IMPACT OF REGULATIONS ON TRANSPARENCY OF SPA & WELLNESS MARKET IN POLAND

This paper focuses on the issue of spa & wellness services market transparency in the context of official regulations. The issue is significant, since the entire tourism sector in Poland is generally regulated to a great extent. It concerns, among others, the categories of tourist resorts and the standard of rendered services. Detailed regulations, however, do not cover spa & wellness services, which have been relatively new form of spending free time. No standards on one hand, and no relevant regulations on the other result in this market being characterized by a serious quality span depending on particular service providers. The goal of this paper is an examination of the thesis that no uniform national regulation of the Polish spa & wellness market is a reason for poor market transparency resulting from information asymmetry which, in turn, results from quality uncertainty. The theoretical thoughts have been proven by the authors' surveys focused on the shape of the spa & wellness services market in the Dolny Slask area. The first part of the paper presents a theoretical background of the issue related to uncertainty of the quality, information asymmetry and finally – the market transparency. The next part of the paper is focused on the Polish spa & wellness market and it comprises an analysis of the effects caused by poor transparency of the market. Another part reveals the regulations of the tourism market and proves that no uniform regulations pertaining to spa & wellness services makes that the remaining legislation ineffective in the field of shaping high-quality services. The last part of the paper deals with self-regulation of the spa & wellness market and reasons for the insufficient efficiency.