On behalf of the Regional Tourist Organisation of the Łódź Voivodeship and the Institute of Urban Geography and Tourism Studies of the University of Łódź, I would like to inform you about this year’s Polish Conference “Culture and Tourism” which will be organised on 28-29 October 2014 in the Lodz Philharmonic in Łódź.

This event, financed by the Ministry of Sport and Tourism is the eight meeting of the cycle devoted to cooperation between culture institutions and the tourism industry. This is an all-Polish forum, its participants exchange ideas, expand their knowledge about the ways of developing products of culture tourism, and have an opportunity to learn about the latest achievements of tourism in various regions of Poland.

It is worth noting that the conference has already become a brand in itself, a trademark of organisers and culture professionals who in deal with tourism and culture as part of their social or self-government activity. These nationwide, interdisciplinary meetings are also an interesting combination of theory and practice. Every year, acknowledged experts from Poland and abroad are invited to participate in the conference: culture tourism specialists, culture experts, culture anthropologists, and businesspeople – tourism organisers, culture managers, and the authorities in the field of promotion and marketing of places. Traditionally, apart from lectures, workshops aimed at increasing competence are organised.

This year’s title of the conference is related to the events that are a magnet for both the enthusiasts of culture and tourists. Some of them are famous around the world (mega events, distinguishing events) and others are local, for smaller groups of participants. Both in culture and in tourism, such projects attract a lot of attention, starting from purely cultural events, such as concerts, festivals (music, film, theatre), exhibitions, through folklore events, historical re-enactments, ending with sports events.  They differ not only in terms of themes, but also range (international, Polish, regional), scale (mass, niche), forms of organisation (festivals, exhibitions, open-air events, small events), and frequency (one-time, recurring events).

There are clear mutual relations between culture and tourism, as organisation of cultural events enhances development of various forms of tourism, and at the same time development of tourism encourages new cultural projects, especially events. These relations are going to be the main subject of this year’s conference. Discussion and exchange of opinions about the role of events in shaping modern-day tourism (event tourism) will be an important element of the conference, especially the question of how tourism products make use of this kind of attractions.

During the conference, the following subjects are going to be analysed in detail:

·         international and Polish cultural events and how they are used in tourism

·         current trends in themes and ways of organisation of events

·         potential and role of ancient, post-industrial, sport-related and other sites in organisation of cultural and tourist events

·         events and their significance in tourist promotion of the country

·         meaning and consequences (social, economic and other) of events for institutions, towns, regions and countries

Therefore, I would like to invite you to active participation in this event and submitting your speeches. Please, send your articles and application forms to agakrak@geo.uni.lodz.pl until 30 June 2014. Like in the last year, after the conference, a reviewed publication will be issued.

We will provide you with the detailed agenda of the conference as soon as the recruitment of lecturers will finish (July 2014). The registration of participants will start on 15 July via an online form on the conference site: http://konferencja2014.rotwl.pl/rejestracja.

For more information, registration forms, guidelines for authors and coverage of the previous conferences, please visit www.konferencja2014.rotwl.pl.        

We would like to invite all those interested in the subject of tourism and culture events and the fans of our event to participate in this year’s conference. We hope to exchange opinions, information, and experiences with you.