Ekonomiczne Problemy Turystyki

Low-budget tourism includes tourist travels, organized and undertaken personally by individuals or small groups with the least possible use of financial resources. Groups of consumers with low income have possibilities to move for tourism purposes following: the low prices of travelling, increasing financial capability of the tourists, the removal of administrative barriers at national borders, expanding access to information, networking of tourism services and increasing transport accessibility of tourist reception areas. The aim of the study is to present the low-budget individual (unorganized) tourism as a form of tourist activity. The work contains thesis on the growing importance of individualized and low-cost ways of travelling. Presented text delivers: a profile of the low-budget tourist, a description of the objectives and ways of travelling; it also analyzes the experience acquired during these journeys. The description is based on qualitative research conducted in the form of an interview. The choice of low-cost form of travel is a derivative of the economic situation of tourists, not their specific preferences. Important is the very fact of travelling, and not the reaching a destination at all costs. Economic costs of such trips are even several times smaller than journeys organized by travel agencies. Contrary to expectation, the goals of the low-cost tourists are relatively expensive countries: travel costs should be cheap, not destination. The main factor shaping this form of travelling is the Internet and social media. Individual low-budget tourism, disseminated on the Web by sharing travel experiences, can become in the near future an important trend in whole tourism economy.