| Poland's preparations for EURO 2012 after the Final Tournament draw |
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| Friday, 16 December 2011 14:09 | |||
After the Final Tournament draw in Kyiv we already know the final scenario of the Tournament in Poland. How many foreign fans and tourists can we expect? How large of an accommodation base should be prepared? How should we invite Europeans to come to Poland to Euro 2012? How should we prepare the airports, roads, railways and public transport for the fans and tourists to come from all over Europe? How can we offer top quality services to a million of foreign guests who will visit our country in June 2012? With less than six months left to the European Football Championship over 170 public institutions responsible for Poland's preparations to the Tournament are working closely together in order to prepare Poland for Euro 2012 in terms of security, organisation and transport – in accordance with the Championship scenario resulting from the group draw on 2 December in Kyiv
Poland, the Czech Republic, Greece, Russia and Spain, Italy, Ireland and Croatia are the two groups of the national football teams that will have their matches at the stadiums of Poland's four Host Cities in June 2012. This particular composition drawn on 2 December in Kyiv has determined Poland's preparations for the Championship for the next six months left to the opening match. At this stage we know much more than just the composition of the tournament groups. We also know that a majority of the national teams in the Tournament have selected their base camps in Poland which will have a major impact on the presence of an additional number of tourists, fans and media from all over Europe in our country during the Championship. In this connection, less than six month before the beginning of Euro 2012 very close collaboration is required of the over 170 partners involved in Poland's preparations to the Championship and intense campaigns are required jointly with football partners responsible for the organisation and holding of the Tournament.Welcome to Poland - Polish Guide and Polish Pass The experience of other countries that have organised large international sports events clearly shows that the quality of services offered to tourists and fans is the major factor affecting the host country's image after the event. What will be expected by the guests who will visit Poland during Euro 2012? The most important aspect will be complete and easily available information on the most important aspects for foreigners – access to stadiums, accommodation, tourist attractions, fan zones and public transport. On 2 December we learned which national teams will play in which city during the Tournament in Poland. Fans and tourists from all over Europe have intensified their interest in our country and are already planning their stay in Poland during Euro 2012. They are looking for information on public transport, Host Cities, accommodation, health services, restaurants, stadiums or tourist attractions. For the first time in the European Football Championship, tourists and fans will be furnished with a free-of-charge tool providing comprehensive information on the host country, available not only via the Internet, but also via mobile and smart phones. Moreover, visitors in Poland during Euro 2012 will also be provided with a solution so far unheard of – a single-document combining a public transport pass between the Host Cities, a plane ticket for domestic and international flights, health insurance, and a hotel booking confirmation. The Polish Guide and the Polish Pass respectively are appropriate tools to invite foreign tourists and fans to Poland as early as six months before Euro 2012, ensure high quality of tourist services and make our country stand out in relation to former organisers of European Football Championships. The Polish Guide is an information service that is available free of charge to all fans and tourists during the planning of their trip and during their stay in Poland at the time of EURO 2012. The service is now available at the web site www.polishguide2012.pl. Before the Tournament, access to the service will also be available with mobile phones and smart phones which will be a very useful and convenient solution to foreigners travelling in Poland. Information in the Polish Guide service will be presented in Polish, English, German, French, Spanish and Russian. With the service, fans will get comprehensive information on fan zones, stadiums and team base camps; urban, air, rail and road transport; medical services and security; fan embassies volunteer activities; accommodation and all other practical information about Poland and the Polish Host Cities, regional customs, interesting tit bits and the cuisine as well as about recommended attractions and events. In 2012 the function of an electronic personalised calendar will be added to the Polish Guide service. Each user will be able to develop their own travel plan, containing the most interesting events and places that they intend to visit while in Poland. The Polish Guide was invented and developed by PL.2012.  