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Poland pursues pink pound
Krakow
Gay visitors to Poland are to be targeted in a new advertising campaign this autumn.
For the first time, the tourist board of the medieval city of Krakow will pursue the pink pound with a special online city map and new website, as well as broadening coverage in other guides and publications.
The centre of Poland’s former royal capital is virtually a no-go area at weekend, as gangs of boozed-up British stag parties descend on the town. Gay tourists are seen as being better behaved – as well as having more cash to spend in Krakow’s bars and clubs.
The Catholic right, however, have raised protests about the new welcoming policy. The Christian Culture Association has already organised an email protest campaign and demonstration in Krakow with placards describing homosexuals as paedophiles and deviants.
In a letter to the Mayor of Krakow the Association claimed that gays were at a higher risk of disease, and an affront to public morality and a danger to children.
Despite the tourist office's best efforts, a 2007 poll revealed that 59 per cent of Poles believe in discrimination against homosexuals.
