''Polskie Towarzystwo Turystyczno-Krajoznawcze'', PTTK (Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society) is a Polish non-governmental

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...

organization with 312 branches across the country. The PTTK is one of the oldest tourist societies in Europe. Its origins stretch back to the foreign

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...

. In August 1873 a group of tourism

enthusiast In modern usage, enthusiasm refers to intense enjoyment, interest, or approval expressed by a person. The term is related to playfulness, inventiveness, optimism, zest, verve, and high energy. The word was originally used to refer to a person p ...

s including painter and photographer

Walery Eljasz Radzikowski Walery Eljasz-Radzikowski (13 September 1841 – 23 March 1905) was a Polish painter, illustrator, teacher of fine arts and photographer active during the foreign Partitions of Poland.

from

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

and physician

Tytus Chałubiński Tytus Aureliusz Chałubiński (29 December 1820, Radom – 4 November 1889, Zakopane) was a Polish physician, naturalist, and co-founder of the Polish Tatra Society. His collections of natural history specimens are now held in the Tatra Mountai ...

founded the Polish cultural Tatra Society (''Polskie Towarzystwo Tatrzańskie'', originally the "Galician" Tatra Society for the Austrian censorship). A parallel Polish Sightseeing Society (''Polskie Towarzystwo Krajoznawcze'') was founded by ethnographer

Zygmunt Gloger Zygmunt Gloger (3November 184516August 1910) was a Polish historian, archaeologist, geographer and ethnographer, bearer of the Wilczekosy coat of arms. Gloger founded the precursor of modern and widely popular Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Socie ...

in 1906. The two organizations merged after World War II in 1950 to form the PTTK.

Current Operations

The Society aims to promote

qualified tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

and sightseeing. Its activities include designing and marking

tourist trail Trail blazing or way marking is the practice of marking paths in outdoor recreational areas with signs or markings that follow each other at certain, though not necessarily exactly defined, distances and mark the direction of the trail. A blaz ...

s as well as cycling, horse and river trails throughout Poland; maintaining a network of tourist accommodations, including museums and libraries; running several courses and workshops; training and certifying official travel guides, and publishing maps and guidebooks. The Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society has approximately 61,000 members, with over 260 branches throughout Poland. It brings together about 2,500 rings and nearly 200 clubs. It runs accommodation facilities of a varying standards with over 20 thousand beds; including, in 60

tourist home A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central lobby. Entering dictionarie ...

s, 77 mountain chalets, 35 hostels and water sports facilities, 5 inns, and 33 campgrounds; along with a network of 16 museums. The society is organised into several regional authorities each with its own staff. The membership fee and the PTTK membership card provide a discount on all accommodation and courses offered by PTTK. Each member of the Polish Tourist Association is a paying member awarded with one of a system of over a dozen badges, including Climbing, Hiking, Skiing, Cycling, Sailing and even a Diving Badge.Statute PTTK registered in Warsaw on February 23, 2006.
5 December 2008. The PTTK Society is a member of international tourist organizations such as the

Alliance Internationale de Tourisme An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are call ...

, the Naturfreunde Internationale, the Federation of Nature and National Parks of Europe, and the

Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS; known in English as the World Underwater Federation) is an international federation that represents underwater activities in underwater sport and underwater sciences, and oversees an ...

Notes and references

External links

English homepage
* {{Authority control Organizations established in 1950 Business organisations based in Poland Tourism in Poland 1950 establishments in Poland Tourism agencies