The Polish Pass is an integral element of the Polish Guide. The products are complementary and they jointly provide high quality services to fans and tourists in Poland. Apart from looking for information on our country, before coming over each foreign tourist will ask several questions: How am I going to move around? Where will I sleep? Will I have a health insurance? The answers to these questions will be, to a large extent, decisive for visiting Poland during the Championships. This is why since the end of 2009, PL.2012 has been engaged in works on the preparation of a special tourist offer - Polish Pass. This product combines 3 elements: transport – city, domestic, and international, hotel bookings, and health insurance. The Polish Pass can already be purchased via the distribution portals and at the Polish Guide web service (www.polishguide2012.pl).In buying Polish Pass, a tourist or football fan coming to Poland for Euro 2012 will be able to book and pay for accommodation and pay for public transport in the Host Cities. If they plan on travelling inside the country, they will be able to buy railway tickets in Poland or buy an air ticket for national or international flights. The Polish Pass also makes it possible to purchase special health insurance for the stay in our country. The products will also facilitate making hotel booking. If all of the above elements are used, a tourist or a fan – apart from the passport- will only need the Polish Pass when in Poland. The packet may contain just one element in the Polish Pass such as public transport or several elements may be selected. When the Polish Pass is tailored, you just need to print it. This way fans or tourists get one document, printed in their own homes and much before coming to Poland and with the passport it is sufficient to use public transport services, medical care in Poland as well as hotel booking. The public transport pass included within the Polish Pass combines the majority of public transport opportunities available in a given city. For example, in Warsaw they include trams, busses, metro, and even suburban railways. In Gdansk, the pass covers buses, trams, and railway within the Tri City limits. The price of the public transport pass is the same in each of the Host Cities of the UEFA EURO 2012™ and is PLN 12 per day. The Polish Pass offers the possibility of purchasing railway tickets authorising not only to travel between the Host Cities, but also all over Poland. Two variants have been prepared: for people requiring a high standard of travel and for those with low price preferences. The tickets are available in 3-, 7-, and 27-day variants. A 3-day ticket in the lowest price variant is PLN 104 while in the more expensive option the price is PLN 289. The Polish Pass makes it also possible for a visitor to Poland to purchase health insurance. A one-day policy price is PLN 4.30. Finally, the Polish Pass also enables users to make hotel bookings. The 4 Host Cities during Euro 2012 will offer a total of 400 thousand beds. The Polish Pass booking system will initially grant access to 150 thousand beds while the base will be successively extended until the kickoff of the Championships. The Polish Pass project, combining offers of partners from the hotel, transport, and insurance sectors, has been originated by PL.2012 who also acts as the product implementation coordinator. The services included within the product will be available for use in June and at the beginning of July 2012. Finalisation of the infrastructural investments  At this stage of the preparations, the most important infrastructural projects are in their final phases and some have already been completed. The stadiums are the most important in the context of tournament organisation and holding. Poland has already completed three stadiums and each of them has been tested in large sports and other events that were held there. Test events at the National Stadium will be organised at the beginning of 2012. Large events will be organised at all 4 stadiums until the Tournament begins so that all solutions and procedures can be tested and polished up that will guarantee the maximum security and quality level for viewers. The airports are also very important. The airports are being expanded and modernised in all the Host Cities, which will double their passenger handling capacities. Other crucial infrastructural transport projects are under way – the modernisation and expansion of the railway stations, railway lines between the Host Cities and construction of expressways and motorways. In October 2011 we will commission a new section of the A1 motorway (Toruń – Nowe Marzy) which will improve road transport between Warsaw and Poznan to Gdansk; in December the section of the A2 motorway was opened between Nowy Tomyśl and Świecko which is a motorway connecting to Poland's western border.Less than six months before Euro 2012 it is most important to combine the existing and finalised infrastructural projects with organisational projects and to develop solutions that will ensure a maximum quality of fan and tourist services during the Tournament. Airports – main form of fan transport to Poland After the tournament group draw, the transport scenario for Poland during the Championship provides that fans and tourists from all over Europe will come to Poland primarily by air during the group phase of the Tournament. That is why it is crucial to prepare the airports in the four Host Cities to handle the increased air traffic, probably the largest in the history of our country. Modernisation and expansion works of the existing infrastructure are under way at the airports in the Host Cities. The objective is to double the passenger handling capacity of the airports. The works are performed in the "air part" of the airports and cover for instance the construction and expansion of runways, fast approach ways or aprons and in the passenger parts of the airports – the expansion of the existing terminals or the construction of new ones. The work related to preparations to Euro 2012 was completed in August 2011at the airport in Warsaw. The works will be completed in April 2012 in Poznan and in Gdansk and in March 2012 in Wroclaw. Air traffic related to Euro 2012 will be handled by four main airports in the Host Cities and supported by other airports responsible mainly for General Aviation and charter traffic. Warsaw will be supported by Łódź Lublinek and Modlin, Poznan by Zielona Góra Babimost, Wroclaw by Katowice Pyrzowice and Gdansk by Bydgoszcz. Apart from infrastructural investments at the Polish airports, the airports in Poznan, Wroclaw and Gdansk will be subject to flight plan coordination that will guarantee the