The Polish Tourism Institute has estimated that 2005 was the most successful year of the decade for the growing industry.
It has been calculated that some 64.5 million foreigners visited Poland in 2005, spending 3.1 billion dollars. Americans, Canadians and Asians are being increasingly lured to Poland, whilst the country remains popular with Western Europeans and Russians.
It is considered that Poland's accession to the EU has helped Poland's image, but word of mouth cannot be discounted. The passing of Pope John Paul II brought focus to the historic city of Cracow. For a week last April, shots of the ancient city were beamed round the world, and three lavish television series about the Pope's life - all filmed here - have since been aired in America and elsewhere.
The modernist sanctuary of Saint Faustyna on the fringe of Cracow (opened 2002) alone draws an average of 2 million pilgrims per annum from Catholic countries around the world.
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