The first Polish tourists were
pilgrims traveling to
shrines both within Poland and abroad. The development of commercial tourism began in the 19th century. The most popular regions were mountains, especially the
Tatra Mountains, explored for example by
Tytus Chałubiński. In 1873, the
Polish Tatra Society and in 1909 the
Polish Sightseeing Society were established to organize and develop tourism. The 19th century was also the time of the rapid appearance of
spa resorts, mostly in
Sudetes,
Beskids and along the
Baltic Sea coast, with some of them associated, since 1910, with the
Polish Balneology Association. After Poland
regained independence in 1918, Polish tourism boomed, and was encouraged by the government. The first professional Polish
tour operator,
Orbis, was founded in
Lwów in 1923, followed in 1937 by
Gromada tourist organization and tour operator. After
World War II all tourist organizations were
nationalized by the new
communist government. The Polish Tatra Society and Polish Sightseeing Society were combined into
Polish Tourism-Sightseeing Society (PTTK) and most of the tourist infrastructure was handed over to the newly created Workers Vacations Fund (FWP). Tourism was limited to the
Comecon countries. This was the era of governmentally-founded tourism, characterised by mass but low-standard tourism. A typical sight was a holiday campground with small
bungalows managed by one of the state-owned companies. Holidays for children and teenagers were organized by
Juventur. After the
fall of communism much of the infrastructure was
privatized, although many company-owned resorts were downgraded because of their unprofitability. The early 1990s saw the foundation of many new tour operators. Some of them prevailed and strengthened their position on the market, being able to compete with multinational tour operators. ==Natural environment==