks to the visits from other countries we can create new employment places. Turism give us also opportunity to meet people of different culture. There are cuntless benefits coming out of turism. It is great that Russians find our country so attractive and they come to visit us on regular basis.
ReplyDeleteIt's quite normal that people want to buy for less and have better medical care if this is possible. I am not sure but I think that it is quite good for our economy that they decide to spend their money here in Poland instead of doing it in their own country. Especially as we are talking about shops like Biedronka.(It is another matter that I really hate this shop:/) But maybe not so perfect for the clinics and hospitals. This institutions are already filled with polsih people…
ReplyDeleteI was talink with my russian friend and this song is getting really popular there:P
It's great. Why we should be worry or something, when they spend their money in our cantry? And some of them are really nice people. I play a lot in computer games, our servers have really much gamers from russia. They can be really great leader, tactics. Really often polish guild and russian guild are in aliance. I really enjoy when one of our russion friends lead us in "wars". Polish and russion can really made great thing ;D We always win when we are together.
ReplyDeleteOh cool. Russian girls are pretty ;-) I don't really know what more can I say. Poland seems to be one of the least attractive countries for foreign tourists (maybe poor marketing, a-little-too-negative culture and poor industrial design are part of the problem). I hope those things change as tourism is one of the most crucial sources of income.
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