The COVID-19 pandemic has had strong impact on the tourism market. As a result of the lockdown and the closing of borders, tourist traffic came to an abrupt halt. Agritourism is an important way of diversifying agriculture and rural areas. In addition, it is a part of the idea of sustainable and multifunctional agriculture. It makes it possible to use production resources in the countryside and constitutes an additional source of income for both farmers and the local community. The aim of the paper was to present the results of survey research concerning the tourist plans of the Polish people in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular plans to spend holidays on agritourism farms. The study confirmed that according to Polish respondents, holidays in the country, spent on agritourism farms, were a good choice in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic. The respondents expect agritourism providers to take specific actions, i.e., disinfect communal rooms, make hand sanitizers available, as well as limit the maximum number of people allowed on the farm and in open-access rooms, in order to ensure safety during their stay. The article constitutes a contribution to the evolving literature on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development of the tourism sector.

One of the trends in today’s tourism sector is the development of environmentally-friendly tourism activities which rely on natural resources of cultural heritage and on biodiversity. This is definitely the case for agritourism, a form of rural tourism. The purpose of this paper is to identify the development aspects of Polish agritourism with particular emphasis on natural and cultural attractiveness. To demonstrate the relationship between agritourism activities of Polish farms and the cultural and natural attractiveness, the Hellwig’s synthetic development indicator was used. As shown by research, the cultural and natural attractiveness of a destination is an important exogenous development factor. Another finding was that the intensified efforts undertaken by the farmers to access EU funds were not focused on areas with valuable natural or cultural resources and an untapped agritourism potential; instead, they were oriented at regions dominated by semi-subsistence or family farms. For a large part of farmers, the new form of support is about to become a source of additional incomes.

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The aim of the study is to present the tourist plans of the inhabitants of Polish cities during the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey technique was used in the research with a questionnaire being disseminated for Facebook´s tourist thematic groups. Those recruited provided their friends with a link to the questionnaire via social media. Thus a snowball method was used and 402 respondents were obtained. Less than a quarter declared they did not want to go on a tourist trip in 2020 and the main reason was the prevailing pandemic and fear of coronavirus infection. However, the vast majority of respondents planned at least one tourist trip but a significant part abandoned any intention of travelling abroad for a holiday. The respondents mainly declared their willingness to stay in hotels and holiday resorts but assessed these facilities as the least safe in terms of epidemiology. The prevailing pandemic has been a source of much concern but the respondents were also worried about increased prices. Accommodation facilities were expected to undergo some form of disinfection along with the need to comply with social distancing restrictions and the wearing of masks.