Poland will issue visas in the first place to those tourists who go on a trip to the country itself, rather than through Poland to other countries, said the head of the Polish consulate Michal Grechilo.

The Russian Union of Travel Industry (RosTourUnion) reported on Tuesday that tour operators can not hand over the documents for a visa to the consulate of Poland for its customers traveling on New Year’s holiday, as the number of tourists exceeds the quota set by the consulate.

“Companies that bought the hotel rooms and paid for transportation, may suffer significant financial losses, as well as their Polish partners.

The situation is particularly bad for tourists making a bus travel to Europe, as Poland is a major transit country from Russia to the EU “- according to RosTourUnion.

According to Grechilo, the number of tourists wanting to get a Polish visa is constantly growing.

“In 2009, we issued about 68,000 visas, in 2010 - 74-75 thousand.

In 2011, already in mid-November, 65 000 visas were issued, almost as much as for the full 2009.

I think we will exceeded the results of 2010, and it is the number of tourist visas which is growing the most”- he said.

According to him, the consulate will not increase the quota of tour operators, but it invites them to work “according to needs.”

“If a certain travel agency has a need to send 200 tourists on November 23, and on November 27 - 50 tourists, we will add more people to our registration in advance.

We will work for specific tourists, on specific firms.

Thus, we are trying to find solutions.

In addition, we created a special section for tour operators’ applications, which is located inside the consular section, not outside, as for usual customers”, - said Grechilo.

He noted that many travel companies get visas in the consulate of Poland for those tourists who travel on buses, for example, to France or Italy.

“Frankly speaking, there is a disputed question which embassy should issue a visa, since according to the Schengen Law this could be the country of entry such as Poland, but above all there is another important criterion - the purpose of the trip.

The purpose is other countries. Why do travel agents come to us?

Because we issue visas much faster than others.

“Those who do not want to wait in other embassies, come to us, especially because we have no visa center, where you have to pay extra 35 Euros, and they want to get visas to other countries, it is a little bit wrong way “- complained the head of the consulate.

He stressed that the consulate supports tourism in Poland.

“So first we will meet the request of those firms who send tourists to our country, so we give them so-called e-voucher.

That is a confirmation that the company actually paid for tourist services in Poland.

These companies can feel good.

As for the others, who bring someone in transit, we will take the documents as far as possible”- said Grechilo.

According to him, the promise of the consulate to issue visas to tourists who go directly to Poland, is acceptable for tour operators.

“We just have only such tourists who travel to Poland or Poland - Czech Republic. We can not send them through the Czech Republic, as the tour begins in Poland, or includes a holiday in a skiing resort of Zakopane, “- said the representative of “TurTransVoyazh”.

The head of the consulate urged tourists and tour operators to apply for a visa in advance.

“For those who will come to us in the last moment, it will be difficult to get a Polish visa.

It is obvious that we make exceptions for those people traveling to some big events, scientific conferences, but only on an individual basis”, - he said.

According to him, those tourists who have traveled several times to Poland, may apply for the year and even long-term visas.

According to Rosstat, in the first half of 2011, Poland was visited by 293 000 Russians, including for tourism purposes - 22.4 thousand tourists.

The increase amounted to 48% compared with the first half of 2010.