maximum efficient management of the airports and their capacity with intensified air traffic during the Championship. In Warsaw – due to the role and nature of the airport – such coordination will be implemented permanently as of March 2012. Preparations with respect to security Security is one of the most important elements of the Championships and an organisational priority for PL.2012 as well as its partners. The UEFA EURO 2012 Security Committee was appointed by the Prime Minister in May 2010. General Adam Rapacki, undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Interior and Administration, heads the committee. Tadeusz Zygmunt, National Coordinator for Security at Pl.2012 holds the position of Committee Chairperson. One of the most important tasks which have been realised within the framework of the Committee's works was the creation of an Integrated Safety and Security Concept indicating all the areas, the scope of responsibility as well as the actions of the individual entities for purposes of ensuring the maximum level of security during the Tournament. On 6 April 2012, the Security Committee adopted the UEFA EURO 2012™ Integrated Safety and Security Concept. On the same day, the Committee also adopted a resolution in the matter of the implementation of the Project Portfolio Management tool. On 22 September 2011, the President of the Republic of Poland signed an amendment to the act. The Act became effective in November 2011. Medical care  The UEFA EURO 2012 Medical Committee has functioned in Poland since May 2009. It consists of chairpersons of the Municipal Medical Committees, representatives of the key central offices as well as working groups. In June 2010, the Committee was expanded by an additional working group - the UEFA anti-doping control programme. Apart from this, the Committee also includes teams for the medical security of the stadiums, for medical and emergency security of the airports as well as sanitary – epidemiology security of the Tournament.The actions of the UEFA EURO 2012 Medical Committee in Poland has, until now, allowed for the preparation of a cohesive system for the preparation of medical and emergency care in the Host Cities. The effect of the Committee's works include the standardisation of medical care in the Official Sites - the stadiums and the fan zones, close co-operation with the reference hospitals and several done basic medical care facilities, the medical and emergency medical security concept during the Tournament as well as guidelines of the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate to secure the as sanitary – epidemiology security of the UEFA EURO 2012 Tournament in Poland. At present the main tasks of the Committee include the completion of the works on the basic health care concept in the Host Cities as well as the preparation of the airports in the Host Cities and selected auxiliary airports to implement WHO regulatioins. The Medical Committee is also carrying out standing co-operation with international partners in the preparation of a medical care and emergency care system for Euro 2012 – The World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC). Medical security plans for all the Euro 2012 arenas in Poland have also been prepared. Fan services One of the highest quality components of UEFA EURO 2012, next to other organisation areas, comes in the form of the Host Cities Volunteering for UEFA EURO 2012™ (www.wolontariatmiejski2012.pl). The Host Cities will implement this project, coordinated by PL.2012, in a uniform formula and standard. The main task of the trained volunteers will consist in assisting visitors and providing them with essential information on the event, public transport, and the possibilities of spending leisure time in the Host cities. A special internet portal dedicated to volunteering activities was launched in May 2011 (www.wolontariatmiejski2012.pl). Presently, the portal is also used to recruit approximately 3,000 of volunteers. The recruitment will come to an end in the first quarter of 2012 and volunteer training will commence. Anyone to have come of age prior to 30 April 2012 and with sufficient communication skills in English can become a public area volunteer. Youths and adults as well as disabled persons, residents of the tournament cities and all towns and villages of Poland are encouraged to participate in the project. Volunteers will work in public areas of the Host Cities of UEFA EURO 2012 in Poland, i.e. at airports, railway stations, in the vicinity of stadiums, hotels, or main urban transport routes. Their basic task will be to provide tourists visiting Poland during Euro 2012 with information on the cities and on their offer during the tournament, on transport connections, or on tourist attractions.  The Euro Academy was launched in order to provide the highest quality services for foreigners during UEFA EURO 2012™. The project aims at providing training to more than 2.5 thousand fan-first-contact persons, for example employees of the Polish Railways, catering and commercial outlets, or public transport employees. So far, more than 1,000 people have signed up for the project. The cycle of project trainings includes: an English language course, customer service training, trainings in the area of inter-cultural differences in the context of customer service, and trainings concerning tourist attractions of a given region from the point of view of the organisation of mass events. The project was launched in March 2011 in four provinces: Lower Silesian, Mazovian, Pomeranian, and Greater Poland. June 2011 saw the launch of the project's website and the launch of the recruitment of project participants while August 2011 marked the launch of trainings for them. The Euro Academy project is financed from EU funds within the framework of the European Social Fund.SOURCE: PL.2012 PHOTO: UM Poznań, PL.2012
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