Multicultural heritage as a basis for sustainable development of urban tourism in Warsaw – COVID-19 pandemic time

Introduction: The importance of multiculturalism for the development of tourism, consistently emphasized in the literature, shows the long history and rich tradition of this form of tourism. Poland has historically been a land of transition between East and West, a land where different cultures have existed side by side: German, Jewish, Polish, and Russian. For centuries Poland was a meeting place of different religions and cultures and today’s landscape still shows evidence of this. The catastrophe of World War II brought the annihilation of a multicultural society and created a homogeneity, unprecedented in our history. Jewish heritage and urban cultural tourism: In their almost 2000-year diaspora, Jews have been present in Poland for eight hundred years: from the early middle ages until the Holocaust, the annihilation during World War II. The Jews were distinguished from other community groups by their religion, language, customs, art and architecture. In the interwar period of the 20th century, Poland was home to the largest Jewish community in Europe, distinguished by its enormous cultural and intellectual vitality. Pandemic time: The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the tourism sector hard, and travel restrictions still apply to us. Therefore, it is necessary to verify the forecasts and prepare new recommendations for cultural tourism destinations during and after the pandemic. Conclusions: Recently there has been a revival of interests in Jewish heritage and many tourists (both domestic and foreign) want to explore Jewish culture and remaining monuments of the past. Despite pandemic time restrictions it is also possible, however new actions and policy are required to secure sanitary recommendations and rebuild consumer confidence.